SOURCE: Blevins, James L. “The Genre of Revelation.” Review and Expositor 77 (summer 1980): 393-408.

[In the following essay, Blevins contends that the structure of Revelation was based on that of Greek tragedy, including its chorus and staging.]

Scholars find it difficult to pinpoint the peculiar literary genre of the book of Revelation. Recent studies have shown the relationship of Hellenistic biographies to the genre of our New Testament Gospels.¹ Less recent work has demonstrated the affinities between Greek letter writing style and that of Paul.² However, the genre of Revelation remains elusive. Charles Talbert, a specialist in genre studies, recently stated: “Someone needs to establish a credible genre for the book of Revelation.”³ It is usually assumed by researchers that Revelation belongs to the literary Gattung of apocalyptic literature. In reality, however, it was Revelation which gave its name to the other apocalypses. In fact, the dissimilarities between Revelation and the other apocalypses are becoming more and more evident. Such essential themes as pseudonymity, secrecy, and historical periodization are not utilized by Revelation. Unlike other apocalypses, it demonstrates a close affinity to the Hebrew prophetic literature and quotes extensively from it.⁴ We wish to contend that the genre of Revelation is a syncretistic one, setting forth a prophetic message in the form of Greek tragic drama. An author communicates not only be means of a shared genre but also through modification of that genre.

PREVIOUS RESEARCH

The name of John Wick Bowman is most closely attached to an attempt to link Revelation to Greek tragedy. However, Bowman in his book, The First Christian Drama,⁵ published in 1955, did not have as his purpose to give an in-depth study of the forms or content of Greek tragedy. At most, he proposed that Revelation be divided into seven acts with seven scenes in each act. His major contribution was in demonstrating the instruction which the writer gave within the text for the stage settings of the Revelation drama. The bulk of his abbreviated work was devoted to establishing the seven fold division of the book. He wrote it for people with the intent of introducing them to viewing Revelation as drama. He did nothing with the Greek stage, chorus, or the leading motifs and forms of Greek drama.⁶ To offset this weakness, Bowman also published the same year in Interpretation an article which he deemed an apologia to the scholarly world and in which he attempted to give more attention to the details of Greek drama.⁷ Again, however, most of the article was devoted to a defense of his seven acts, seven scenes division of the text. Near the end of that essay, he mentioned briefly the significance of the Greek stage and its design. Unfortunately, these two works are usually the only ones summarized or critiqued when the subject of Greek drama and Revelation is encountered. Without substantial facts and supports, the dramatic theme in Revelation as presented by Bowman is often dismissed as “novel” or “cute.” It is interesting also to note that many Revelation scholars assume that Bowman has said all that needs to be said on the subject.⁸

Bowman's best work on the subject was done in his article on “Revelation” in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible.⁹ There he endeavored for the first time to take a serious look at all aspects of Greek drama. Yet, again, he neglected the uniqueness of the stage at Ephesus, the role of the chorus, and the construction of the tragedies themselves. Thus, even though the idea of Revelation as Greek tragedy seems like an idea which has been with us a long time, it is evident that it has never really been explored. Prior to Bowman's work the form of Greek tragedy in Revelation had been recognized by Frederic Palmer in 1903 in his book The Drama of the Apocalypse.¹⁰ He was the first to note the dramatic aspect of Revelation. Like Bowman, however, he spent most of his time defending the divisions of the drama (five acts). The best work in this area was done by Raymond Brewer in an article published in 1936 entitled, “The Influence of Greek Drama on the Apocalypse of John.”¹¹ Brewer was the first to recognize the significance of the chorus in the book of Revelation. The article made no significant contribution to the subject. Most familiar to us here at Southern Seminary is the work of E. A. McDowell, Jr., who viewed Revelation as a three-act drama.¹² Again as Bowman, he was interested in a careful analysis of the features of Greek drama beyond the use of the theme itself.

We confront, then, what many may regard as an old theme, but one which has yet to be encountered in all of its power. We must move beyond the attempt to divide Revelation into acts and scenes. Some Revelation scholars want to use the theme of drama but are unprepared to follow the significance of that approach. We would like to move the discussion further along the way by exploring the stage at Ephesus, the Greek chorus, and the form and construction of the Greek tragedy.

Let us begin by asking the question, “Why would the writer of Revelation have chosen Greek tragedy as a form for his prophetic visions?” The need for the dramatic element by apocalyptic writers has been expressed by Ellul.

