There was a competitive edge to the staging ('teaching')
of tragedies and satyr-plays on the last three days of the Great
Dionysia. Any playwright desirous of taking part had to submit
three tragedies and a satyr-play to the Eponymous Archon and to
"ask for a chorus". The eponymous archon then granted
a chorus for the work of three playwrights only, and
appointed the sponsors put up by the tribes. The sponsors
undertook to finance the teaching and costumes of the chorus
members as necessary, and also to find a suitable rehearsal area.
The three playwrights chosen and their actors (hypokritai)
- three for each of them - were paid out of the public purse.
Not long before the opening day for performances a
preliminary list of the jury was drawn up. This comprised
the names of five hundred Athenians (fifty from each of
the ten tribes) written on tablets which were tossed into
ten urns (one per tribe). The urns were then sealed and
placed in the back room of the Parthenon. At daybreak on
the first day of performance they were fetched to the theatre. One
tablet was drawn at random from each urn. The ten people
thus selected had to attend all the performances and
write down their decision, each on one tablet. Random
selection was again used in choosing five judges, whose
decision about the award was final; and in deciding in
which order the plays should appear. |
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After this there was a sacrifice of a piglet and a
procession with the jars containing tribute from the
member towns of the Delian League: this was intended to
make the power of the city of Athens quite clear. Then
there was a ceremony in which a full hoplite kit was
handed over to war orphans reaching their majority in
that particular year. The Athenian people thereby
discharged its obligations of looking after the war
orphans, and demonstrated that it knew how to respect
citizens who died for their country. Then there was a
ceremony to honour those who had distinguished themselves
by their contributions to public life. After this the
performance of the first 'tetralogy' began. |
When the performances had finished and the winner had been
declared, there was the prizegiving. In earlier times it was the
poet and his sponsor who received these prizes. Later on, there
was also a prize for the best actor. The prize itself was a
coronet of ivy. It has been established that in the 4th
century an assembly of the People took place at the end of
the day, as a 'debriefing' on the festival. This had also been
done (according to many scholars) in the 5th century.
