SOURCE: Aylen, Leo. “Historical Summary.” In The Greek Theater, pp. 30-40. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1985.

In the following essay, Aylen traces the development of Greek theater, including the effect of military defeats and changing religious attitudes.

The history of the Greek theater is, as I have said, the history of a hundred years or so of life, twelve hundred years of imitation. To study the life and how it died is the center of all study of the Greek theater. But it may be as well to precede this with a summary of the main events that affected the development of the theater, as a background to the plays we possess.¹

In 534 b.c., the Athenian tyrant Pisistratus founded the festival of the City Dionysia, whose main purpose was the presentation of plays and dithyrambs as a sacred competition.² During the preceding century a form of dance...