The apocalyptist is first of all a seer while the prophet is a hearer. Of course, the prophet also has visions, but what is important, decisive, are the words which are spoken to him. Of course, the apocalyptist also receives words, but he is first of all the one who sees the personages, the scenes, the scenario, and events.¹³

Thus a dramatic setting and style is necessary to capture what the writer saw and heard. Prose is woefully inadequate to capture that kind of experience. Martin Hengel, in his pace-setting book Judaism and Hellenism,¹⁴ has shown the overwhelming influence of the Greek world on Judaism. The Greek way had been solidly in control for three hundred years before the birth of Christ. Indeed, he viewed apocalyptic literature as a by-product of the struggle of Judaism with Hellenism in the period one hundred fifty years before Christ.¹⁵ He asserted, “It is no coincidence that the first great ‘apocalypses’ came from the time of the Hellenistic reform and the persecutions and freedom fights that proceeded from it.”¹⁶ Ringgren has also concluded that the cause of Jewish apocalyptic literature was “the difficult situation of the Jewish people in the Helenistic age.”¹⁷ Yet, even though apocalyptic stemmed from a reaction to Greek culture, it was couched in Hellenistic forms and patterns. Elsewhere in New Testament studies, we have learned that those who fought Gnosticism had to borrow Gnostic terminology.¹⁸ Many apocalyptic scholars have pointed to the Greek idea of the periodizing of history which was absorbed into the Jewish apocalypses.¹⁹ Greek drama was a familiar spectacle during this same Hellenistic period in every part of the world touched by Greek culture, certainly in Palestine, even more so in Asia Minor.²⁰

The relationship of Revelation to the Jewish apocalypses of the Hellenistic period has been thoroughly explored.²¹ However, very little note has been taken of the Hellenistic milieu which gave birth to these so-called Jewish apocalypses. It would seem strange that five hundred years of Greek drama would have been completely ignored by biblical writers. From Hengel's contributions it is evident that the elements of Greek tragedy could have been incorporated by the Jewish apocalyptists to express the emotion, plot, and action of their visual experiences. Although heavily indebted to these prior works, John, writing from Asia Minor in the heart of Greek culture, made even greater use of Greek forms and motifs. Ephesus was a major center of Greek culture.²²

Thirty-seven Greek theaters have been excavated in Asia Minor alone, including one in six of the seven cities of Revelation. Indeed, the largest theater in the Greek world was at Ephesus (25,000 seating capacity).²³ Philostratus related that Greek tragedy was performed in these theaters.²⁴ In a Hellenistic center such as Ephesus, the themes of the major Greek dramas were well known among the general population and thus a real part of the culture of converts to Christianity. Indeed, drama was intricately related to their religious and feast days. Fiorenza has commented to this point, “In Greek tragedy the roots of drama and cult are closely interconnected.”²⁵

Therefore, the writer of Revelation selected a genre that had lent a dramatic overtone to the older Jewish apocalypses and made even greater use of it in his Ephesian community. This accounts at once for the similarities and dissimilarities with other apocalypses. It became for him a syncretistic vessel into which he poured many Old Testament words of prophecy. Yet, the outer form of Greek drama made the prophetic message more appealing to a Greek community. Indeed, recent structuralist studies in Revelation have demonstrated that the actantial level of the book confirms the prophetic-apocalyptic, judgment-salvation pattern as the basis for the work.²⁶ One such structuralist, Fiorenza, concluded, “It is especially interesting to note the affinity of the structure of Revelation to that of Greek drama. According to the compositional rules of the tragedy, the climax falls near the center of the action, and the denouement comes near the end.”²⁷ That pattern falls in an A B C D C'B'A' sequence. Within that pattern there is prophetic movement from promise to fulfilment. The Greek dramatic form sets forth a cosmic, timeless drama setting for the prophetic teaching. We see early Christian prophecy utilizing the patterns and language of Greek tragedy to admonish and interpret the situation of the community. The Jewish apocalypses lacked this prophetic interest and the subsequent need for the internal structure of Greek tragedy. It is time that serious study be made of this genre and its influence on the writer of Revelation.²⁸ This address will be limited to three areas: the Ephesian theater, the Greek chorus, and the form of Greek tragedy.

THE EPHESIAN THEATER

In all previous work relating Revelation to Greek tragedy, the uniqueness of the Ephesian theater has been completely ignored. This great theater is mentioned in the book of Acts in our New Testament (Acts 19:29). There some of Paul's friends were brought into the theater during a riot occasioned by the silversmiths. For many hours the crowd chanted, “Great is Artemis of Ephesus.” This theater was located in the very heart of the city at the intersection of the city's two principal streets. From its mountainside location it was the first building viewed by visitors as they sailed into the harbor. The theater was built on the slopes of Mt. Panayir Dag in the third century b.c. Thus, for over three hundred years the great Greek tragedies and comedies had been enacted upon its stage.²⁹

Historians of Greek drama are puzzled by one unique aspect of the stage building in this theater.³⁰ To understand that uniqueness we must first look at the basic parts of a Greek theater using the Ephesian stage as our model.

