A dithyrambus or dithyramb is, in Greek literature, a poem sung in honour of the god Bacchus or Dionysus, at his festivals. It was composed in a lofty and often inflated style: hence the term is applied to any poem of an impetuous and irregular character. Research Dithyrambus
Drama (from the Greek drew, I act), is a class of writings which almost entirely consist of dialogue, persons being represented as acting and speaking, and the pieces being usually intended to be acted on a stage by parties assuming the characters of the respective persons.
Its two great branches are tragedy and comedy, the former, roughly speaking, melancholy in character, the latter cheerful. The origin of the drama must be sought for in the love of imitation, and dramatic performances of some kind are to be met with probably among all nations.
Dramatic compositions are found in the Old Testament, for example in Job and the Song of Solomon; and ancient India and China both developed a dramatic literature of their own.
The European drama bad its origin in Greece. Both forms, tragic and comic, took their rise in the celebrations of the Greek festivals of Dionysus (Bacchus), at which hymns and chants were sung by choruses in honour of the god, and the chorus continued to be a prominent feature of the old Greek drama. Greek comedy commenced about 580-560 BC with Susarion, but it was long in attaining regular form. Of the old Greek comedy the chief representatives were Oratinus, Eupolis, Pherecrates, and Aristophanes - the last the greatest.
The invention of tragedy is generally ascribed to Thespis about 530 BC, who was followed by Phrynichus. But the true creator of tragedy was Aeschylus, in whose works and those of Sophocles and Euripides it found its most perfect expression. Thespis had only one actor, who from time to time relieved the chorus by declamation. Aeschylus changed this representation into real action by making use of two actors in addition to the chorus. Aeschylus also introduced masks; and by means of a long gown and the cothurnus, or buskin, the lofty stature of the heroes was imitated. A third actor was first introduced by Sophocles. The accommodations for the spectators were improved, and machinery and scenery introduced. The theatres, which had been formerly built of wood, were now large stone erections, capable of containing the greater number of the citizens. The regular drama among the Romans was borrowed from the Greeks. Plautus and Terence were imitators of the Greek comedy, Livius Andronicus (240 BC) of the Greek tragedy. Of the Roman tragedy, the dramas of Seneca are the only specimens extant.
In most modern European countries the regular drama took its rise in the mysteries, miracle-plays, and moralities of the middle ages. In Italy, however, it began with a reproduction in Latin of classical models. The earliest tragedy in Italian is Trissino's Sofonisba (1502). Regular comedies in Italian were written by Ariosto, Aretino, Macchiavelli, and others; and to the same period (15th and 16th centuries) belongs the Italian Pastoral Drama, which sprung from the ancient idylls, and aimed at a fanciful delineation of Arcadian and mythological scenes. Among the pastoral dramatists of this period are Poliziano, Tasso, and Guarini. The pastorals gave birth to the opera, early masters of which, so far as it may be included in the poetic drama, are Zenoand Metastasio. The Italian drama waned in the 17th century, but in the 18th genuine comedy and classic tragedy were restored, the former by Goldoni, the latter by Alfieri. Monti, Manzoni, and Niccolini are among the later writers of tragedy.
The other European nations cultivated the dramatic art much later than the Italians. The English and Spaniards devoted their attention to it almost at the game time; the former reaching their acme in William Shakespeare, the latter in Lope de Vega and Calderon. The history of the English theatre and the drama is naturally divided into two parts, the first of which begins with the reign of Elizabeth I and ends with the reign of Charles I. The rapid developmentof the drama during the reign of Elizabeth I was entirely unhampered by foreign influence. Lyly, Peele, Greene, Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletchor, Chapman, Webster, Middleton, Marston, Ford,and Massinger are among the chief names connected with the brilliant period of the English drama.
During the Commonwealth the Puritans prohibited all kinds of plays, and the theatres were shut up for thirteen years. With Charles II the drama reappeared, and exhibited a licentiousness hardly equalled by that of any other Christian nation. Among the chief names belonging to this period are Dryden, Otway, Lee, Shadwell, Wycherley, and Etherege. From the close of the 17th to that of the 18th century British comedy was cultivated with much success by Cibber, Farquhar, Congreve, Sheridan, and others.
