Theatre History

Mark DiPietro

Kegan Jenkins

Antigone by Sophocles
Anitgone is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in or before 441 BC. It is the third of the
Theban plays but chronologically was the first one written. At the start of the play, two brothers
in opposite sides of the war kill each other fighting for the throne. Creon, the king, decides that
he will only honor the death of the brother that was fighting for him and not the one who was
fighting against him. Not burying a body is an incredible public shame in this age. Antigone,
the sister of the Polyneices, the brother that was not honored, decides she is going to go against
Creons ruling and bury her brother anyway. Creon finds out about this and imprisons her.
Harmon, Creons son, who is engaged to Antigone tries to argue with his father to let her go, but
Creon will not concede. He instead decides that he will bury Antigone alive in a cave. The
prophet Tiresias warns Creon not to do this and to bury the body, because the gods are
displeased, but he refuses to listen. Finally he agrees to save Antigone and bury the body.
However, when they go to Antigone they find she has hanged herself. Haemon tries to kill
Creon, but fails, then stabs himself. Then his wife Eurydice kills herself and Creon is left
completely alone.

Sophocles. "The Internet Classics Archive | Antigone by Sophocles." The Internet Classics
Archive | Antigone by Sophocles. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.

Theatre History

Mark DiPietro

Kegan Jenkins

The Trojan Women by Euripides

The Trojan Women is a tragedy written by Euripides around 415 BC The Trojan Women was the
third of a trilogy that dealt with the Trojan War. It follows Alexandros and Palamedes, as well as
the satyr play Sisyphos. The play begins with Athena and Poseidon deciding how they will
punish the Greek armies because they allowed Ajax the Lesser to rape Cassandra, who is the
oldest daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. The herald Talthybius arrives to tell Queen
Hecuba that she will be taken away with Odysseus and Cassandra is destined to become the ward
of Agamemnon. Cassandra can see the future and sees that Agamemnons wife will kill both her
and her new master. However, she is cursed so that no one will believe her visions, so she is
taken away. The widow princess Andromache arrives and tells Hecuba that her youngest
daughter has been killed as a sacrifice at the tomb of Achilles. Andromache is meant to be the
concubine of Achilles son Neoptolemus. Andromache is informed her son is sentenced to die
out of fear he will grow up to avenge his father, Hector. Helen also appears to suffer greatly.
Menelaus comes to take her back to Greece with him where she is sentenced to death. However,
it is later revealed that she is alive and is not killed. Talthybius returns in the end with the body
of Andromaches son on Hectors shield. She wanted to be able to perform the proper burial
rituals, but her ship had already left so Hecuba had to bury her grandson before she was taken off
with Odysseus.

Euripides. "The Internet Classics Archive | The Trojan Women by Euripides." The Internet
Classics Archive | The Trojan Women by Euripides. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.
Cullum, Albert. "Greek and Roman Plays." (1993): n. pag. Web.

Theatre History

Mark DiPietro

Kegan Jenkins

Games At the Colosseum

Games, such as gladiatorial games, were one of the biggest forms of entertainment of the times at
the Colosseum. The origin of the games is still a matter of debate but many think it descends
from the Etruscan custom of making human sacrifices to celebrate the death of a nobleman, in
order to appease the spirit of the dead. The first record of a gladiatorial fight dates back to 264
BC. During the III and II century BC the popularity of the games increased. The last gladiatorial
game in the Colosseum is recorded in AD 438, when the games were abolished by the emperor
Valentinian III. The games were held, like religious ceremonies, on fixed days - the birthday of
the emperor or some fausti anniversaries - but there were also extraordinary games and then also
the ones offered by private individuals. They just became more and more popular,at the end of
the Empire there were 177 "spectacle" days per year (10 for the gladiators, 66 for the circus and
101 for theatre plays). In time, the shows grew in quantity and splendour: Julius Caesar himself
gave a munus with more than three hundred pairs of gladiators. The taste of the spectacles
changed as well: the public wanted to be astounded, so silver armors, exotic animals,
choreographies, music and "special effects" were used. During the games gifts were offered to
the spectators; small balls or tablets, with the image of the gift stamped on it, were thrown to the
public. One could win food, a slave, or even a house or a ship. And then there was the sparsio: to
refresh the people petals of flowers and perfumes were thrown from above. Gladiators were
generally slaves, criminals condemned to death or prisoners of war, who in the Roman world had
no right whatsoever, and whose life was considered expendable. In Roman times the death
penalty was sometimes worsened by ad bestias: or otherwise known as being mauled to death by

Theatre History

Mark DiPietro

Kegan Jenkins

ferocious beasts and or small animals live in the amphitheater.The naumachiae were
reproductions of famous naval battles and were staged in a suitable place, that could be flooded.
The actors were generally criminals already condemned to death. These shows - which were
apparently held only in the city of Rome - were extremely expensive, because the ships had to be
complete in all their details and maneuvered like real ships in battle.

"History of the Games." The-Colosseum.net: Mvnera. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.