On the lower level was a circular orchestra. Directly beyond the orchestra lay the skene or scene building. In its earliest days, third century b.c., it had been a wooden structure. By the first century a.d. it had become a permanent stone edifice. The proskenion jutted out from the scene building, skene, to form a raised platform or stage, 8 1/2 feet above the orchestra level 10 feet deep. The upper portion of the skene was called the episkenion. It usually contained three to five openings for scenery in Greek drama. These openings were called thuromata. Pillars 1 1/2 meters wide separated such thuromata. It was only stage building ever excavated with seven such thuromata. Thus, for nearly three hundred years before the writing of Revelation, the number seven had acquired great significance for the inhabitants of Ephesus.³¹

The number seven has long been recognized as a significant number in the book of Revelation. We have already seen that Bowman divided the book into seven acts with seven scenes in each act. He quite likely found this division in Ernst Lohmeyer's outstanding commentary on Revelation published in 1926.³² There Lohmeyer declared, “The forming principle of the work, at once the measure of its construction, is the number seven which rules in all of its smaller and larger parts.”³³ Lohmeyer not only found seven visions with each having seven scenes, but also seven stanzas in the prologue and epilogue. These seven stanzas were made up of seven lines. Of course, the number seven also had symbolic significance as the divine number of the ancient world. The unique construction of the Ephesian stage also confirms the fact that seven had even greater significance for the Ephesian community. Every time a festival gathering was held there, the number seven was before the populace. The seven windows were the dominant features of the architecture of the theater building.³⁴

The main purpose of these windows or thuromata was to effect the presentation of scenery in Greek drama. Painted panels were placed in the windows depicting scenes too difficult to perform on stage. This suits well many of the scenes in Revelation. In addition, revolving sets, eccyclema, could be placed in the windows and be turned to show three, five, or seven additional scenes. At times these eccyclema were rolled out onto the main platform adding another dimension to the drama. Thus, the seven windows of the Ephesian stage had a direct bearing on the way the great tragic dramas were presented there. They also seem to have had the same effect on the organization of Revelation. Above the windows was the very top of the scene building. This area was always reserved for the abode of the gods. A machine, a type of crane, would transport messengers from the gods down to the proscenion level. In many of the extant Greek tragedies the final solution to the drama is brought by means of a god coming down to solve the dilemma. This cranelike machine used for transporting divine figures came to be called the deus ex machina—the god from the machine.³⁵

The basic archeological work on the stage was carried out by an Austrian team of Wilhelm Wilberg, George Niemann, and Rudolf Heberdey, back in 1897. Fortunately, they were able to uncover and partially restore much of the old theater. This is even more remarkable when one observes that the site had been unprofessionally excavated and damaged by John Wood in 1865. The history of the theater was published by these men in a report of the excavation in 1912. The team discovered that after nearly three hundred years of history, the stage was remodeled in the late first century by the Romans to fit the needs of their drama. Two of the team members, Wilbert and Niemann, devoted their attention to the Hellenistic theater; whereas Heberdey studied the Roman building.³⁶

Much about the stage building lends itself to the presentation of Revelation. The stage building, skene, in many Greek tragedies represented the facade of a house, palace, or temple. In Revelation the heavenly temple forms the background for five of the seven acts. In Act I the seven candlesticks fit naturally into the Holy Place of the temple. In Act II God's throne room is viewed in the Holy Place; in Act III the seven angels with the seven trumpets appear before the incense alter in the Holy Place; in Act IV the veil is opened to the Holy of Holies revealing the Ark of the Covenant. In Act V the angels, once again, stand in front of the alter.

In these stage settings one notices the frequent use of the altar. In the Greek theaters, including the one at Ephesus, a permanent altar stood in the middle of the orchestra in honor of the god Dionysius. A Greek theater was considered sacred ground, for all who participated, actors, chorus, and patrons, were considered ministers of religion.³⁷ Arthur Fairbanks once stated: “Greek tragedy and comedy are the natural response to the Greek demand for the enrichment of worship by art.”³⁸ The technical work used for bringing out a play was didaskein, to teach, and the director was called didaskalos, teacher, and the plays themselves were termed didaskalia, teaching.³⁹ Thus, John's community would have found much about Greek drama already a part of their religious heritage and a good background for understanding their new one.

