Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

276 Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks
of the chorus was to comment on the action and urge caution. Its
reactions also helped the audience to reach its own verdict about
events, though the chorus was not the mouthpiece of the poet. At
a more mundane level, it enabled the actors to change costumes
between scenes. Its significance declined over time, and, in many of
Euripides’ late plays, it is little more than an adjunct. The exception
to this rule is Bacchai, where the role of the chorus is central to the
drama. Even the comic dramatist Menander, writing about a century
later than Euripides, did not abolish the chorus altogether.
Choral performances were not confined to drama. They took
place at all religious festivals, as well as at secular gatherings. They
include a song of praise known as the encomium (enkômion), whose
name derives from the fact that it was originally sung at a revel
or kômos; the victory ode (epinikion); and the dirge (thrênos). The
earliest surviving choral poetry was written by Alkman, who composed
songs for choruses of Spartan girls in the seventh century
b.c.e. Alkman’s work provides us with a glimpse of a Sparta that is
sensuous, delicate, and refined—very different from the militaristic
state that it became in later times. Choral lyric reached its peak
in the early fifth century b.c.e. Its chief exponent was Pindar, who
wrote numerous odes celebrating victories in the Olympic, Pythian,
and Nemean Games.
The Actors
All the speaking parts in both comedy and tragedy were performed
by a maximum of three male actors. Because there could
be as many as eight different dramatis personae in a play, however,
actors frequently had to change parts. They did this by both
switching masks and costumes and altering the pitch of their voices.
Masks, which were probably made of stiffened linen, were fairly
naturalistic in the case of tragedy but grotesque caricatures in the
case of comedy. Because actors could not rely on facial expressions
to convey their emotions, they had to be far more expressive in both
voice and gesture than their modern counterparts.
In keeping with the idea of the heroic age that tragedy evoked,
tragic actors wore brightly colored robes decorated with elaborate
patterns. They also wore a calf-length boot known as the kothornos,
which was loose enough to fit on either foot. In later times, the
kothornos was provided with a high heel to make actors look more
impressive. Comic actors were heavily padded to make them look
completely ridiculous. Beneath their short tunics, they sported