Extract

At Athens the chorēgia was a leitourgia (*liturgy), or public service performed by a wealthy citizen for the *polis. A chorēgos (literally ‘leader of a chorus’) was responsible for the recruitment, training, maintenance, and costuming of choreutai (members of a chorus) for competitive performance at a festival. The same system of individual contribution was used to provide the Athenian navy with its ships (trierarchia: see trierarchy).The chorēgia was central to the organization and funding of the dramatic *festivals in Athens and its demes. The actors were appointed and remunerated separately by the polis, but the chorus involved the main part of the expense in these productions. In the Great *Dionysia, the main dramatic festival held annually, choruses were required for each of the various genres of performance: five for comedy (with 24 choreutai in each), three for tragedy and satyr-play (see satyric drama) (12 or 15 choreutai) and ten each for the two categories of *dithyramb, men's and boys’ (50 choreutai).