It is now commonly recognized that drama in the ancient Near East originated as a program of ritual acts performed at seasonal festivals, especially at the New Year festival. The central theme of this program was "off with the old, on with the new"; it was designed to mark the end of one lease of communal life and to ensure the next. The program is attested in many parts of the world and survives—albeit in attenuated form—in folk plays still performed in northern Greece and in such popular diversions as the English mummers' play.

The principal components of this ritual program are as follows:

1. The deposition (or even execution) of the reigning king, regarded as the embodiment of communal life momentarily ended, followed by the installation of a successor, regarded as a new avatar...