THE CHORUS

The role of the chorus in Greek tragedy and comedy has been neglected along with the significance of the stage at Ephesus. The chorus, composed of either twelve or twenty-four men, entered the theater on either side of the skene through the parados.⁴⁰ Alzinger has commented at this point, the chorus “represented the objective intention of the author and offered comments on the events on stage.”⁴¹ The chorus could represent, for instance, wasps, birds, frogs, goats, snakes, bees, fish, or storks. These representations could be done by assuming masks.⁴² Gilbert Murray called the chorus that most wonderful of Greek dramatic instruments.⁴³ Phrynichus, 476 b.c., in his dramas used a chorus made up of elders who commented sagely on the actions on the stage.⁴⁴ In most of the Greek tragedies the chorus was friendly to the main character. The chorus was the most important aspect of the Greek tragedy, interpreting in musical phrases and songs the action of the play for the audience. They were usually positioned in a semi-circle around the throne of Dionysius, directly in front of the permanent altar. In fact, the earliest tragedies had only choruses and no actors. The chorus could also be divided into groups of two or four with a leader appointed for each group. Duets could be sung between choral leader. Coryphaeus, and the chorus. In time, the choral leaders became actors and the chorus became less important in tragedy. The plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles gave to the chorus a very strategic role. The chorus could sing and chant accompanied by lyres or harps which they carried. They chanted in measured antiphonal strains, balanced strophe, and antistrophe.⁴⁵ Klaus-Peter Jorns in his book Das hymnische Evangelium has made a study of the construction, function, and the origin of the hymns of Revelation.⁴⁶ Although Jorns was not coming to his task from the point of Greek drama, he did discover that the hymns of Revelation display this balanced strophe-antistrophe construction. He counted nine major hymns scattered throughout Revelation at strategic points in the action of the book (4:8c; 4:11; 5:9b-10, 12b, 13b; 7:10b, 12; 11:15b, 17f; 12:10b-12; 15:3b-4; 15:5b-6:7b; 19:1-2, 5b, 6b-8).⁴⁷ Lohmeyer in 1926 had been the first to single out the hymns in Revelation and divide them into strophes, finding the number seven as a key to these hymns.⁴⁸ In more recent time R. Deichgräber has pointed to the significance of hymns throughout the New Testament.⁴⁹ The great composer Handel was so inspired by the hymns of Revelation that he made them a very vital part of his work The Messiah. A careful study of these hymns indicated that the chorus served the same role in Revelation as it did in Greek tragedy, to interpret the action on stage.⁵⁰

As in Greek tragedy, the form of the Revelation chorus can change and take on new form. In Act I the chorus responds to each of the seven letters, “Hear what the spirit says to the churches.” In Act II there is a chorus of four living creatures singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” in God's throne room, followed by the twenty-four elders singing blessing to the Lamb (chapters 4 and 5). One member of the chorus is a constant companion to John to interpret what he sees in heaven. The chorus can also represent thousands of angels (ch. 5) or a group of martyrs under the throne (ch. 6). It can become the evil of the world crying for the mountains to fall on them or the redeemed from every nation singing (ch. 15). It can be the victors singing of overcoming evil or the kings of the earth bewailing Rome as it goes up in flames (ch. 17). In Euripides' play, The Trojan Women, one finds the chorus singing a similar chant as Troy goes up in flames. Finally, the climax is reached in chapter 19 as the chorus chants, “Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.”⁵¹ This striking impression led the structuralist Fiorenza to say,

Recent studies of the hymnic materials in Revelation have convincingly demonstrated that the hymns comment on and compliment the visions and auditions of the book. They function thus in the same way as the choruses in the Greek drama preparing and commenting upon the dramtic movements of the plot.⁵²

