One time I had a substitute teacher for my theater class, and as my friends and I were walking in, he said, "Welcome my thespians" when we thought he said lesbians.
So I'm from Chile and I have a degree in Drama from an English University. There was this British guy once telling me about this moment when he started going through a sort of catharsis... then he stopped to ask me if I knew the meaning of the English word "catharsis", since I'm not a native English speaker and I just replied: "I studied Drama". And there was a moment of silence when he wondered what my degree had to do with anything and I wondered what wasn't clear about what I had said. Then I realised that maybe for most people the word "catharsis" isn't linked to Theatre.
Yeah, until I saw this I didn't know it originated in Aristotle's discussion of theater. It's normally used in the context of psychology or psychological therapy.
Interesting story, though "catharsis" is not an English word, but a Greek one, meaning literally "cleaning". In ancient Greek Dramas "catharsis" was the moment when the viewer finally got the 'justice' she/he wanted in the end (i.e., her/his soul becomes clear of every bad feeling or doubts).
Deus ex machina is not what Greeks called it. That’s the Roman (Latin) version of “apo mechanis theos”. Also Greeks did not wear togas. They wore chitons/khitons which are different in style.
As a founding member of my university's ancient theatre group I love this video. As a pedant with a Classics degree I feel the need to tell you that 5th Century BCE Athenians did not wear togas.
If I may suggest a possible nuance regarding the precise nature of catharsis from linguistics... The word "catharsis" may have an indeterminate precise meaning in the works of Aristotle, but the word persisted in Greek, its meaning evolving slightly, according to the common psyche (Greek for soul) of the culture. It persists in modern Greek. The adjective καθαρή (kathari), which is "clean." Η ντουλάπα είναι καθαρή (y doulapa einai kathari) means "the closet is clean." So over the millennia, a word meaning "purgation" evolved into "cleanliness." Perhaps Aristotle meant (or catharsis meant), then, that the Athenians considered it a civic duty to come and clean out their emotional closet before engaging in political duties like voting or (call ahead to Orestes), jury duty. Like clearing your head, but instead clearing your heart. Perhaps not, though, and i have no data or empirical evidence to support this idea, just something that occurred to me while watching.
Another possible explanation for the origin of the word ''tragedy'' (τραγ-ῳδία: goat-song) is that the winner of the Theatrical Festivities, usually the (Great) Dionysia, received a goat as price. This habit was later replaced by receiving fame and prize-money, rather than a mere goat, which was a lot less profitable than it used to be.
Sophia De Tricht I thought this is about providing quality, instead of προχειροδουλειες. Μα δεν είναι χαζή παράλειψη; I thing of this channel so highly, τόση έρευνα, τόσο ψάξιμο. Νταξει δε χάλασε και ο κόσμος. Πιστεύω είναι μια λεπτομέρεια που χαζά αμελειται από τους περισσότερους.
I mean, είσαι σωστός άλλα η Ελλάδα είναι μικρή και Ελληνικά δεν είναι μία δημοφιλής γλώσσα για τους αλλοδαπούς. I only speak it because I dated a Greek woman way back in the day and I thought it might smooth things over with her parents. It did not.
Orchestra is, quite literally, the "dancing place" since orchesis means dance. Also dance back then didn't involve much movement of the feet but happened mostly with the upper body. The earliest plays were most likely entirely sung - which is consistent with their origin in narrative choral song. Aristotle mentions that they were initially written in trochaic tetrameter, which is a facile musical meter (that's from memory, so there may be variation in the meters). That eventually evolved to iambic hexameter which is the standard meter for all spoken parts in extant tragedies. It's quite likely that this evolution coincided with an augmentation of the spoken parts. There were no togas! Togas are for stately Romans... they were thoroughly barbaric. They did wear a (rectangular) himation, which was the equivalent of a winter coat (that could double as a blanket)... nobody would enjoy wearing too many layers during the summer.
Oh, I love this series! The history of theatre is my favorite kind of history! Though, I have always been taught that an amphitheater needs to have audience seats all the way around the stage (like Colosseum) but when it is only a semicircle in front of the stage it is just called a Greek Theater. But that might only be true in Swedish...
