ABSTRACT
In Athens in the fifth century , thousands upon thousands of citizens gathered in the open-air Theatre of Dionysus for the festival of drama that took place in the late winter or early spring. The timing of the festival was certainly linked to the religious calendar as well as the exigencies of the Greek climate. It is not certain whether or not women attended the performances. The audience was probably as rowdy, certainly as active, as the Elizabethans, and enjoyed a bill of fare that included song, dance, comedy and, of course, tragedy. The comedies were frequently full of topical reference, but the tragedies, performed in full masks and in broad daylight, almost invariably told tales drawn from myth or former enemies of the state. The action was fairly high-octane stuff and featured patricide, matricide, fratricide, infanticide and even deicide.