FORM OF GREEK TRAGEDY

Another aspect of the case for the impact of Greek tragedy on Revelation which has been overlooked is the form and construction of Greek tragedy. Bowman mentioned it briefly in his article in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. If this dramatic genre is to be taken seriously for Revelation studies, then we must understand how a Greek tragedy was constructed. Many Revelation commentators have rejected the genre of Greek tragedy by pointing out that Revelation has no actors with defined speaking parts.⁵² Yet not all Greek tragedies had them. The typical Greek tragedy was divided into definite parts. The plays began with a prologue which was done in the form of a monologue or a dialogue, as was true in some of Euripides' plays.⁵³ One character acquainted the audience with the necessary background information for the play. This type of prologue is found in Revelation 1:1-8. John represents in monologue form the background information for the drama. After the prologue the chorus entered the stage by way of the parados, usually singing. They do so in Revelation, singing the hymn passages in 1:6-8 punctuated with the dual amens. They remained on stage in the Greek drama to comment on and interpret the following events. After the entrance of the chorus, the first episode took place. It was composed of dialogue with no more than three actors or a monologue followed by a stasimon or choral ode. This basic pattern, episode-stasimon, was repeated three, five, or seven times. Revelation fits the sevenfold pattern, as demonstrated by Lohmeyer, and the stage at Ephesus, itself. Following the last episode, the exodus of the chorus took place, and then the epilogue. A survey of Greek tragedies indicates that some were basically plays with one actor and the chorus filling in with responses or a variety of other roles.⁵⁴ Aeschylus' earliest extant work, The Suppliants, was such a one-actor play. The main character, the King, and the chorus interpreted and carried on the action (from vv. 234-480).⁵⁵ Only two actors were required in Aeschylus' other plays, The Persians, The Seven Against Thebes, and Prometheus Bound.⁵⁵ Our thinking on drama has been too much influenced by modern plays with their developed roles and parts. A monologue with choral response might very well make a Greek tragedy. Revelation falls into that pattern. In The Suppliants again, the chorus sang 565 verses out of a total of 1074. The chorus leader, in addition, spoke 90 verses.⁵⁶ Instead of acts the Greeks used the word part, which “denoted merely a division of the play as determined by choral divertissement, whether written or interpolated.”⁵⁷Revelation can be divided into seven such parts or acts.

THE STAGE SETTING

Let us now attempt to determine how the stage settings of Revelation are related to the specific situation of the seven-windowed stage of Ephesus. The text of Revelation, as Bowman rightly demonstrated, contains the instructions for these stage settings. However, neither he nor anyone else has attempted to relate these to the unique stage at Ephesus. At the same time, I will give my division of the seven acts of the drama. The drama begins with the eight verse prologue, followed by the stage setting for Act I.

ACT I, THE SEVEN CHURCH VISIONS, 1:9-20

The stage building represents the temple with the focus upon the Holy Place. In verses 12-20 John describes the stage setting, seven golden candlesticks with the Son of Man standing in their midst. A candlestick, representing a church, is in each of the seven windows (quite likely the seven branched Menorah). As each window is opened the message is read to that church. After each letter the chorus, located on the orchestra level, responds with “Hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7).

ACT II, THE SEVEN SEAL VISIONS, 4:1-8:1

The setting is the throne room of God. We will return in a moment to this act and use it as an example of how a full act would be staged in the Ephesian theater.

ACT III, THE SEVEN TRUMPET VISIONS, 8:2-11:18

The stage building continues to represent the heavenly temple. The permanent altar already on stage becomes the altar of incense in the Holy of Holies. Seven angels appear with seven trumpets. Each is stationed in front of one of the seven windows. As each trumpet is sounded, the painting depicting that scene is revealed in the window.

ACT IV, THE SEVEN VISIONS OF THE LAMB AND BEAST IN CONFLICT, 11:19-15:4

The stage setting is found in 11:19. The veil of the curtain leading into the Holy of Holies is opened. The audience can see the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God's faithfulness in the midst of the conflict. Seven different views of this conflict are presented in the seven windows. The chorus interprets the action with a hymn in 12:10b-12; the episode ends with the stasimon or choral ode in 15:3b-4.

ACT V, THE SEVEN BOWL VISIONS, 15:5-16:21

The stage setting is found in 15:5-8. The veil of the Holy of Holies remain open, Seven angels dressed as high priests come out of the inner temple (the door on the lower stage) and proceed to the proscenion to pour out their bowls of wrath over the edge of the stage on to the face of the earth. One angel is stationed in front of each window. As each bowl is poured out, the picture representing that plague is placed in the window. The stasimon is found in 16:5b-7.

ACT VI, THE SEVEN VISIONS OF BABYLON'S FALL, 17:1-19:10

The stage setting is found in 17:1-3. The proskenion is designed as a desert place. The seven-headed, scarlet beast is represented by a masked figure. In the background in the windows are scenes of Rome going up in flames. The stasimon is found in 18:2-20 and 19:1-8.

ACT VII, THE SEVEN VISIONS OF VICTORY, 19:11-21:5

The stage setting is 19:11. Heaven is opened. The word of God appears on a white horse. The last struggle takes place. The millennial reign of Christ takes place. John is then shown the new Jerusalem. The city is depicted in the seven windows. The stasimon is found in 21:6-8.

The epilogue in seven verses is found in 22:6-11.