I can't say I know much about theater, but am interested in learning about the history! Thanks for the information Mike and the Crash Course production cast.
so informative, you helped me prepare for my test, thank you! one note though, you mentioned toga, but togas were only worn in the roman empire times, and only inside the borders of Rome
The "Oresteia" is the only complete tragic trilogy from Ancient Greece? But what about the Theban Plays? Why aren't Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone considered a complete tragic trilogy?
From what I remember about the Greeks (I have yet to watch this video, have it paused), playwrights would produce three plays to have performed at the festival of good old Dion. These are the trilogies. The Theban Plays were from three different trilogies written by Sophocles. The plays in a trilogy could be set in completely different times and places, with different characters, which is very different from what we consider a trilogy today.
I know it's a ways on into the future but I would love to learn more about pantomime. How it evolved from it's Roman roots to the way it commonly exists as a celebratory play at Christmas time in the UK. As a Canadian, we don't have pantos and I would like to know more. Maybe if you get a second season of Crash Course Theatre?
There is a panto in Toronto every year and I am pretty sure other cities have them as well, since Canadian theatrical tradition has evolved from English theatre.
There's a typo in the closed captions at 6:59, he says "5th century Athens" but the captions say "15th century Athens". Is there a way to fix this for hearing-impaired viewers?
I was wondering, at what time between theater being a guy acting out dithyroms and the institution of theater in Athens do people start wrighting plays intended to be acted, rather than acting out dithyroms or epics?
When he talked about the "dithyramb" I swear I heard "dicky rhyme", as in, "they held aloft a giant phallus and sang a dicky rhyme". And then I laughed. Hard.
I believe what Aristotle meant, maybe (just my opinion), when you watch anything that shows your fears for example, usually shows the main character fighting those fears, and at the end realizing how small and nonsense those feelings are. Well my English sucks, but that's just what I think
Béla Hahn Greek theatres were built into hillsides, rather than being built free standing. This way, it offered the best view for the audience as it has tiered seating, as well as a good sound system of sorts; there is one point in the orchestra which projects the actor’s voice clearly to the rest of the theatre, no matter the distance.
Surprisingly outdated. By the 6th c BCE, Dionysus was the most popular god in the Aegean world, and the ritual performance of dithyrambs was tied to the cult worship of Dionysus. If this were the origin of Greek drama, the 19th c theory introduced by Frasier but discredited since, you'd expect to find the new art form called theater developing all over Greece and across the Aegean, but it only arises in Athens -- as a manifestation of democracy.
As a video editor I must say I genuinely appreciate this high quality content.
I'm not a content creator but same.
Yayyyyyyyy
Hope they cover a section on Nietzsche, or at least nod to his contribution.
Can we expect anything on Beckett?
BanditRants can you please tell me how can i create and which software to use for making animated videos
Pesistratos: "The best way to unite Athens, the city of Athena, is with a series of religious rituals...to Dionysus!"
Athena: "...Get out."
Timothy McLean lol
It's not stupid solon it works
She hardly worried. Her Panathenea festival was bigger and wilder than the Dionesia XD
Timothy McLean To be fair, like Artemis and Apollo, the two were kind of a sibling double act, just with the roles reversed.
One time I had a substitute teacher for my theater class, and as my friends and I were walking in, he said, "Welcome my thespians" when we thought he said lesbians.
vibe check
Very awesome!
Just one thing: the Greeks did not wear togas, but a chiton and/or a coat (himation or chlamys). The toga is a Roman garment.
SaiK just about to type the same thing.
So I'm from Chile and I have a degree in Drama from an English University. There was this British guy once telling me about this moment when he started going through a sort of catharsis... then he stopped to ask me if I knew the meaning of the English word "catharsis", since I'm not a native English speaker and I just replied: "I studied Drama". And there was a moment of silence when he wondered what my degree had to do with anything and I wondered what wasn't clear about what I had said. Then I realised that maybe for most people the word "catharsis" isn't linked to Theatre.
Yeah, until I saw this I didn't know it originated in Aristotle's discussion of theater. It's normally used in the context of psychology or psychological therapy.
