History of Greek theatre

The history of Greek theatre, based on rituals is a set of activity of words, gestures, objects and performance. The Greek theatre began in 600BC in Athens to honor Dionysia, the god of wine. In the city of Dionysia, people celebrated the festivals in the foothill which later changed to performances.  The performance of 15 choruses, with song, dance was in a circular platform. The orchestra was on a surface at the foot of a hill, natural theatron; the “seeing place” was on the slope of the hill.  The theatre was built on a large scale which accommodated fourteen thousand people. The first seats in Greek theatre were wooden, but around 499 BC, they constructed stone seats which were permanent.  In 465 BC beyond the orchestra the playwrights started using a scenic wall which was the structure built for the actors, called “skene”, from which the modern word “scene” derives. The death of a character was always shown behind the skene. It was considered inappropriate to show a killing in view of the audience. A paraskenia was a long wall with projecting sides, with the construction of  parodoi and eisdoi (entry and exit) . Then, the area in front of the skene house, at the first level with the orchestra, raised to a higher level called ‘proskenion’ like today’s modern stage, from which the modern word “proscenium” arrived.