ACT II

We will now demonstrate how Act II, in full, would have appeared on the Ephesian stage. The stage setting is outlined in chapters four and five of Revelation. In 4:1 John sees a door opened in heaven. It is God's throne room, the holy place of the heavenly temple (the Jews believed the Jerusalem temple was a model of the perfect one in heaven). This act is located on the orchestra level where the permanent throne and altar were located on the Ephesian stage. As in Greek drama the Revelation chorus is also located there and has a more prominent role in this act than any other. God's throne is veiled by a reflection of jewel-like radiance. A dark green rainbow is around the throne. There are twenty-four smaller thrones around God's throne. The twenty-four members of the chorus are on these. Four living creatures are by God's throne. They are depicted by other chorus members wearing the four masks of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. Seven lamps stand before the throne, representing the Spirit of God. A sea of glass separates earth from heaven. Four chorus members, representing the four living creatures, introduce the first stasimon or choral ode. It is composed of two stanzas:

“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,
Who was, and is, and is to come“

(4:8, RSV)

This is followed by the antiphonal ode in four stanzas:

“Glory, honor, and thanks
To the one sitting on the throne,
To the one living
Forever and ever. Amen.”

(4:9, RSV)

The full chorus of twenty-four then get up from their thrones and cast their crowns before him and sing a four stanza hymn:

“Thou art worthy, O Lord and God,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For thou didst create all things,
And by thy will they existed and were created.”

(4:11, RSV)

As the singing fades away, a scroll sealed with seven seals is seen in the hand of God. An angel asks, “Who is worthy to open the scroll?” No one is found; John begins to weep. A member of the chorus chants, “Weep not: lo, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” (5:5, RSV). A cast member using a face mask representing a lamb appears on stage. This occasions a second stanza of the hymn sung to God in 4:11 but now addressed to the Lamb. It is composed of five verses:

“Worthy Thou art to take the scroll and to open its seals
For thou wast slain, and by thy blood didst ransom men for God
From every tribe and tongue and people and nation
And hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God;
And they shall reign on earth.”

(5:9-10, RSV)

The chorus then is transformed into a chorus of angels and another stanza in three verses of the ‘worthy’ (axios) hymn is sung:

“Worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive power
And wealth and wisdom and might
And honor and glory and blessing.”

(5:12, RSV)

The chorus takes on yet another form, the whole universe now joins in the three verse fourth stanza of the ‘worthy’ hymn:

“Blessings, and honor, and glory
And power for ever and ever
Be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the
Lamb.”

(5:13, RSV)

The threefold “Holy, Holy, Holy unto God” in chapter 4 has been answered with a fourfold ‘worthy’ chorus in chapter five. The four living creatures say, “Amen.”

SCENE 1

As the music fades away the Lamb opens the first seal. The first scene is depicted in the first window of the episcenion a painting of a white horse.

SCENE 2

The Lamb opens the second seal and a painting of a red horse is placed in window two.

SCENE 3

The third seal is opened and the black horse is depicted in window three.

SCENE 4

The pale green horse is represented in window four.

SCENE 5

This scene brings a view of the Christian martyrs under the altar in front of God's throne. This scene appears in window five. The chorus gathers at the permanent altar on the stage, representing here the high altar of sacrifice and chants: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?” (6:10). White robes are given to the martyrs and they are told to rest until their number is complete.

SCENE 6

As the sixth seal is broken a painting of world destruction and judgment is placed in the sixth window. The moon is red like blood and the sun is black like sackcloth. The stars are shown falling out of the sky. All of the symbolic depictions of world judgment found in the Old Testament apocalypses appear here.

INTERLUDE

There is an interlude at this point in the action. Four angels are told to hold back God's winds of destruction until the 144,000 are sealed. This number is composed of 12 times 12, a number symbolizing wholeness. This action is depicted on the orchestra level as twelve members of the chorus are marked on the forehead. The interlude comes to an end with the chorus breaking out into a four verse song:

“Amen.

Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor And power and might be unto our God For ever and ever. Amen.”

(7:12, RSV)

SCENE 7

As the seventh seal is broken, seven angels emerge from window seven onto the proskenion. A suspenseful one-half hour of silence ensues to bring the act to an end.

It is evident that the dramatic medium is a suitable one for the message proclaimed in this act. The first four seal visions depict the kind of world in which Christians must live, a world of conquering, warfare, famine, and death. These four horses have been seen on the world stage over and over again. In the midst of that, as seal five portrays, Christians will suffer and experience martyrdom. The Christians might well ask, “How long, O Lord, before you punish those who afflict us?” The answer is given that world judgment will not come until the number who will die for Christ have been completed. However, in seal six these martyrs are shown a preview of what that judgment will be like, using the typical apocalyptic symbols.