Great story
Interesting story, though "catharsis" is not an English word, but a Greek one, meaning literally "cleaning". In ancient Greek Dramas "catharsis" was the moment when the viewer finally got the 'justice' she/he wanted in the end (i.e., her/his soul becomes clear of every bad feeling or doubts).
i want a play about the making of a Greek play
Trains Banana Troons Omelette.
omelettey
basically something rotten but that's the renaissance
43000th view
Sidertic I did one in theater today.
Deus ex machina is not what Greeks called it. That’s the Roman (Latin) version of “apo mechanis theos”. Also Greeks did not wear togas. They wore chitons/khitons which are different in style.
Thanks... I wondered why he didn't mention that "Deus ex Machina" is the Latin term.
Exactly! And not only were "togas" not authentically Greek, there were actually merely Roman impressions of "Greek clothing"!
@@Suite_annamite i know right, chitons are way nicer than togas
knowledge is the power
So the first plays were actually musicals?
That’s fantastic
I love watching their videos so much. And this is one of my favorite hosts too cause he did Crash Course Mythology
As a founding member of my university's ancient theatre group I love this video. As a pedant with a Classics degree I feel the need to tell you that 5th Century BCE Athenians did not wear togas.
Anyone here from home school work
If I may suggest a possible nuance regarding the precise nature of catharsis from linguistics...
The word "catharsis" may have an indeterminate precise meaning in the works of Aristotle, but the word persisted in Greek, its meaning evolving slightly, according to the common psyche (Greek for soul) of the culture. It persists in modern Greek. The adjective καθαρή (kathari), which is "clean." Η ντουλάπα είναι καθαρή (y doulapa einai kathari) means "the closet is clean."
So over the millennia, a word meaning "purgation" evolved into "cleanliness."
Perhaps Aristotle meant (or catharsis meant), then, that the Athenians considered it a civic duty to come and clean out their emotional closet before engaging in political duties like voting or (call ahead to Orestes), jury duty. Like clearing your head, but instead clearing your heart.
Perhaps not, though, and i have no data or empirical evidence to support this idea, just something that occurred to me while watching.
I've watched this video 6 times in the last two days. I'm writing a Drama exam tomorrow...
Thank you for this! I'm a total theatre nerd, and this makes my so happy! Keep up the good work!
*This video was cathartic. Keep up the good work, this Theatre girl is pleased!*
Mike is definitely the best host on crash course!
Love Mike but that must be Dr. Shini Somara. She's grand!
Wearing my thespian society sweater and having initiated earlier this week, I feel great.
Having flashbacks to my Greek Theatre and Poetry class. Good times.
Another possible explanation for the origin of the word ''tragedy'' (τραγ-ῳδία: goat-song) is that the winner of the Theatrical Festivities, usually the (Great) Dionysia, received a goat as price. This habit was later replaced by receiving fame and prize-money, rather than a mere goat, which was a lot less profitable than it used to be.
I already knew most of this because I'm Greek and it's part of our education, but I really loved how you explained and portrayed it! Excellent work!
As a Greek I have to say this was quite a good vid, despite the horrifically bad pronunciation of words but.. It's not the guy's fault
Absolutely Zefy Ναι, Ελληνικά είναι πολύ δύσκολο να προφέρει. Well, for native English speakers, anyway.
Sophia De Tricht ολόκληρη εταιρεία. Μπορούσαν να βρουν κάποιον να το πει καλά μωρέ. Χωρίς τη διάθεση να ακουστώ γραφική.
Prooooooooooobably... But aside from you and I (and it'd probably slip by me), how many people would notice?
Sophia De Tricht I thought this is about providing quality, instead of προχειροδουλειες. Μα δεν είναι χαζή παράλειψη; I thing of this channel so highly, τόση έρευνα, τόσο ψάξιμο. Νταξει δε χάλασε και ο κόσμος. Πιστεύω είναι μια λεπτομέρεια που χαζά αμελειται από τους περισσότερους.
I mean, είσαι σωστός άλλα η Ελλάδα είναι μικρή και Ελληνικά δεν είναι μία δημοφιλής γλώσσα για τους αλλοδαπούς. I only speak it because I dated a Greek woman way back in the day and I thought it might smooth things over with her parents. It did not.
Orchestra is, quite literally, the "dancing place" since orchesis means dance. Also dance back then didn't involve much movement of the feet but happened mostly with the upper body.
