New Greek Comedy

 New Greek Comedy

New Greek Comedy, New Comedy refers to Ancient Greek theatrical comedies created and performed during the age during which the Macedonians ruled Greece—roughly 320–260 b.c.e. 

New Greek Comedy, The revolutions in lifestyle of this era facilitated a change in entertainment. The characters in these comedies were typically drawn from the masses of everyday people, as against earlier plays that featured caricatures of the rich, the famous, or the ruling elite.

New Greek Comedy, Many hundreds or maybe even thousands of comedies were produced during this era , but only a couple of survive today. New Greek Comedy, All Greek theatrical performances originated in religious rites honoring Dionysus, also referred to as Bacchus, the god who roamed the planet followed by throngs of crazed women.

These women, called Maenads (from whom we get the term mania), participated in wild orgiastic rites. New Greek Comedy, The god’s symbol was the thyrsus, a phallic staff topped with an outsized pinecone and wound with an ivy or grape vine.

Originally, festivals honoring Dionysus took the shape of choreographed dances performed by a chorus. New Greek Comedy, This evolved into cathartic performances of tragedy, a word that literally means "goat ode", the goat being the symbol of Dionysus.

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