The interlude is also designed to assure the Christians that they have been sealed, that they are under God's care, with 144,000 representing the complete number. They may suffer and die, but God's wrath will fall only on the unrighteous. In the seventh seal seven angels appear bearing the prayers of God's people. In the midst of this suffering and death God is aware of the needs of his own, he hears their prayers. Thus we have seen in the midst of a cosmic drama a timeless vision. Yet it is set within the prophetic scheme of promise and fulfillment.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that the writer of Revelation adapted the genre of Greek tragedy because it was a vessel through which his community could interpret its experiences in a troubled time. He wanted to stun them with the power of his images and visions. They incite not just an intellectual response but also an emotional reaction. But because of Roman persecution, he had no hope of ever producing the drama on the stage. This dramatic medium allows for the wealth of colors, voices, and symbols to emerge. The writer took the form of genre of Greek drama and filled it with prophetic oracles, announcements of judgment, and proclamations of salvation drawn largely from the Old Testament. Charles Talbert made the important point:

The gospels are biographic, albeit ancient ones. This contention no more denies the creative deviations from Mediterranean conventions by the Evangelists than does the claim that Paul's writings are letters rule out his innovative adaptation of that genre.⁵⁸

We can also conclude the same in Revelation. It represents an innovative adaptation of Greek tragic drama. This dramatic adaptation accounts for its striking difference from other so-called apocalyptic books. Bowman and others did not take sufficient note of this innovative modification of the Greek tragedy genre in Revelation.

The writer was not able to express his visual experience in ordinary prose; he needed a dramatic medium. The timeless poetic forms of Greek tragedy were well suited to capture his cosmic visions of another world. Yet the cyclical nature of Greek history found in Greek tragedy is transferred by him into a prophetic, goal-oriented view of history. The wedding of the timeless and the prophetic in Revelation presents us with a spiral scheme of history, movement in half circles toward the end goal.⁵⁹ Above all, the Greek dramas were religious experiences involving liturgy and festivity. In fact, many recent studies have demonstrated how the dramatic forms of Revelation were used in early Christian liturgy and festivity. Drama and divine worship were closely related in the minds of the first century Greek world.⁶⁰ The Greek tragedy was a medium well known in Asia Minor and in particular in Ephesus. The theater in that great city had been both a landmark and a cultural center. Only in that setting can the unique genre of Revelation be understood. Indeed, it is a true syncretistic vessel, bringing together the Greek and Hebraic worlds, theater and temple, cult and drama.

This dramatic genre also allows the book to capture the imaginations of modern readers. The approach has great possibilities in teaching Revelation in the local churches. It can provide the lay person an alternative to the sensationalism of Hal Lindsey and his dispensational views.⁶¹ The dramatic medium has the power to grasp an individual where he/she is and confront him/her with a prophetic message. We are already participating in the power of God's rule, and in that power we can be victorious over all the dehumanizing evil powers of our world. On the last page of the book stands the triumphant Lamb, not Caesar, not any -ism.

The purpose of this address has been to establish the unique literary genre of Revelation. The key to this endeavor has been Greek tragedy. The idea has been with us for a long time but is one which has never been adequately explored. I have sought to give support to the idea by examining the unique seven-windowed stage at Ephesus, the nature of the chorus in Greek drama, and the structure of Greek tragedy. Lastly, the settings for the seven acts of Revelation have been located on the Ephesian stage and Act II has been completely staged. Additional work needs to be done in relating Revelation to the tragic drama. In January 1977 we produced Revelation in dramatic form in the course which I taught on the book. My next project and dream is to take a group to Ephesus, stage Revelation in Greek tragedy form, and film it for teaching purposes.

Notes

1. See Charles Talbert, What is a Gospel? (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977).

2. See Hans Dieter Betz, “The Literary Composition and Function of Paul's Letter to the Galatians,” NTS [New Testament Studies], 21 (1975), 353-79.

3. A statement made to the New Testament Colloguium at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Spring, 1977.

4. See Walter Schmithals, The Apocalyptic Movement (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1975), pp. 127-150.

5. John W. Bowman, The First Christian Drama (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955).

6. Ibid.

7. John W. Bowman, “The Revelation to John: Its Dramatic Structure and Message,” Interpretation, IX (1955), 436-53.

8. Ibid.

9. John W. Bowman, “Revelation,” The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), IV: 58-70.

10. Frederic Palmer, The Drama of the Apocalypse (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1943).

11. Raymond Brewer, “The Influence of Greek Drama on the Apocalypse of John,” Anglican Theological Review, 18 (1936), 74-92.

