The chorus of the elderly in classical Greek drama is a common trope in the theater of that period. Out of the thirty or so plays that are extant from the classical period, seven have choruses that consist of elderly people. Choruses in ancient drama often provided some moralizing lesson to the protagonist, especially in tragedy. However, the figures of the elderly chorus often seem to imply a traditional way of thinking that has become outdated with time, or, in some cases, provide a model of inefficacy. As history progressed from the early stages of Greek drama (with Aeschylus) the chorus became more integrated with the happenings on stage, rendering the chorus a messenger between the world of the audience and that of the actors.

Tragedy

The chorus of the elderly within

Greek tragedy Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy. Greek tragedy is widely believed t ...

is often used as an exemplar of old social mores. They are often ineffectual at admonishing main actors or interfering with the main plot.

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

in ''

Oedipus at Colonus ''Oedipus at Colonus'' (also ''Oedipus Coloneus''; grc, Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, ''Oidipous epi Kolōnōi'') is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's ...

'' uses the chorus to relate to the ageing protagonist, who has wandered to the town for safety. A common trope is that the elderly chorus provides sympathy and empathy for those in need as they too are in a deteriorating state, nearing their doom. The chorus of elders not only attempt to protect Oedipus but fail miserably; while the chorus speaks aggressively it is well known that they are too frail to attempt any sort of defense of the protagonist from physical harm. Similar outcomes of choral interference with onstage happenings occur in many other plays, including Agamemnon. Falkner notes that in tragedy the elderly are presented as

quixotic Quixotic may refer to: * Quixotism, deriving from the novel ''Don Quixote'' * ''Quixotic'' (album), an album by Martina Topley-Bird * Quix*o*tic Quix*o*tic was a rock band active from 1997 to 2002 in the area of Washington, D.C., United States. T ...

and obsessed with the prospect of doom inherent in old age; he also notes that often the elderly are presented as mourners within plays, perhaps relating to the number of sorrows old age allows one to accrue in mind.

Comedy

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...

uses the chorus of the elderly for varying reasons within his comedies. For example, the chorus of the elderly within ''

The Wasps ''The Wasps'' ( grc-x-classical, Σφῆκες, translit=Sphēkes) is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, during Athens' short-lived respite from the ...

'' plays both a comedic role and also serves as a political counterfoil to the young, cosmopolitans of Athens.Wencis, Leonard. ''The Social Significance of Youth in New Comedy'' Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1973.

Plays

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'' *''

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', "Army Disbander") is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponne ...

'' *'' Oedipus Rex'' *''

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness an ...

'' *'' The Suppliants'' *''

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the ...

'' *''

Alcestis Alcestis (; Ancient Greek: Ἄλκηστις, ') or Alceste, was a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her husband. Her life story was told by pseudo-Apollodorus in his '' Bibliotheca'', and a version of her death and return from t ...

'' *''

Heracleidae The Heracleidae (; grc, Ἡρακλεῖδαι) or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles (Hercules), especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also ...

References

Ancient Greek theatre