This is the reason that from this time
tragedy has been engaged with heroes, and comedy with every-day life.
Tragedy and comedy preserved some traces of their origin. Even when
they were represented in the theatre, they continued to be played
before the altar of the god. Even after the actors mounted on the
platform had become the most important personages of the spectacle,
the choir continued to dance and to chant around the altar. In the
comedies, like the masques in other days, sarcastic remarks on the
government came to be made; this was the Parabasis.
=The Theatre.=--That all the Athenians might be present at these
spectacles there was built on the side of the Acropolis the theatre of
Dionysos which could hold 30,000 spectators. Like all the Greek
theatres, it was open to heaven and was composed of tiers of rock
ranged in a half-circle about the orchestra where the chorus performed
and before the stage where the play was given.
Plays were produced only at the time of the festivals of the god, but
then they continued for several days in succession. They began in the
morning at sunrise and occupied all the time till torch-light with the
production of a series of three tragedies (a trilogy) followed by a
satirical drama.
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