Editing Trilogy (section)

==History==
Trilogies ({{langx|grc|τριλογία}} ''trilogia'')<ref>From the compound prefix [[Wiktionary:τρι-|τρι-]] ''tri-'' "thrice", the noun [[Wiktionary:λόγος|λόγος]] ''logos'' "discourse" and the feminine abstract suffix [[Wiktionary:-ία|-ία]] ''-ia''; see {{LSJ|trilogi/a|τριλογία}}, {{LSJ|tri-|τρι-|mLSJ}}, {{LSJ|lo/gos|λόγος|ref}}.</ref><ref>{{OEtymD|trilogy}}</ref> date back to ancient times. In the [[Dionysia]] festivals of [[ancient Greece]], for example, trilogies of [[Play (theatre)|plays]] were performed followed by a fourth [[satyr play]]. ''[[The Oresteia]]'' is the only surviving trilogy of these ancient Greek plays, originally performed at the festival in [[Athens]] in 458 BC. The [[three Theban plays]], or [[Oedipus]] cycle, by [[Sophocles]], originating in 5th century BC, is not a true example of a trilogy because the plays were written at separate times and with different themes/purposes.

Technical changes in printing and film in the mid-to-late 20th century made the creation of trilogies more feasible, while the development of mass media and modern global distribution networks has made them more likely to be lucrative. Examples of trilogies in modern fiction include the [[Wayfarers (novel)|Wayfarers trilogy]] by [[Knut Hamsun]], the [[Cairo Trilogy]] by [[Naguib Mahfouz]], [[The Border Trilogy]] by [[Cormac McCarthy]], and [[His Dark Materials]] by [[Philip Pullman]]. A pivotal example is [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' (1954–1955), which was written as a single novel but published for economic reasons as three separate novels with distinct titles, thus helping to popularize the trilogy format.