Question: Explain how the origins of theatre in Athens are tied to both religion and politics

Question: Explain how the origins of theatre in Athens are tied to both religion and politics

Politics and religion were very important to the Greeks.  They believed in many Gods and this was evident in there theatre.  The theatre first began as a way to honor and praise the gods and around the time of the Persian war politics became very evident in the theatre too.  An example of their connection for theatre and religion is the festival they had to honor the god of fertility and wine, Dionysus.  This festival was named, “City Dionysia.”  During the festival people performed songs for the god.  At first theatres were mainly for festivals but then people begun to use them as a way to praise the gods through plays also.  A lot of the times people would use plays to show their political views, whether they were criticizing political events or showing them in a story to capture history these plays became almost like a history lesson.  Eventually these plays were even separated in to categories such as the ortragedies, that show with lessons on morality and made the audience think, and the werecomedies, which were funny shows involving politics.  Theatres were even used as meeting places to vote and discuss on issues such as democracy.  As you can see theatres were a big deal to Athens.