The Classical WorldCulture & Arts Greek theater c. 534 BCEMajor Thespis steps out of the chorus as an actor. Tragedy and comedy follow. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Copper smelting → Bronze Age begins → Minoan palaces on Crete → Mycenaean Greece → Trojan War (legendary) → Homer's Iliad and Odyssey → Greek theater Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentworldhistory.orgAncient Greek theatre (World History Encyclopedia) ↗Editor's pickBookP. E. Easterling (ed.)The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeancient Greek theatre origins ↗Editor's pick