What did each competing poet present at the tragic contests of the Dionysia?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

At the tragic contests of the Great Dionysia, each of the three competing poets was required to present a set of four plays. This collection consisted of:12

  • Three Tragedies: These were written, produced, and often acted in by the poet. While early poets like Aeschylus often linked these three plays into a unified dramatic whole (a trilogy), later poets such as Sophocles and Euripides generally moved away from this practice.12
  • One Satyr Play: This was a burlesque performance that treated a heroic subject in a lighthearted, often humorous fashion. These plays featured a chorus of satyrs and served to alleviate the emotional tension of the preceding tragedies.123

Although the satyr play was traditionally the fourth in the sequence, it was always the work of the same tragic poet, as the individuals who competed in the tragic category did not write comedies.13