| Resumo: | This essay on the origins of Greek Drama starts with a study on the lexical field formed by words such as κωμοσ, κωμωδοσ, τραγωδοσ and some others. The author thinks that originally the tragical chorus was considered a κωμοσ; later on, the value of the term was restringed in compounds such as κωμωδοσ, κωμωδια owing to their opposition to τραγωδοσ, τραγωδια. The study of the structural elements and of the motives common both to tragedy and comedy confirm that both dramatical forms procede from the variegated and complex world of the κωμοσ. They became differenciated only progressively; first, tragedy and satyr-play received their form and then comedy, which preferred subjects neglected by the former. Then tragedy was felt as directly opposed to comedy, getting both progessively more distant. This view on the prehistory of Greek Drama represents a reaction against that one inherited from Aristotle, which tries to find for each of its species a starting point or αρχη whose φυσις implies its main features.
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