CHAPTER III. 2 SECTION I. DRAMATIC CONTESTS. 1 THE precise time at which the contests of the Drama commenced is uncertain. The Arundel Marble would make them coeval with the first inventions of Thespis. On the other hand, Plutarch assures us that no scenic contests were established until some years after the early Thespian exhibitions. The true account appears to be this. The contests of the Dithyrambic and Satyric choruses were almost contemporaneous with their origin. Those of the Dithyramb continued without interruption to the latest period of theatric spectacle in ancient Greece: and, although the great improvements of Thespis might, for the moment, excite admiration rather than competition; yet doubtless his distinguished success soon stimulated others to attempt this new and popular kind of entertainment, and rival the originator 3. Under Æschylus and his immediate successors the Theatrical contests advanced to a high degree of importance. They were placed under the superintendence of the magistracy; the representations were given with every advantage of stage decoration, and the expences defrayed as a public concern. 4 These contests were maintained at Athens with more or less splendour and talent 1. Bentley Dissert. p. 246. 2. ̓Αρχομένων τῶν περὶ Θέσπιν ἤδη τὴν τραγῳδίαν κινεῖν, καὶ διὰ τὴν καινότητα τοὺς πολλοὺς ἄγοντος τοῦ πράγματος, οὔπω δ ̓ εἰς ἅμιλλαν ἐναγώνιον ἐξηγμένου.—Plut. Solon. xxix. 3. At any rate, a regular contest had been established before the time when Phrynichus is first mentioned ; for it is then recorded of him, ἐ νίκα ἐπὶ τῆς ξζ' ὀλυμπιάδος. Suidas in voc. This was twenty-five years after the date of Thespis in the Arundel Marble. In B. c. 476, thirty-five years after this, when Phrynichus won the prize with the Phanissa, the Tragic contests were carried on with great zeal and emulation; so at least we are informed by Plutarch; who, noticing this victory in his life of Themistocles, the Choragus of Phrynichus, says,— Μεγάλην ἤδη τότε σπουδὴν καὶ φιλοτιμίαν τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἔχοντος. 4. Even down to the time of Julius Cæsar, the exhibitions of the rival dramatists continued, taking place as heretofore at the great Dionysia. We learn this fact from a decree passed by the Athenians in favour of Hyrcanus, thenhigh priest and ethnarch of the Jews, recorded by Josephus (Antiq. Jud. xiv. 8.):—'Aveiπeiv tè tÒV OTÉPAVOV ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ Διονυσίοις, τραγῳδῶν τῶν καινῶν ἀγομένων. for several centuries, long surviving her independence and grandeur. In accordance with the origin of the Drama, its contests were confined to the Dionysia, or festivals of Bacchus, the patron deity of scenic entertainments. These festivals were three1 in number, and took place in the spring2 months of the Attic year. 4 1. Τὰ κατ ̓ ἀγροὺς 3, or the rural Dionysia, were held in all the country towns and villages throughout Attica, in Ποσειδεών 1, the sixth Athenian month, corresponding to the latter part of December and the beginning of January. Aristophanes has left us a picture of this festival in the Acharnians 5. About to offer a sacrifice to Bacchus, Dicæopolis appears on the stage with his household marshalled in regular procession. His young daughter carries the sacred basket; a slave bears aloft the mystic symbol of 1. See especially Ruhnken de Festis Dionysiorum apud Atticos, (ex auctario emend. ad Hesych. 1. 1000. 17.), given among the Opuscula Ruhnkeniana, collected and edited by Mr. Kidd. 2. Aristophanes, as Dr. Blomfield rightly understands the passage (Mus. Crit. V. p. 76.), alludes to this fact in the Nubes, v. 310. ἦρί τ ̓ ἐπερχομένῳ Βρομία χάρις, καὶ Μοῦσα βαρύβρομος αὐλῶν. 3. Perhaps this festival was the same as the 'Ασκώλια and Θεοίνια. See Ruhnken de Festis Dionys. 4. Ὁ δὲ αδολέσχης τοιοῦτός ἐστιν οἷος...λέγειν... ως ... Ποσειδεώνος ἐστι τὰ κατ ̓ ἀγροὺς Διονύσια.—Theophrast. Char. 3. These Some have thought that the Διονύσια ἐν Πειραιεῖ, mentioned in a decree quoted below (p. 102, note), from Demosthenes, were the same as the Διονύσια κατ' ἀγροὺς; others as the Ληναῖα. This opinion Ruhnken considers decidedly erroneous. Dionysia, according to him, had no connexion with the three we have enumerated in the text. (De Fest. Dionys. p. 42.). Plays however were performed at the Peiræan festival. See the passage from Demosthenes referred to above. 5. ὦ Διόνυσε δέσποτα, κεχαρισμένως σοι τήνδε τὴν πομπὴν ἐμέ πέμψαντα, καὶ θύσαντα μετὰ τῶν οἰκετῶν, πρόϊθ ̓ ἐς τὸ πρόσθεν ὀλίγον ἡ κανηφόρος δ' Ξανθίας τὸν φαλλὸν ὀρθὸν στησάτω. ἐγὼ δ ̓ ἀκολουθῶν ᾄσομαι τὸ Φαλλικόν σὺ δ ̓, ὦ γύναι, θεῶ μὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ τέγους. πρόβα. Acharn. 230, and 249. This rural procession appears to have been deemed quite a spectacle : Καὶ οὐ μόνον εἰς τὰ τοιαῦτα παρεκαλούμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς Διονύσια εἰς ἀγρὸν ἦγεν ἀεὶ ἡμᾶς, καὶ μετ ̓ ἐκείνου τε ἐθεωροῦμεν καθήμενοι παρ' αὐτόν, &c.—Isæus de Ciron. Hared. Vol. I. p. 114. Orator. Attic. Oxford. |