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Between 600 and 200 BC, two thousand years before Shakespeare, staging and written techniques which define western theatre as we know it were being established in Athens, Greece. The ancient Athenians created a theatre culture whose structure, technique and terminology have survived to the present day in the form of plays which are still considered some of the greatest literary works in existence. The only other times in history when dramatic writing has even come close to …

…direct contrast to the Roman playwrights who, for the better part, are not given a mention as a part of the origins of modern theatre. Bibliography: Golden ages of the theatre by Kenneth Macgowan & William Melnitz Five thousand years of theatre by Jack Mitchley and Peter Spalding The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton The Oxford companion to theatre The Guiness book of theatre http://www.perspicity.com/elactheatre/library/pedia/greek.htm#origins