Dionysus: the birth of theater [Seven days of history]
Initially, the theater served as a form of honoring the god Dionysus. Since religion was closely connected with state life, the performances told about the holidays of Dionysus and were the subject of concern of the state authorities. The nation-wide character of these authorities explains the rapid growth in the importance of the theater in Athens, the attraction of outstanding poets to it, a huge number of plays written for the theater, as well as the vastness of the theater, which could accommodate more than ten thousand spectators.