Ancient Greek Theater Architecture Essay -- Architecture History

Ancient Greek Theater Architecture umteen aspects of past Greek theaters have long been studied and debated. Much of the knowledge about these theaters is based on speculation due to the fact that so little of them still exist today. This lack of remnants especially applies to the architecture of the archaeozoic Greek Theaters. However, through archeological finds and years of studying the people, the plays, and the architecture of the time, we argon able to make many conclusions about these early structures.Greek Theaters ar classified into three categories The early Athenian Theaters, Hellenistic Theaters, and Graeco-Roman Theaters. same most new inventions or creations, the initial theaters built by the Athenians were very(prenominal) simple. In the fifth century B.C., it became popular to build theaters on the gear of a large hill, or an acropolis, the most famous, being in Athens. These early theaters could be divided into three parts. The theater consisted of the theatron (or auditorium), the orchestra, and the skene (or scene building) (Betancourt).The Greeks would eventually finished a technique that would fit as many spectators into the theatron as possible. At first the spectators sat on the ground until wooden bleachers were installed. After it was discover that the wooden bleachers were prone to collapsing, permanent stone seating was built. The architects created concentric tiers of set that followed the circular shape of the orchestra and hugged the rising ground of a hillside, following the lifelike contours of the land. Usually, theatrons were symmetrical however, there do remain examples of irregularly shaped theatrons. A horizontal passage called the diazoma separated the theatron into halves, thu... ...heater of the fifth century B.C. has been lost invariably due to changes made by the Romans. This leaves scholars of today with scant evidence of ancient Greek Theater architecture.Works Cited eachen, James T. The Gr eek Theater of the ordinal Century Before Christ. Berkeley, California University of Californioa Press, 1924.Betancourt, Philip P. The Ancient Greek Theater. CD-ROM. freshly York skulker News Films & CD-ROMS, 1996.Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre. 8th ed. London Secker & Warburg British Broadcasting Corporation, 1984.Harwood, Ronald. All the Worlds A Stage. London Secker & Warburg British Broadcasting Corporation, 1984.Nicoll, Allardyce. The ontogenesis of the Theater. 6th ed. London George G. Harrap & Company Ltd, 1966Corrigan, Robert W. Classical Tragedy Greek and Roman. New York Applause, 1990.