Prompt: Describe two fundamental differences between ancient Greek and ancient Roman theater and give a reason why the Romans and Greeks differed in their organization of space for theater.
While ancient Greek and ancient Roman theater may have their similarities, it is their differences that mostly stand out. Ancient Greek and ancient Roman theater are different because of their layouts of theater space and different classes of actors.
Ancient Greek and ancient Roman theater were very different from the way their theaters were built and organized. Although both cultures used the same basic structure, they have slight variations in their design.
One of the variations in design is the location of where a theater is built. The Greeks used to build their theaters of wood; they were also built near sanctuaries and took advantage of slopeside for seating. Meanwhile, the Romans' theaters were nearly all temporary structures built on foundations. It was not until 55 BC that the Romans built their first permanent theater structure which seated approximately 40,000 people. That was a lot more than that of the Greek's, which could only hold 15,000. The Roman theater had a lot of influences from the church because of the conflicts that theater had with the church. Therefore, the theaters weren't always used for theater purposes. Other minor differences was the skene of the Roman Theater, which was three stories high (compared to the Greek's two story high skene).
Ancient Greek and ancient Roman theater are also different because of the people that acted. It is true that actors from both cultures were male and wore masks. However, they were different because they were from different classes. Greek actors were mostly aristocrats, and treated performances as competitions. The Roman actors, on the other hand, were mostly from the lower classes of the social ladder. Their performances were also mostly treated as gifts of entertainment to society from the wealthy people.
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