During the 19th century many writers have been conspicuous by their dramas. Among the chief of these may be noted Byron, Coleridge, Landor, Shelley, Maturin, Talfourd, Milman, Sir Henry Taylor, the first LordLytton, Knowles, R. H. Home, Arnold, Browning, Swinburne, and Tennyson. Among other 19th-century writers for the stage, who, however, may be called playwrights rather than dramatists, may be named, Douglas Jerrold, Tom Taylor, Charles Reade, Thomas Robertson, W. G. Wills, H. Byron, R. Buchanan, Dion Boucicault, W. S. Gilbert, J. M. Barrie, A. W. Pinero, H. A. Jones, etc.
The French drama was in a miserable state before Corncille (1606-84), who indeed is looked on as the founder of the drama in France. Racine, Moliere, Voltaire, and in later times Hugo, are some of the other distinguished French dramatists. Since about 1820 a new dramatic school has been formed in France, which, departing from the ancient strictness of what is called the classic, approaches more and more to the German or British, or what is called the romantic school. The establishment of this school formed part of the general reaction against the excessive adherence to classic models in literature, the leader in the movement being Victor Hugo. C. Delavigne marks the transition from the classical to the beginnings of the romantic school, and among the 19th century dramatists may be mentioned A. de Vigny, George Sand, A. de Musset, Merimee, Ponsard, Augier, Scribe, Dumas the Younger, and Sardou.
The German drama is of later birth than any thus far mentioned, and for a long time the Germans contented themselves with translations and adaptations from the French. Leasing was the first who, by word and deed, broke the French sway (1755), and he was succeeded by Schiller and Goethe, who rank as the greatest of the more modern dramatists. Prominent names in the German drama are Kotzebue, Korner, Schlegel, Tieck, Brentano, Grillparzer, Hebbel, Ludwig, Gutzkow, Freytag, Laube, Von Moser, etc.
The Dutch drama begins with the classical tragedies of Koster in the beginning of the 17th century, and reached its highest in Vondel (1587-1659). Holberg, Heiberg, Oehlenschlager, Ibsen, and Bjornson are the chief names connected with the Scandinavian drama.
The advent of moving pictures during the 20th century revolutionised drama, and introduced film or movies to the audience, with the USA quickly developing a reputation for film making based in Hollywood, and by the end of the 20th century the Indian city of Mumbai had become a leading center of Hindi language film making producing more films than even Hollywood. Research Drama
The Eleusinian Mysteries were sacredrites anciently observed in Greece at the annual festival of Demeter or Ceres, so named from their original seat Eleusis. As a preparation for the greater mysteries celebrated at Athens and Eleusis, lesser Eleusinia were celebrated at Agras on the Ilissus. The greater Eleusinia were celebrated in the month Boedromion (September-October), beginning on the 15th of the month and lasting nine days. The celebrations, which were varied each day, consisted in processions between Athens and Eleusis, torch-bearing and mystic ceremonies attended with oaths of secrecy. They appear to have symbolized the old conceptions of death and reproduction, and to have been allied to the orgiastic worship of Dionysus (Bacchus). They are supposed to have continued down to the time of Theodosius I. Research Eleusinian Mysteries
George Cruikshank was an English artist. He was born in 1792 at London and died in 1878. He is remembered for his caricatures and book illustrations. His father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an engraver of theatrical portraits, prints for cheap books, and caricatures in the manner of Rowlandson and Gillray. From early childhood George Cruikshank was trained to assist in preparing his father's plates. The earliest of his drawings known is dated 1799, when he was only seven years of age, and when fifteen he was comparatively distinguished. His first occupation was designing illustrations for children's books and popular songs. He began early also as a political satirist, contributing plates regularly in 1811 to the Scourge, in 1814 illustrating Dr. Syntax's Life of Napoleon, and doing much work of the kind for Hone, the publisher. His best productions of this period are his drawings of the Cato Street Conspiracy and of the trial of Queen Caroline, the Political Showman, and the Political House that Jack Built.
In 1821 and the succeeding years appeared his illustrations of such popular books as Pierce Egan's Tom and Jerry; Maxwell's History of the Irish Rebellion, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Peter Schlemihl, Baron Munchhausen, Defoe's History of the Plague, Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft, the Ingoldsby Legends, etc, the artist showing especial excellence in ghostly and fairy subjects.
In 1837 he commenced in Bentley's Miscellany his famous series of etchings on steel illustrative of Dickens' Oliver Twist, followed two years later by those for Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard, and then by those for Windsor Castle and the Tower of London. Having connected himself with the temperance movement he produced the Bottle, a powerful and popular series of designs, but marking clearly the limits of his art. His temperance connection and his absurd claims to having suggested the idea of Dickens' Oliver Twist, undermined his artistic reputation.
