When did drama first start? It’s always been a part of our lives, not just our own personal dramas but also those in literature, stage and film.

We don’t know exactly when humans first started re-enacting life stories, but the ancient Greeks were very keen on performing in public, telling stories. The Greek audience loved it and the theatrical culture flourished.  In Rome, however, it was a different story. The Romans didn’t care much for drama, preferring chariot races and watching gladiators in combat.

Drama probably comes from the Greek word dran, meaning ‘to act’ and the early Greek dramas were at first always tragedies, grave and solemn stories, often of stubborn pride.

Tragedy is from the Greek word tragoidia meaning ‘goat-song’. It sounds a bit strange but in ancient Greece, groups of men joined together in a chorus to sing poetry, wearing goatskins. The chorus would tell a story in song, and one man would separate from the chorus to argue against the story – and thus drama was born. This man was known as the protagonist, from protos ‘first’ and agonistes ‘combatant’ – our present word protagonist means ‘champion’ or ‘hero’.

Next, another man would step forward to argue with the protagonist. This man was known as the antagonist – anti means ‘against’. Antagonist now means ‘opponent’.

The philosopher Aristotle saw the drama of tragedy as a catharsis, what we would now call a release of emotional tension. After an overwhelming experience, the spirit is restored. In psychology, it’s a technique used to relieve tension and anxiety by bringing repressed feelings to consciousness.

Catharsis is – you guessed it – a Greek word. It means ‘cleansing’ or ‘purification’ and I suppose you could say that watching such dramas had a beneficial effect on the psyche of the spectator.

We may have our Oscars, but it has all been done before. Back in 508BC, the Greeks started holding a tragedy competition and festival called the Great Dionysia. In 493-2, a competitor called Phrynichus wrote a play about a historical event which told the story of the town of Miletus after it was conquered by the Persians.

It must have been quite a drama because the historian Herodotus reports that the whole theatre fell to weeping. Phrynichus was fined 1,000 drachmas for reminding the people of such a tragedy and was forbidden from performing the play ever again.

Happy Puzzling!