The earliest plays were most likely entirely sung - which is consistent with their origin in narrative choral song. Aristotle mentions that they were initially written in trochaic tetrameter, which is a facile musical meter (that's from memory, so there may be variation in the meters). That eventually evolved to iambic hexameter which is the standard meter for all spoken parts in extant tragedies. It's quite likely that this evolution coincided with an augmentation of the spoken parts.
There were no togas! Togas are for stately Romans... they were thoroughly barbaric. They did wear a (rectangular) himation, which was the equivalent of a winter coat (that could double as a blanket)... nobody would enjoy wearing too many layers during the summer.
Oedipus is one character that I hope no one in history has ever prepared for with method acting.
Oh, I love this series! The history of theatre is my favorite kind of history! Though, I have always been taught that an amphitheater needs to have audience seats all the way around the stage (like Colosseum) but when it is only a semicircle in front of the stage it is just called a Greek Theater. But that might only be true in Swedish...
Nope, my Art History professor taught me the same also. You are right, it is a common misconception people make. Btw I'm from Puerto Rico.
Nice to know where Thespian comes from. Great to learn more about catharsis too!
Hi- thank you for this video. I am a theater major and have an upcoming quiz; my Professor recommended this video. Good vid.
Thank you for this fast moving. fact packed crash course into the Greek world.
I can't say I know much about theater, but am interested in learning about the history! Thanks for the information Mike and the Crash Course production cast.
Mike is the best Crash Course Host
fricking john is
God, in the thumbnail, I read "The origins of Obama".
I need a life.
Me too! I actually opened the video just to check if anyone else did too lol
This new series makes me so happy, thank you Crash course team ♡
Very nice presentation and explanation bro 👌👌👍👍👍😊
Delighted to see Mike again :)
Just watched this in my Stage Design course!
Well, I've only seen Les Miserables four times but I get your drift. LOL!
do you hear the people sing...
Thumps up before it played... I wasn't disappointed.
This looks like a really great series. I hope you eventually do episodes about vaudeville and stand-up comedy.
Passed my GED test this week thanks to this channel thank youuu so much 😊💞💞💓💕🎉🎊🎊🎊
I always loved "Trojan Women" because it's an anti-war play written millennia ago and still remains very resonant.
I've seen thousands of episodes of General Hospital! Perfection achieved!!!
This is basically my entire first term of my history of theatre class
3:10-3:17 History of the Delian League in 7 seconds
so informative, you helped me prepare for my test, thank you!
one note though, you mentioned toga, but togas were only worn in the roman empire times, and only inside the borders of
Rome
They need to update this playlist and mythology one needs the rest of it videos
Hope they cover a section on Nietzsche, or at least nod to his contribution.
The "Oresteia" is the only complete tragic trilogy from Ancient Greece? But what about the Theban Plays? Why aren't Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone considered a complete tragic trilogy?
raikespeare The theban plays we’re not written as a trilogy. They all deal with Oedipus but were each apart of their own trilogies.
From what I remember about the Greeks (I have yet to watch this video, have it paused), playwrights would produce three plays to have performed at the festival of good old Dion. These are the trilogies. The Theban Plays were from three different trilogies written by Sophocles. The plays in a trilogy could be set in completely different times and places, with different characters, which is very different from what we consider a trilogy today.
That was really helpful, thank you for the video.
Please do García Lorca plays
THERE were lawsuits ☝️
So so helpful! Thanks!!!
Love how you managed to get the Mongoltage in there!
This is how we're gonna pass our theatre Praxis y'all...
What's the biggest and best general study on Greek Tragedy available in English?
I know it's a ways on into the future but I would love to learn more about pantomime. How it evolved from it's Roman roots to the way it commonly exists as a celebratory play at Christmas time in the UK. As a Canadian, we don't have pantos and I would like to know more. Maybe if you get a second season of Crash Course Theatre?
There is a panto in Toronto every year and I am pretty sure other cities have them as well, since Canadian theatrical tradition has evolved from English theatre.
