Web Quest Assignment: Greek Theatre 2016
Name ______Per ______Date ______
Visit the links that follow to research the answers to the questions below about Ancient Greek theater practices and personalities. The numbers in parenthesis following the questions refer to websites on this list where your answers can be found. Many of the answers appear on multiple sites. Write your answers on your copy of this document.
Greek Theater Links:
1. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/drama/p/Aeschylus.htm
2. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greekliterature/a/GreekTheater_2.htm
3. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greektheater/ss/120109GreekTheater_2.htm
4. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greekliterature/a/GreekTheater.htm
5. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/sophocles/p/Sophocles.htm
6. http://www.crystalinks.com/greektheater.html
7. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/thtr/hd_thtr.htm
8. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grdr/hd_grdr.htm
9. http://www.krucli.com/greek_drama_notes.htm GONE
10. http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110Tech/Theater.html GONE
11. http://quizlet.com/1176599/greek-drama-terms-flash-cards/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_unities
13. http://www.timelineindex.com/content/select/1402/1023,581,1402
(Revision note: Two of the sites are no longer available. Answers have been provided for several questions to help.)
1. What does the word “tragedy” mean in Greek? (6) 1.______
2. Were Greek plays performed indoors or outdoors? (3, 6, 7) 2. ______
3. During what season of the year did the Greeks of Athens 3. ______
hold their play festivals? (2)
4. About how long did a play festival last? (2) 4. ______
5. Who won the first festival of plays in Athens and is
therefore considered the first actor? (2) 5. ______
6. Could Aristophanes have gone to school with Aeschylus? (13) 6. ______
7. Who wrote the Poetics? (2) 7. ______
8. Which playwright added a second actor? (1) 8. ______
9. What term did Aristotle use to describe the fall of a noble 9. hamartia
man caused by some excess or mistake in behavior? (9)
10. What is the term for the building from which the 10.______
actors entered? (3, 7)
11. List Aristotle’s six elements of drama: (11)
11a. ______b. ______
c. ______d. ______
e. ______f. ______
12. What is a chiton? (8) 12. ______
13. How many women were allowed to act in Ancient Greece? (2) 13. ______
14. According to Aristotle, from what social class 14. ___nobility______
should the tragic hero come? (9)
15. Which playwright introduced painted scenery? (5) 15. ______
16. What was the name of the open area of the theater
where the chorus performed? (3) 16. ______
17. Were Greek plays performed indoors or outdoors? (10) 17. ______
18. What is the term for the songs or hymns 18. ______
the chorus sang in the earliest festivals? (6)
19. What does the term deus ex machina
literally mean? (11) 19. ______
20. What is the general meaning of deus ex
machina? (9) 20. ___a forced or contrived ending to a story or play___
21. What is the name of the ramps leading to
the acting area that the chorus used for entering? (3) 21. ______
22. Define the three unities: (12)
a. Unity of Time: ______
b. Unity of Place: ______
c. Unity of Action: ______.
23. What was built into the Greek actor’s mask to 23. __a megaphone______
help him project his voice? (9)
24. What is hubris? (9) 24. __excessive pride______
25. Of what was Dionysus the god ? (11) 25. ______
Greek Webquest Bonus Questions: Name ______
Extra Credit: Try these after you finish the first 25 questions to boost your score.
26. During the Golden Age of Greece, each playwright presented a series of plays at a Dionysian festival. Of what did this series of plays consist? (2)
26. ______
27. Of Sophocles, Euripedes, and Aeschylus, 27. ______
who is the youngest? (10)
28. What is the name of the wheeled platform used 28. ______
in Greek theater staging? (7)
29. In what year was Antigone written? (5) 29. ______
30. Who added the third actor? (5) 30. ______
31. How could actors easily play more than 31. ______
one character? (2)
32. Which comic playwright was best known during 32. ______
the Old Comedy period of Greece? (2)
33. In what town did Sophocles grow up? (5) 36. ______
34. Which was written first, Antigone or
Oedipus the King (Rex)? (5) 37. ______
35. What is skenographia? (5) 38. ______
36. Which comic Greek playwright was best known
for his New Comedy writing? (4,) 39. ______
37. Which Greek tragic playwright survived an
onstage attempt on his life? (1) 40. ______
38. Which Roman comic playwrights were
influenced by Menander? (4) 42. ______&______
39. What military office did Sophocles hold? (5) 43. ______