delivered. Dionysus is therefore called "twice-born."
Greek drama was presented exclusively at festivals in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility, and the major such festival was in Athens and was known as the City Dionysia. It took several days at the end of March and served as an opportunity for the rich and powerful to demonstrate their social position. It was both a religious and a civic celebration, and the theatrical presentations were considered offerings of the city to a god as well as being expressions of civic pride. In 534 B.C., a contest was established to select the best tragedy, a form that originated in Athens, an the first winner was Thespis, the earliest playwright and actor whose name has come down to us, though not his works. Three tragic dramatists would compete at each City Dionysia, and each wold present a group of four plays, three tragedies and one satyr play. Only one complete satyr play still exists, The cyclops by Euripides, so little is known of the form except that it was a short, comic satire poking fun at a Greek myth, and it had a chorus of satyrs.
By the time the Greek drama we know today was offered, the theater had developed into a full-fledged entity, with much of its earlier history lost. The Classic era of Greek theater was in the fifth century B.C. There are certain things we know from the accounts left to us. We know that
...