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Aristotle's Tragedy Terminology

31 Terms to Know That Aristotle Used for Ancient Greek tragedy.

By , About.com Guide

In movies, or on television or stage, actors interact with one another and speak lines from their scripts. If there's only one actor, it's a monologue. Ancient tragedy began as a conversation between a single actor and a chorus performing in front of an audience. A second and, later, a third actor were added to enhance tragedy, which was a major part of Athens' religious festivals in honor of Dionysus. Since dialogue between individual actors was a secondary feature of Greek drama, there must have been other important features of tragedy. Aristotle points them out.

11. Dochmiac

Dochmiac is a Greek tragedy meter used for distress. The following is a representation of a dochmiac, with the U indicating an unstressed syllable: u--u- and -uu-u-.

12. Eccyclema

An eccyclema is a wheeled device used in ancient tragedy.

13. Episode

The episode is that part of tragedy that falls between choral songs.

14. Exode

The exode is that part of tragedy not followed by choral song.

15. Iambic Trimeter

Iambic Trimeter is a Greek meter used in Greek plays for speaking. An iambic foot is a short syllable followed by a long.

16. Kommos

Kommos is emotional lyric between actors and chorus in ancient Greek tragedy.

17. Monody

Monody is a lyric sung solo by one actor in Greek tragedy. It is a poem of lamentation. Monody comes from the Greek monoideia.

18. Orchestra

The orchestra was the round or semi-circular "place for dancing," in a Greek theater, that had a sacrificial altar at the center.

19. Parabasis

In Old Comedy, the parabasis was a pause around the midpoint in the action during which the coryphaeus spoke in the name of the poet to the audience.

20. Parode

The parode is the first utterance of the chorus.

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