Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1122 TI EATREUM. THEATRUM.
persons might ascend from the lowest to the high- what we'should call the real stage. That part of
est. But these stairs ran in straight lines only it which was nearest to the orchestra, and where
from one praecinctio to another; and the stairs in the actors stood when they spoke was the Ao-yEsoP,
the next series of rows were just between the two also called oKpieas or OKpiCalTES, in Latin pulpitu7s,
stairs of the lower series of benches. By this which was of course raised above the orchestra
course of the stairs the seats were divided into a and probably on a level with the thymele. What
number of compartments resembling cones from the dTroJK{clPoy was is not clear; some think that
which the tops are cut off; hence they were termed it was a place to which the actors withdrew when
Kcepictis, and in Latin cunei. The whole of the they had acted their parts, others think that it was
place for the spectators (ea,'rpov) was sometimes the same as the covi,-.rpa (Suidas, s. v. K:irn *j); but
designated by the name KoZAov, Latin cavea, it as it is stated that the b7rooK5vtlO was adorned
being in most cases a real excavation of the rock. with statues, it seems more probable that it was
Above the highest row of benches there rose a co- the wall under the Aoyei'ov which faced the orchesvered portico (c), which of course far exceeded in tra and the spectators. The acq1jvi or scena was,
height the opposite buildings by which the stage as we have already stated, the wall which closed
was surrounded, and appears to have also contri- the stage (proscenium and logeum) from behind.
buted to increase the acoustic effect. (Apul. Met. It represented a suitable background or the locality
iii. p. 49, Bip.) The entrances to the seats of the in which the action was going on. Before the play
spectators were partly undergrolmd, and led to the began, it was covered with a curtain (7rapaTr&acra,
lowest rows of benches, while the upper rows must 7rpooicmviov, av'afae, Latin ealaea or sipsiasue;
have been accessible from above. (Pollux, iv. 123; Etymol. M. s. v. AhAo's: Athen. xiii. p. 587; PolAthen. xiv. p. 622.) lux, iv. 122.) When the play began this curtain
2. The orchestra (hpXio'rpa) was a circular level was let down and was rolled upon a roller underspace extending in front of the spectators, and neath the stage. The proscenium and logeum thus
somewhat below the lowest row of benches. But were never concealed from the spectators. As reit was not a complete circle, one segment of it gards the scenery represented on the 0iKcsvi, it was
being appropriated to the stage. The orchestra was different for tragedy, comedy, and the satyric
the place for the chorus, where it performed its drama, and for each of these kinds of poetry the
evolutions and dances, for which purpose it was scenery must have been capable of various modificovered with boards. As the chorus was the ele- cations according to the character of each indiviment out of which the drama arose, so the or- dual play; at least that this was the case with the
chestra was originally the most important part of a various tragedies, is evident from the scenes detheatre: it formed the centre around which all the scribed in the tragedies still extant. In the latter
other parts of the building were grouped. In the however the back-ground ('KrIOVs) in most cases
centre of the circle of the orchestra was the aviedXS, represented the front of a palace with a door in the
that is, the altar of Dionysus (d), which was of centre (i) which was called the royal door. This
course nearer to the stage than to the seats of the palace generally consisted of two stories (ro-rEyefa,
spectators, the distance from which was precisely Pollux, iv. 129), and upon its flat roof there apthe length of a radius of the circle. In a wider pears to have sometimes been some elevated place
sense the orchestra also comprised the broad pas- from which persons might observe what was going
sages (7rcapo6oi, e) on each side between the pro- on at a distance. (Eurip. Phoeniss. 88, &c.) The
jecting wings of the stage and the seats of the palace presented on each side a projecting wing,
spectators, through which the chorus entered the each of which had its separate entrance. These
orchestra. The chorus generally arranged itself in wings generally represented the habitations of
the space between the thymele and the stage. The guests and visitors. All the three doors must have
thymele itself was of a square form, and was used been visible to the spectators. (Vitruv. v. 7.)
for various purposes, according to the nature of the The protagonistes always entered the stage through
different plays, such as a funeral monument, an the middle or royal door, the deuteragonistes and
altar, &c. It was made of boards and surrounded tritagonistes through those on the right and left
on all sides with steps. It thus stood upon a wings. In tragedies like the Prometheus, the
raised platform, which was sometimes occupied by Persians, Philoctetes, Oedipus in Colonus, and
the leader of the chorus, the flute-player, and the others the back-ground did not represent a palace.
rhabdophori. (Muller, Dissert. on the Eunmes. of There are other pieces again in which the scena
Aeschlyl. p. 249, &c. transl.) The flute-player as must have been changed in the course of the perwell as the prompter (t6rogoAs6s, amonitor) were formance, as in the Eumenides of Aeschylus and
generally placed behind the thymele, so as to face the Ajax of Sophocles. The dramas of Euripides
the stage and not to be seen by the spectators. required a great variety of scenery; and if in ad(Plut. Rei publ. gerend. psraec. p. 813, e.; Ath. xiv. dition to this we recollect that several Fieces were
p. 631.) The orchestra as well as the 54arpov lay played in one day, it is manifest that the mechaniunder the open sky; a roof is nowhere mentioned. cal parts of stage performance. at least in the days
3. The stage. Steps led from each side of the of Euripides, must have been brought to great perorchestra: to the stage, and by them the chorus fection. The scena in the Satyric drama appears
probably ascended the stage whenever it took a to have always represented a woody district with
real part in the action itself. The back side of the hills and grottoes; in comedy the scena represented,
stage was closed by a wall called the aiopivs or at least in later times, the fronts of private dwell.
scena, from which on each side a wing projected ings or the habitations of slaves. (Vitruv. v. 8. ~ 1;
which was called the 7rapaatreVlov. The whole Pollux, iv. 125.) The art of scene-painting must
depth of the stage was not very great, as it only have been applied long before the time of Sophocomprised a segment of the circle of the orchestra. cles, although Aristotle (Poet. iv. 16) ascribes its
The whole space from the scena to the orchestra introduction to him. [PIcTURA, p. 908, b.]
was termed the proscenium (7rpoocKmoov), and was The machines in the Greek theatres were ex,