I was so disappointed when he didn't say "Wait for it... The Mongols!" when the montage played.
they spelled Sophocles wrong at 7:17
Any suggested readings Mike?🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
„hi my name is mike rugnetta and this is crash course (myth..) -THEATER!“ in my head he still says mythology just cuz i‘m used to it 😅
There's a typo in the closed captions at 6:59, he says "5th century Athens" but the captions say "15th century Athens". Is there a way to fix this for hearing-impaired viewers?
Loving this series
Awesome video! Love the series! Can't wait for more. But you spelled Sophocles wrong. See! Your viewers notice everything!
Love this! Thank you
The plays were preformed in a greek theatre. Not an Amphitheatre. Amphi meaning duo, sits from both sides. Only fully round shape Theaters are Amphis.
This is the best!
Can we expect anything on Beckett?
Julian Thomson oh god yes!!!pls!!!!
I hope they talk about Waiting for Godot, it's so influential in modern theatre
Maybe Sartre and existential theatre too? Mike we know you’re not new to yapping about No Exit;)
This is amazing
i...CANNOT wait for Noh > Kabuki theater [to follow house style].
Will you talk about Everyman?
+
Cool video!
At that time, did theatre have a religious function in Athens or a secular function (it was organised in honor of the city) ?
Notification Squad where you at?
I was wondering, at what time between theater being a guy acting out dithyroms and the institution of theater in Athens do people start wrighting plays intended to be acted, rather than acting out dithyroms or epics?
The Thought Bubble description of Greek theatre with its outlandish masks, platform shoes, and fake blood, sounds a lot like a Kiss concert!
this was great but the picture quality went hazy partway through it was hard to pay attention.
This is great but at 7:19 the "c" is left out of Sophocles - just FYI to whoever edited. :)
Beautiful.
Oof this video was for one of my High School work in Drama!! ;-;
Please discuss Aristophanes
Out of interest; will you be discussing Aristophanes when you get on to comedy? If so, I’m sold! Wasps is one of my favourite plays so...
Are we not getting an episode showing love to Euripides?! :( The Bacchae! Orestes! Iphigenia at Aulis!
Can’t wait for political theatre 💖💖💖💖💖💖
Deus ex machina
Ethan Republic laziest plot fixture ever.
*DING*
Wow! I love the new Ideas Channel set!
Oh, I made myself sad dot gif
When he talked about the "dithyramb" I swear I heard "dicky rhyme", as in, "they held aloft a giant phallus and sang a dicky rhyme". And then I laughed. Hard.
Mongol montage, how I missed you!
going into my theatre history exam 🤞🏼
Tell me about the video ?
Oh man, I wish you'd have Jamin Warren from PBS Game/Show as a host of CrashCourse eventually
i love u crash course, u da best
I believe what Aristotle meant, maybe (just my opinion), when you watch anything that shows your fears for example, usually shows the main character fighting those fears, and at the end realizing how small and nonsense those feelings are. Well my English sucks, but that's just what I think
Thespis simply asked questions that the chorus would answer. Aeschuylus developed the onkus (masks) when he started adding a second actor.
Does anyone know if the transcripts of these videos are available anywhere?
7:08
DON’T THINK I DIDN’T NOTICE THAT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Isn't a amphitheatre a Roman invention formed by placing two free standing theaters back to back? Or am I being a architecture pedant?
Béla Hahn Greek theatres were built into hillsides, rather than being built free standing. This way, it offered the best view for the audience as it has tiered seating, as well as a good sound system of sorts; there is one point in the orchestra which projects the actor’s voice clearly to the rest of the theatre, no matter the distance.
origin of Greek Drama: Dept a lot of it
The only Western country that is actually placed on the East
Ah yes, Sopholes, I wonder what Sophocles thought of him
they have theater competition? damn those greeks really know how to party
Surprisingly outdated. By the 6th c BCE, Dionysus was the most popular god in the Aegean world, and the ritual performance of dithyrambs was tied to the cult worship of Dionysus. If this were the origin of Greek drama, the 19th c theory introduced by Frasier but discredited since, you'd expect to find the new art form called theater developing all over Greece and across the Aegean, but it only arises in Athens -- as a manifestation of democracy.
Yes! Mike's back!
Can I have the whole video transcript?
Brother can you please tell me, how you all guys make such cool animated videos, i also want to make animated videos, help me please!!!!