| Term | Definition |
| Theatron | "Seeing place" where the audience sat |
| Orchestra | circular dancing place where actors and chorus preformed |
| skene | small hut like building behind the stage used as a dressing room and later as a backdrop for painted settings |
| parados | entry and exit way for chorus-also the first song sung in the play |
| thespis | Legendary founder of Greek drama—created first actor (speaker separate from chorus) |
| hubris | TRAGIC CYCLE: 2nd, excessive pride the protagonist has in his good fortune |
| catharsis | a clensing or purging that releases emotions |
| dramatic irony | when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't |
| foil | a character who acts as a contrasts to another character |
| Incest | Sexual relations between family members. |
| parricide | The murder of a parent. |
| tragic flaw | The character flaw or error of a tragic hero that leads to his downfall |
| Situational Irony | Opposite of what is expected to happen. |
| verbal irony | discrepancy between what is said and what is meant |
| unity of place | action was limited to one |
| unity of action | only one story line |
| unity of time | takes place in one day (24 hours) |
| prologue | introduction (to a poem or play) |
| Exodos | Conclusion of the play |
| Functions of Greek chorus | performed as an actor, acted as an ideal spectator, set a mood, add color movement and poetry, created a rhythm |
| Thebes | The city Oedipus rules for 20 years |
| Corinth | Where does Oedipus grow up? |
| Mt Cithaeron | Where oedipus was left as a baby |
| Jocasta | (Greek mythology) queen of Thebes who unknowingly married her own son Oedipus |
| Laius | king of Thebes who was unwittingly killed by his son Oedipus |
| Iron pin | What did Oedipus's birth parents pierce his feet with? |
| A man | What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon and three legs in the evening? |
| Amphitheater | Outdoor theater |
| Choragus | Leader of the chorus |
| Harmartia | The character defect that causes the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy; tragic flaw |
| Ode | The form of lyric poetry anciently intended to be sung. |
| Odeon | A kind of theater in ancient Greece, smaller than the dramatic theater and roofed over, |
| Tiresias | the blind soothsayer who is able to look into the future |
| Creon | Brother of Jocasta |
| Antigone | Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta |
| Delphi | place where people went for advice; site of Apollo's temple |
| Polybus | Adoptive father of Oedipus, King of Corinth |
| Sophocles | Ancient Greek playwrite; wrote Oedipus Rex, and Antigone |
| Fates | a group of three goddesses of destiny |
| Stasimon | The choral ode, comes at the end of each episode, so that the tragedy is a measured alteration between these two elements |
| Episode | (act or scene in modern theatre) here the plot is developed through action and dialogue between the actors, with the chorus sometimes playing a minor role |
| Olbos | TRAGIC CYCLE: 1st, State of prosperity in which the protagonist finds himself at the beginning of the action |
| Phthonis | TRAGIC CYCLE: 3rd, The gods jelousy of the protagonists good fortune |
| Ate | TRAGIC CYCLE: 4th, The reckless impulse that causes the protagonist to ignore the potent warning that if he does not humble himself, he will be struck down |
| Nemesis | TRAGIC CYCLE: 5th, The vengance of the gods which results in some calamity between the protagonist, causing him to regret his hubris |
| Peripeteia | A sudden turn of events or unexpected reversal of fortune |
| anagnorisis | the critical moment of recognition or discovery, especially preceding peripeteia. |
| antagonist | the adversary of the protagonist in a drama or other literary work |