Generic Hybridity in Athenian Tragedy

Abstract

Thoughweoften view tragedyprimarily in termsof the character and actions of its protagonists, it was, first and foremost, a choral genre. Even Aristotle, who in the Poetics largely avoids discussion of the chorus altogether, tells us that tragedy developed “from the leaders of the dithyramb” (ἀπὸ τῶν ἐξαρχόντων τὸν διθύραμβον, 1449a10–11), thus demonstrating that its origins were thought to be choral. In his Laws Plato, who, unlike Aristotle, had grown up in Athens, presumably regularly attending the theater and even participating in various choruses himself, clearly views tragedy in terms of choral song and dance—a combination called choreia, which the Athenian Stranger presents as vital to the city’s social, ethical, and physical fabric. The choral nature of this genre also becomes evident when we consider howmany tragedies (especially those of Aeschylus) are named after their choruses, and howmuch of a tragedy could consist in choreia: in Aeschylus’ Supplices, for example, the chorus sings for more than half the play; in Agamemnon and Choephoroi for just under half. Though later tragedy tends to include less choral song, on average it still occupies at least 15 percent of Sophoclean and Euripidean drama.1 The predominance of choreia in Aeschylus’ surviving plays suggests not only that it played a big part in early tragedy, but that early tragedy was by its very nature an amalgamation of different types of choral song, interspersed with actors’ dialogue (and occasionally actors’ song). Supplices, with its high proportion of choreia, demonstrates this mix well. Initially lament seems to dominate the play, as the maidens mourn their plight and seek protection in Argos— indeed, in their parodos they characterize themselves as continuously lamenting, claiming “while living I honor myself with dirges” (ζῶσα γόοις με τιμῶ,