[Paraphrased from Eric Csapo (2007). The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond: From Ritual to Drama. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83682-1]
This book deals with the origins and prehistory of theatrical forms in ancient Greece, namely "drama": "For those experienced only in classics and not in anthropology, "drama" is basically a matter of literature whereas "ritual" defaults to some kind of subliterature.", Central to this idea is that ritual and drama share a certain matrix, the "Dionysian Matrix", in which there are certain common practices of a religious nature which manifest themselves in drama and its origin, and that this connection is stronger than perhaps a Darwinian description of the evolution of drama from earlier forms might seem.
The book highlights the overly limited definitions given to "drama" and "ritual" by classicists. "Drama" needs to be understood in the general sense of the word as theorised by anthropologists, not only in its more specific sense as applied by specialists of Classical literature, who, by training, think of drama as more of a literary creation of Classical Greek authors, that the history of drama in European literature is based on the notion of Classical Greek drama as a unifying literary prototype.
Anthropologists, on the other hand, consider drama to be a descriptive term which can encompass a worldwide variety of traditions that have only one thing in common: the reenactment of myth through ritual. This more general meaning of "drama" also applies to the pre-history of Classical Greek drama. The Greek word drama reinforces this general sense, being derived from the verb drao, which designates the performance of ritual. Working backwards in time drama is found to be nothing less than ritual.
To appreciate the discussion the word "ritual" has to be understood in an anthropological sense, and not as the classicists might think. For anthropologists "ritual" acquires its reality in the context of a systematic description of attested practices, on a case-by-case basis, such as the singing and dancing of costumed ensembles as represented in the vase-paintings from Archaic Corinth. The participants in the singing and dancing in these ensembles are called "padded dancers" by art historians. An anthropologists would study these in the historical context of Archaic Corinth before making comparisons with similar styles of vase-painting in other locations, like Athens.
In Athens the participants in the dances are described by the art historians as "silens" [silenoi]. Like the "padded dancers" of Archaic Corinth, the silens are grotesque in appearance and wanton in behaviour, which are integral features of their performance.
Dressing up and behaving/performing like a silen is a basic theme in the case of the paintings on the Athenian vases. Related to this is the depiction of silens with erect pensises on the Athenian vases similar to the phallic appendages worn by the padded dancers on the Corinth vases. These features make it clear that we are looking at the performers under the masks and costumes, and not just the characters projected as by the masks and costumes. And the overt representation/depiction of regimentation in the dancing makes it clear that they are depicting an ensemble of performers as a khoros of singers and dancers..
And that a re-reading of Aristotle's Poetics seems to confirm this point of view.
During 6th and 5th centuries BC Ancient Greek theatre is said by the ritualists to have emerged from the Dionysian rituals, where masked performers sang and danced in honour of the god of wine, intoxication, and of theatre itself. These rituals explored themes of death, rebirth, and the human condition, which the ritualists argue laid the groundwork for tragedy.
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