Poorly paid for work by which others profited, he was latterly obliged to part with the vast collection of his works, and in 1866 50 pounds sterling a year was settled on him from the Royal Academy's Turner Annuities, He latterly turned his attention to oil-painting, his most noteworthy pictures being Tam o'Shanter, Disturbing a Congregation, and The Worship of Bacchus. Research George Cruikshank
John Bacchus Dykes was an English church-music composer. He was born in 1823 and died in 1876. He was one of the founders of the Cambridge University Musical Society and a writer of many hymns. Research John Dykes
Michael Angelo Buonarotti was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect and poet. He was born in 1475 at Tuscany and died in 1563. He studied drawing under Domenico Ghirlandaio, and sculpture under Bertoldo at Florence, and having attracted the notice of Lorenzo de'Medici, was for several years an inmate of his household.
Having distinguished himself both in sculpture and painting, He was commissioned (together with Leonardo da Vinci) to decorate the senate-hall at Florence with a historical design, but before it was finished, in 1505, he was induced by Pope Julius II to settle in Rome. Here he sculptured the monument of the pontiff (there are seven statues belonging to it) now in the church of St Pietro in Vincoli; and painted the dome of the Sistine Chapel, his frescoes representing the creation and the principal events of sacredhistory.
In 1530 he took a leading part in the defence of Florence against Charles V. Three years later he began his great picture in the Sistine Chapel, the Last Judgment, which occupied him eight years. His last considerable works in painting were two large pictures: the Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of St Peter in the Pauline Chapel.
In sculpture he executed the Descent of Christ from the Cross, four figures of one piece of marble. His statue of Bacchus was thought by Raphael to possess equal perfection with the masterpieces of Phidias and Praxiteles. As late as 1546 he was obliged to undertake the continuation of the building of St Peter's, and planned and built the dome, but he did not live long enough to see his plan finished, in which many alterations were made after his death. Besides this, he undertook the building of the Piazzadel Campidoglio (Capitol), of the Farnese Palace, and of many other edifices. His style in architecture is distinguished by grandeur and boldness, and in his ornaments the untamed character of his imagination frequently appears, preferring the uncommon to the simple and elegant. His poems, which he considered merely as pastimes, contain, likewise, convincing proofs of his great genius. His prose works consist of lectures, speeches, etc. Research Michael Buonarotti
Anthesteria was a Greek festival held each year in honour of the gods, particularly Bacchus and to celebrate the beginning of spring. Research Anthesteria
In Greek mythology Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos. She fell in love with Theseus and helped him out of the labyrinth with a thread in exchange for him promising to take her back to Athens and marry her. She was abandoned by Theseus on the Isle of Naxos where she subsequently met and married Bacchus. Research Ariadne
Bacchanalia were feasts held in honour of Bacchus and characterized by licentiousness and revelry celebrated in ancient Athens. In the processions were bands of Bacchantes of both sexes, who, inspired by real or feigned intoxication, wandered about rioting and dancing. They were clothed in fawn-skins, crowned with ivy, and bore in their hands thyrsi, that is spears entwined with ivy, or having a pine-cone stuck on the point. These feasts passed from the Greeks to the Romans, who celebrated them with still greater dissoluteness until the senate abolished them in 187 BC. Research Bacchanalia
Bacchus was a Greek and later Roman form of the Greek god Dionysus, and in this form was the god of wine and drunken happiness. He was the son of Jupiter and Semele, and was depicted in perennial youth, usually as a maiden, with a crown or vine or ivy leaves around his temples, and holding in his hand a spear bound with ivy. Tigers, lions or lynxes are yoked to his chariot, whilst he is accompanied by bacchanals, satyrs and his foster-father and preceptor Silenus.
He first taught the cultivation of the vine and the preparation of wine. To spread the knowledge of his invention he travelled over various countries and received in every quarter divine honours. Drawn by lions (some say panthers, tigers, or lynxes), he began his march, which resembled a triumphal procession. Those who opposed him were severely punished, but on those who received him hospitably he bestowed rewards. His love was shared by several; but Ariadne, whom he found deserted upon Naxos, alone was elevated to the dignity of a wife, and became a sharer of his immortality. Research Bacchus
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Dithyrambus
