Acropolis located in Athens

Temple of Dionysus

Theatre of Dionysus (5th Century BC)

Ancient Greek theater on the slopes of Mount Parnassus above the famous temple of Apollo at Delphi

Theater at Epidaurus 340 BC. This is the best-preserved of all ancient Greek theaters where performances still take place today.

Deus ex machina

Pasiphae and Minotaur Baby

Romans imported the plays of Menander (342-292BC) typical of the New Comedy

Renovated Theatre of Dionysus

Roman Theatre at Sabratha (North Africa) 200 AD Semicircular stage, raised stage, elaborate 3-storey frons scaenae

Roman Theatre in Orange France

Mosaic of comic masks of a young woman and a slave. (VRoma: Capitoline Museums, Rome: Barbara McManus)

This second-century or early first-century mosaic from Pompeii illustrates a scene from Menander's Ladies at Lunch, of which only a few lines survive. (VRoma: National Archaeological Museum, Naples: Barbara McManus)

Plautuus

Titus Maccus Plautus (254 - 184 BC) was not the first of these Roman dramatists, but of 130 plays attributed to him twenty have survived. This in itself is a measure of popularity, were it not also that in spite of being based on earlier Greek models, his work retains a raw freshness of its own. He devised ways of adapting Greek verse metres to the Latin language, and introduced to audiences whose taste had tended towards farce and slapstick several varieties of literary comedy, such as burlesque and domestic and romantic pieces in which verbal fireworks replaced crude banter. He also surmounted the problem of playing consecutive scenes, without any break between them, in front of a standard back-drop, usually a street with entrances to two houses. Plautus was born in Sarsina, a small village in Umbria, but left home early to go to Rome. He first worked as a stage props-man, and then, with the money he had earned, set himself up in some kind of business. When that failed, he took a job turning a bakers handmill, which he was able to give up after writing his first three plays.

Terence

 Publius Terentius Afer (c.185 - 159 BC) was brought to Rome as a slave, possibly from Africa. He took his name from that of his owner, Terentius Lucanus, who educated him and gave him his freedom. The story goes that he submitted his first play, The Girl from Andros, to the curule aediles; they referred him to Caecilius Statius (c. 219 c. 166 BC), the most popular playwright of the day. Caecilius was dining when Terence called, but he immediately began reading the play aloud. He was so impressed by it that he invited Terence to share the couch of honour with him. The play was first performed in 166 BC, and Terence wrote five more before he died in a shipwreck, or of disease, while on a trip to Greece to find more plots. He was only about 26.Terences plays are better plotted than those of Plautus and of some of the originals which he adapted. With him the comedy of manners effectively began. He was adept at employing the double plot, especially to illustrate different characters responses to a situation, and in developing the situation itself. There is also more purity of language and characterization than in Plautus, which may account for Terence not being as popular in his own day as he was to become later.

Bikini-Clad Girls mosaic from aquatic spectacle which rivaled theatre

Roman Chariot Racing

Medieval History After the fall of Rome the 600s A.D., came a period known to us as the "dark ages." Much political turmoil no reliable political structure The Church was the only stable "government" The church exerted increasing influence. In the 4th Century, the Bishop of Rome, claiming to be the successor to St. Peter, established supremacy in church matters and in secular concerns. Feudalism the manor was the chief non-church political entity. The manor (large estate), headed by a nobleman, had absolute authority over the serfs, (peasants) who worked the land. Lords of manors were vassals, or subjects, of a king. The kings knights protected the lords and their land. Serfs (servants) owed allegiance to their lord. There are many church edicts against mimi, histriones, ioculatores terms for secular performers