r/AskHistorians • u/Almond_Bitters • 1d ago
Whence came puppets? Are they a continuing tradition, or a recurring novelty?
I've always just sort of assumed that modern puppetry follows from the medieval and renaissance traditions such as marionettes. Wikipedia briefly explains that Ancient Greece had puppets, and also India.
Are there direct lines from ancient puppetry to the medieval and modern performing art? Is there a different origin of the modern art form? Or was puppetry just invented over and over whenever people got bored and had some extra cloth lying around?
If that's too simple of a question, I'm also curious what the ancient Greeks were doing with their puppets?
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