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A spear carrier is a nickname for a minor acting part. It generally pertains to a character that appears in several scenes, but mostly in the background.〔("Spear carrier" ), a ''Merriam-Webster'' article〕 In the world of Opera, the term is sometimes used literally: When a male chorus is required, as in Aida, for example, the onstage "army", armed with spears or swords, usually consists of several singers and as many who remain silent, filling out the group. The silent ones are known as spear carriers, to differentiate them from the male chorus members. The Ancient Greek term for spear carrier (''δορυφόρος'', ''doruphóros'', from ''δόρυ'', spear, and ''φέρω'', to carry) originally meant a soldier armed with a spear acting as a bodyguard or ceremonial guard to noblemen. The modern meaning has its roots in classical Greek tragedy; as plays such as ''Antigone'' and ''Oedipus the King'' concerned the tragic fate of nobles, several nondescript soldiers or guards were required to appear in the background, and the term was used to describe the guards who just escorted the main characters.〔See the text of the play, available on Wikisource, the description for this scene reads "Priests and Boys around it in the attitude of suppliants." And in Antigone also on Wikisource, "The same as in Oedipus the King."〕 The 1968 Nebula Award-winning novel ''Rite of Passage'', by Alexei Panshin, mentions the protagonist's observations of the role of spear carriers in real life:
The term has survived verbatim but evolved in meaning from its metaphorical use, and today carries the general meaning of satellite in Modern Greek.〔(www.greek-language.gr definition )〕 ==See also== *Supernumerary actor *Extra (actor) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Spear carrier」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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