12. E. A. McDowell, Jr., The Meaning and Message of Revelation (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1951).

13. Jacques Ellul, Apocalypse (New York: The Seabury Press, 1977), p. 21.

14. Martin Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism (2 vols.; London: SCM Press, Ltd. 1974).

15. Ibid., I: 193-196.

16. Ibid., p. 194.

17. Helmer Ringgren, Israelitische Religion (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1963).

18. Schmithals, op. cit. pp. 89-110.

19. Cf. Elisabeth Fiorenza, “Composition and Structure of the Book of Revelation,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 39 (1977), 356.

20. The Complete Greek Drama, ed. Whitney Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. (New York: Random House, 1947), I:XVIII.

21. Cf. J. M. Ford, The Revelation of John (New York: Doubleday, 1972). Cf. Schmithals, op. cit., pp. 151-171.

22. Hengel, op. cit., p. 107. Cf. also P. D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975), pp. 402-403; Philostratus, Life of Sophocles, I, 25, 3, 9.

23. Albert Muller, Lehrbuch der griechischen Buhnenaltertumer (Freiburg, J. C. B. Mohr, 1886), pp. 11-12. See also Wilbelm Alzinger Die Stadt des Siebenten Weltwunders (Wien: Wollzeilen Verlag, 1962), pp. 70-75. Alzinger has done the most recent excavations at Ephesus. See also Rudolf Heberdey, Das Theater in Ephesus (Vienna: Alfred Holder, 1912).

24. Philostratus, op. cit.

25. Fiorenza, op. cit.

26. Ibid., p. 365.

27. Ibid.

28. Ibid., p. 356. See also Hanson, op. cit.

29. Heberdey, op. cit.; see also Alzinger, op. cit.

30. Ibid. See also Roy C. Flickinger, The Greek Theater and its Drama (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936), p. 108. Also E. R. Fiechter, Die baugeschichtliche Entwicklung des Antiken Theaters (München: Beck, 1914).

31. Alzinger, op. cit.; Flickinger, op. cit.

32. Ernst Lohmeyer, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1926).

33. Ibid., p. 181.

34. Ibid. See also Alzinger, op. cit.

35. Oates, op. cit. See also Flickinger, op. cit., p. 282.

36. Heberdey, op. cit.; Alzinger, op. cit. See also James T. Allen, The Greeks and Romans and Their Influence (New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1963), p. 90.

37. Flickinger, op. cit., p. 119.

38. As quoted in ibid.

39. Ibid., pp. 131 and 318.

40. Alzinger, op. cit., p. 72; also Oates, op. cit., p. VII. K. Rees, “The Significance of the Parados in the Greek Theater,” American Journal, Philadelphia, XXXII (1911), 377ff.

41. Alzinger, op. cit.

42. Karl Robert, Die Masken der Neueran attischen Komödie (Halle: Niemeyer 1911); also Otto Hense, Die Modificirung der Maske in der griechischen Tragödie (Freiburg: J. C. B. Mohr, 1905).

43. As quoted in Flickinger, op. cit., p. 133.

44. A. W. Pickard, “Phrynichus,” The Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. by G. N. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), p. 829.

45. Flickinger, op. cit. See also “The Chorus in Later Greek Drama with Reference to the State Question,” Papers of the American School at Athens (1897), VI: 39ff.

46. Klaus-Peter Jörns, Das hymnische Evangelium (Gütersloh Gerd Mohn, 1971).

47. Ibid.

48. Lohmeyer, op. cit.

49. R. Deichgrüber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frühen Christenheit (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967), pp. 44-59.

50. Fiorenza, op. cit., p. 354.

51. Ibid.

52. Bowman, op. cit.

53. See Fiorenza, op. cit., p. 354; see also A. W. Pickard, “Tragedy,” The Oxford Classical Dictionary (2nd ed.), pp. 1083-88.

54. Flickinger, op. cit., pp. 301-302.

55. Oates, op. cit. Also A. W. Pickard, “Tragedy,” OD C, p. 1086.

56. Ibid.

57. Flickinger, op. cit., pp. 193-194.

58. Talbert, op. cit., p. 135. See also R. G. Kent, “The Time Element in the Greek Drama,” Transactions of the American Philadelphia Association, XXXVII (1906), 39ff.

59. Cf. Fiorenza, “Revelation”, Proclamation Commentaries (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977), pp. 99-120.

60. Oates, op. cit., p. XVIII.

61. Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970).