Статтю присвячено проблемі, яка досі викликає неоднозначні оцінки науковців, – вивченню походження давньогрецької трагедії. Спочатку було розглянуто базову теорію Аристотеля, який
у «Поетиці» згадує про походження трагедії від сатирівської драми. Далі увагу було приділено іншому підходу до проблеми – вивченню етимології слова τραγῳδία: ми проаналізували, як змінювалося
тлумачення цього слова від «пісні цапів» до «пісні, яку співали під час жертвопринесення цапів».
Насамкінець було розглянуто зв’язки між ритуальними дифірамбами та трагедією і зроблено припущення, чому вони не могли із часом трансформуватися у трагедію.
The article considers the question of the origin of tragedy, which is still not very well learned. We
started with the research of some main theories. In Poetics Aristotle says that tragedy comes from satyr
drama, but does not explain how exactly it transformed. We continued with the review of another
interesting question and possible point of view on the problem, which is understanding the etymology of
the word τραγῳδία. We have discovered that there is quite a tradition coming from the German theorist
U. f. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff to understand tragodia as the song of goats (singers that wore the skins
of goats).
However, during the research we found out that contemporary theorists (for example, W. Burkert)
claim that the exact meaning of the word is ‘the song that was sang at the sacrificial of the goat’. First, it
is because of the rules of Ancient Greek: according to them the word tragodia could not mean ‘the singing
goat’, but ‘the singer somehow connected to a goat’. In addition, satyrs did not look like goats: there are
some vase paintings where satyrs are depicted near the goats.
Another point is the problem of connection between the ritual dithyramb choirs and tragedy, and the
theory that tragic competitions come from dithyramb ones. Some researchers claim that dithyramb choirs
were somehow ‘not so serious’ and then they transformed into a ‘serious’ tragedy (there is a so-called
anthropological theory that claims that dithyramb choirs depicted the behaviour of animals and their
games), but the later sources state that those competitions could even be cruel.
In addition, the dithyramb competitions started 25 years later than tragic ones (the chronology is
approximate), which brings us to the idea that they could not be the origin of the tragedy. Still, there is
another theory (by J. Winkler) which says that dithyramb and tragic choirs are much older than the festivals,
and the festivals, when they came to be, just renewed the old traditions and gave them the agonal
impulse. Dithyramb competitions also did not come to an end with the growth of popularity of the theatre
(they existed till the II century BC).
