This is the first part of the compulsory course "The History of the Theatre" for 1^st and 2^nd year students. In this course we focus on two ancient cultures: Greece and Rome. In the chapter on Ancient Greece we will study the characteristic components of the theatrical event. We will read tragedies written by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and comedies written by Aristophanes and Menander and analyze their dramatic techniques, their performative language and their poetic and aesthetic conventions. We will, then, follow the development of the architecture of the Ancient Greek theatre as well as its performative conditions. In the chapter on Rome we will follow the emergence of the Roman theatre through its dialogue with the Greek example. WE will read and analyze comedies by Plautus and Terentius and tragedies by Seneca and define the changes that took place in the architecture of the theatre during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire.