III.

The Attic Period, 6th Century to 4th Century bc

The drama had been developing meanwhile in Athens during the 6th century bc (see Drama and Dramatic Arts). In its earliest form, the drama consisted of a chorus of men who sang and danced choral odes. Later, an actor who engaged in dialogue with the chorus was added.

A.

Tragedy

Tragic drama as we know it today is said to have been originated in the 6th century bc by Attic poet Thespis, who is credited with introducing spoken passages for an actor to complement the lyric utterances of the chorus. Athenian poet Aeschylus included the role of a second actor. His tragedies, numbering about 80, treat such lofty themes as the nature of divinity and the relations of human beings to the gods. Only seven of his tragedies are extant, including Prometheus Bound, the story of the punishment of Prometheus, one of the Titans, by the god Zeus; and the Oresteia, a trilogy portraying the murder of the Greek hero Agamemnon by his wife, her murder by their son, Orestes, and Orestes’ subsequent fate.

The second great Greek tragedian was Sophocles. The meticulous construction of his plots and the manner in which his themes and characters aroused both pity and fear led Aristotle as well as other Greek critics to consider him the greatest writer of tragedy. These qualities are especially conspicuous in Oedipus Rex. Of the more than 120 plays that Sophocles wrote, only seven tragedies, a satyr play (a type of comedy), and more than 1000 fragments are extant. His special contribution to tragedy was the introduction of a third actor on the stage, an innovation that was adopted by his older contemporary Aeschylus.

Euripides, a younger contemporary of Sophocles, was the third great Greek playwright. He wrote about 92 plays, of which 18 tragedies (one of doubtful authorship) and one complete satyr play, The Cyclops, are extant. His works are considered more realistic than those of his predecessors, especially in the psychological insight of his characterizations. Because of this, some critics consider him the most modern of the Greek tragedy writers. His major works include Medea, about the revenge taken by the enchantress Medea on her husband, Jason; and Hippolytus, about Phaedra’s love for her stepson, Hippolytus, and his fate after rejecting her.

B.

Comedy

One of the greatest comic poets was Aristophanes, whose first comedy, Daitaleis, now lost, was produced in 427 bc. Using dramatic satire, he ridiculed Euripides in The Frogs and Socrates in The Clouds. These works represent the genre known as Old Comedy.

Later Greek comedy is grouped into two divisions: Middle Comedy (400-336 bc) and New Comedy (336-250 bc). In Middle Comedy, exemplified by two later works of Aristophanes—Ecclesiazusae and Plutus, both written between 392 and 388 bc—personal and political satire is replaced by parody, ridicule of myths, and literary and philosophical criticism. The chief writers of Middle Comedy were Antiphanes of Athens and Alexis of Thurii, who were active in the 4th and early 3rd centuries bc; only fragments of their works are extant.

In New Comedy, satire is almost entirely replaced by social comedy involving family types, plot and character development, and the themes of romantic love. The chief writer of New Comedy was Menander. His comedies had a strong influence upon the Latin dramatists of the 3rd and 2nd centuries bc, notably Plautus and Terence. One complete play by Menander, The Curmudgeon, is extant, and extensive portions of other plays survive as well.

C.

History

The earliest Greek historian, Herodotus, writing in the Ionic dialect, gave an account of the Persian Wars (490-479 bc). His History is valued for the wealth of information it presents about ancient Greece as well as for its charming style. Thucydides was the first great Attic prose writer, and in his History of the Peloponnesian War he emerges as the first critical historian. In the early 4th century soldier-historian Xenophon wrote Anabasis, an account of Greek mercenaries who were marooned in Persia after the defeat and death of Cyrus the Younger; Memorabilia, a refutation of the charges brought against Socrates, together with personal reminiscences, in the form of conversations, of his character and philosophy; and Hellenica, in which Xenophon continued Greek history from the point at which Thucydides left off. A later historian, Timaeus, wrote a history of Sicily and reportedly devised the method of reckoning time by the Olympiads.

D.

Oratory

Attic prose reached its most mature expression in the works of the Athenian orators. Of these, the earliest whose works have survived was Antiphon, a teacher of rhetoric in the 5th century bc. The orator Lysias used a simple, forthright style devoid of extravagant rhetorical devices. It is said that he wrote a speech for Socrates to use at his trial in 399 bc. The speeches of Isocrates, on the other hand, are literary works intended to be read rather than spoken. The full perfection of Greek oratory was achieved in the works of Demosthenes. Utilizing all the resources of the language, he composed speeches that became models for subsequent orators, including Cicero.

E.

Philosophy

The two major Greek philosophical writers in the Attic period were Plato and Aristotle. Plato developed certain aspects of the philosophy of Socrates and expressed, in the form of written dialogues, the type of philosophy later called idealism. Plato’s dialogues are not only great philosophical works but also literary masterpieces, having many qualities common to poetry and drama. His prose style is one of the clearest and most beautiful in Greek literature. Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, wrote a large number of works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, rhetoric, and politics. Some classical scholars believe that the extant texts are actually notes taken by students from Aristotle’s lectures delivered at the Lyceum, his school in Athens. Of Aristotle’s literary criticism, only the sections on tragedy, epic poetry, and rhetoric exist. See also Greek Philosophy.