The new tragic pattern also had ramifications for the orchestra. The building became large and sturdy to accommodate the various machines that became popular in tragic performances such skene were also higher and elaborately decorated with sculpture and architectural features. This generation of skene allowed the actors to perform on stage level as well on the roof. The skene evolved again, this time into a complex and permanent stone structure. Over time, the actors supplanted the chorus as the dominant characters in tragedy, and theater design reflected this important shift. These benches wrapped more than halfway around the orchestra and began the Greek theater's distinctive architectural form. Second, rows of wooden seats were built on the hillside. First, the orchestra was sunk just below the level of the audience, thus formalizing the stone rim the orchestra was also paved with large, flat stones. During this time, other areas of the theater became more defined. These wooden platforms, though still temporary, were painted with architectural features though our word 'scene' comes from the Greek skene, these paintings were purely decorative and in no way influenced the tragedy or its content. These new and improved skene provided a degree of separation for the actors, as well as doors through which the actors could enter and exit. The small tent gave way to larger wooden buildings. The actors, naturally, needed some way to physically separate themselves from the chorus and the orchestra.

These choral songs evolved into tragedy with the addition of actors. The rising earth formed a natural seating area, a theater (in Greek = 'watching place'), from which spectators could view the performances. Audiences began to attend these performances, and orchestras started to be built against hillsides. A simple, undecorated wooden tent, or skene, stood behind the orchestra and provided a place for the chorus to store instruments or other props needed during the dance. The chorus did not use the altar per se during performance instead, the altar acted as a focal point around which the chorus danced and sang. At the center of the orchestra stood an altar to Dionysus, the patron god of tragedy. The orchestra was simply a flattened patch of earth, unpaved, and delimited by a rim of large stones. These performances took place in a large, circular orchestra, or dancing area, in which the chorus performed. Choral performances in honor of the god Dionysus evolved into what we know as tragedy, an enduring artform that the Greeks invented in the 6th c. Choral songs were an early Greek performative art, in which a large group of people, the chorus (in Greek, literally = 'dance'), would dance and sing raucous songs in honor of a god. The earliest Greek theaters recall tragedy's origins in choral songs sung to local heroes and divinities.

As tragedy evolved from choral songs to works such as Oedipus the King, a unique, reciprocal relationship developed with the theater. At the same time, the overarching simplicity of the Greek theater, despite the many changes, demanded certain features of the tragedies. The Greek theater evolved to fit the changing specifications of tragedy, eventually into the form that survives at hundreds of sites around the Mediterranean. The size, shape, and functions of the various pieces, though analogous to the modern theater, were quite different in ancient times.

While we associate many features of modern theaters with their Greek counterparts, the ancient theater was a very different animal. Without a doubt, the Greek theater remains one of the most recognized and distinctive buildings in the world.

Rise of mythos 2 honor points