The Byzantines were particularly fond of entertainment and spectacles, whether performed in theatres and hippodromes (for as long as these were in use) or in city streets and squares on the occasion of fairs.


Late Antiquity

The main sources of attraction and entertainment were jesters, jugglers, tightrope walkers, and acrobats performing dangerous gymnastic routines. One popular spectacle came in the form of dogs and monkeys trained to do various tricks in the streets and taverns, often accompanied by music. People of the time also seem to have taken a keen interest in tamed dancing bears and wild animals such as elephants, rhinos, lions and tigers put on show at the hippodrome, often sponsored by emperors. Tamers were even threatened with punishments if their animals caused injury to the audience. People were likewise extremely impressed by physically unusual individuals, like giants, dwarfs and conjoined twins, who would be paraded around the streets and markets if they had not already been cast out of cities as bad omens.

Constantinople had at least four theatres in the 5^th century, the most important of which was the Grand Theatre (theatrum maius) close to the palace, founded by Septimius Sevirus and used for classical repertory performances. The main form of entertainment in hippodromes, theatres and the imperial court was mime theatre, on subjects deriving from mythology, everyday life and the Christian mysteries. Fun was poked at ancient gods and heroes, characters from all walks of life, the clergy and Christian martyrs. Topics from everyday life included adultery and prostitution, while Christian martyrdom and the baptism provided the excuse for men and women to appear naked on stage. Mime troupes consisted of both men (the protagonist and extras) and women known as mimades; they no longer wore masks, except when performing mythological mime plays, so facial expressions had to be stylized and a lot of makeup (psimythia ) was worn. When performing, the brief theatrical dialogues were often accompanied by flutes and pipes, dance intermezzos and bawdy songs. Particularly when they participated in dance performances, mimes had thick hair, shorter at the front and on the top of the head, and longer at the back, whereas comic mimes shaved their heads.

Though some actors lived in luxury and were invited to weddings, banquets and formal imperial dinners, most were considered disreputable and deemed equivalent to prostitutes and pimps. The majority came from the lower classes and were held to be of questionable morals. Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers regarded the spectacles in theatres and the hippodrome as a dangerous competitor, leading the faithful away from the Church. A canon passed by the Quinisext "in Trullo" Synod in 691-692, regarded as ecumenical only by the Eastern Orthodox Church, banned the faithful from attending theatrical performances. Work for mimes seems to have gradually declined after the 7th century.


Middle and Late Byzantine period

It is not known whether the theatre existed in middle and late Byzantium. However, information and evidence from sources lead to the conclusion that a kind of folk theatre did occasionally appear at festivals and fairs, where semi-professional actors or mimes performed. Another kind of learned theatre also seems to have existed as part of religious education. A satirical verse text entitled Spanos, or The Service of the Profane Goat-Bearded Spanos, can be considered as belonging somewhere in between; though based on the metrics, texts and hymns of the Orthodox Church, it is a scurrilous libel that could be sung by anyone who could chant.

Surviving texts are religious dramas written entirely in the form of dialogue. Rather than original works, these were a potpourri of elements from ancient tragedies and sacred texts, such as the Old and New Testament. The plays addressed an audience knowledgeable in ancient and Christian literature and aimed to raise religious awareness. Some plays, like The Suffering Christ were possibly intended only for recitation; others such as the Passion, on the last days in the life of Christ, were probably performed, as indicated by the staging instructions in the prologue and at the beginning of each episode. Works for religious theatre also included sketches by anonymous writers. These were incorporated into orthodox liturgy as stage re-enactments of sacred events, such as the Washing of the Feet on Good Friday.

Byzantine theatre did not have the educative dimension that ancient classical drama did. Yet it never ceased to entertain, whether as a form of mockery and laughter or as religious instruction delivered by dramatizing episodes of sacred history.