Festivals of Greece & Rome Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Festivals of Greece & Rome - Essay Example The Romans theatre history shows that they had several problems especially the stage craft and the imbalanced concept of drama with stage performances. As a result the stages in the beginning were constructed based on Greek models. In fact the concept of drama was introduced to Romans only from the Greeks. In this instance Romans stand next to the Greeks not equal to Greeks. The Greeks have a mythological background for all its religious festivals. Greeks’ strong faith in the supremacy of God is evident from the worship of each God and the reason they associate with their Gods. They honored their Gods through these festivals and had a faith that they could be punished in terms of earthquake or war if they don’t honor Gods. A festival according to both Greeks and Romans is not only for them but also for other visitors and participants from other countries to take part in competitions and contests. Especially sports, music and games. The course of the festival is declared as holiday. Greeks declare their festivals honoring their Gods such as Zeus, Olympia, Hera, and Dionysus who symbolize health, fertility, vegetation etc. The Greeks looked at their Gods as personifications of spring and periods. Where as most of the Roman festivals are celebrated during summer. Women were treated with equal importance as a result a special festival is organized for women honoring the Goddess Olympia, where sports events were conducted for women. The Panathenic festival in honor of the Goddess Hera, contained contests for singers, poets and playwrights. The Athens festival was considered as the most interesting event of the year, where series of operas, symphonies and ballets were performed at the theatre of Herodes Atticus. The influence of Greek drama could be seen in all the plays of all the times. Greeks performed plays in other religious festivals also especially the Church quoted dramatic scenes to explain religious