Drama in Ancient Greece

 


The Greeks invented the dramatic form.  Thespis was the first to produce works known as tragedies. These compositions had one actor and a chorus.  Aeschylus wrote ninety plays of which seven have survived.

Sophocles introduced the concept of the 'third act' to his plays.  Only seven of his 123 plays have survived, including the most famous, Oedipus the King. 

Another celebrated Athenian tragedian was Euripides, whose plays were more realistic then those of his predecessors.
It was the Greeks who also developed the comedic form