Early Western tragedy
Origin of Western tragedy
The origins of tragedy in the West are obscure but it is certainly derived from the poetic and religious traditions of ancient Greece. Its roots may be traced more specifically to the dithyrambs, the chants and dances honoring the Greek god Dionysus, later known to the Romans as Bacchus. These drunken ecstatic performances were said to have been created by the satyrs, half-goat beings who surrounded Dionysus in his revelry. Phrynichus, son of Polyphradmon and pupil of Thespis, was one of the earliest of the Greek tragedians, and some of the ancients regarded him as the real founder of tragedy; he gained his first poetical victory in 511 BC. However, P.W. Buckham writes, quoting August Wilhelm von Schlegel, that Aeschylus was the inventor of tragedy.