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

THEATRUM. THEATRUM. 1 1 23
tremely numerous, but we are in many cases unable upper one of gilt wood. The cavea contained
to form an exact idea of their nature and their 80,000 spectators. (Comp. Plin. H.N. xxxiv. 17.)
effects. We shall only mention the most important In 55 B. C. Cn. Pompey built the first stone theatre
among them. 1. The 7r'pfaKicot (m) stood near at Rome near the Campus Martius. It was of;
the two side entrances of the scena; their form great beauty, and is said to have been built after
was that of a prisma, and by a single turn they the model of that of Mytilene; it contained
produced a change in the scenery. NVitruv. v. 7; 40,000 spectators. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 24. ~ 7;
Pollux, iv. 126.) 2. The Xapcvimot KA/tiaems, or compare Drumann, Gesch. Roms. iv. p. 520, &c.)
the Charonian steps, by which the shades ascended C. Curio built in 50 B. c. two magnificent wooden
from the lower world upon the stage. (Pollux, iv. theatres close by one another, which might be
132.) 3. The/ x7Xavy7, Kcpds8 or &cp&?oa, a machine changed into one amphitheatre. (Plin. H. Ar.
by which gods or heroes were represented passing xxxvi. 24. ~ 8.) After the time of Pompey, howthrough or floating in the air: hence the proverb, ever, other stone theatres were erected, as the
deus ex machina. (Pollux, iv. 126, 128, 131; theatre of Marcellus, which was built by Augustus
Suidas, s. v.'Ecip7,ea: Hesych. s. v. Kprar.) 4. The and called after his nephew Marcellus (Dion Cass.
5(4r'apa or ecKucAvyEa. [EXOSTRA.] 5. The xliii. 49; Plin. I. N. xxxvi. 12); and that of
aEoXNoYELov, an especial elevated place above the Balbus (Plin. 1. c.), whence Suetonius (Aug. 44)
scena for the Olympian gods when they had to ap- uses the expression per trina -theatra.
pear in their full majesty. (Pollux, iv. 130; Phot. The construction of a Roman theatre resembled,
Lex. p. 597.) 6. The /porVT'ov, a machine for imi- on the whole, that of a Greek one. The principal
tating thunder. It appears to have been placed differences are, that the seats of the spectators,
underneath the stage, and to have consisted of which rose in the form of an amphitheatre around
large brazen vessels in which stones were roleed. the orchestra, did not form more than a semi(Pollux, iv. 130; Suidas, s. v. Bpom'rl: Vitruv. v. circle; and that the whole of the orchestra like7.) Respecting several other machines of less im- wise formed only a semicircle, the diameter of
portance, see Pollux, iv. rrepl Ei'pwWP aeadpov. which formed the front line of the stage. The
It is impossibie to enter here upon the differences,. Roman orchestra contained no thymele, and was
which are presented by many ruins of theatres still not destined for a chorus, but contained the seats
extant, from the description we have given above. for senators and other distinguished persons, such
It is only necessary to mention, that in the theatres as foreign ambassadors, which are called " primus
of the great cities of the Macedonian time the space subselliorum ordo." In the year 68 n. c. the tribetween the thymele and the logeum was converted bune L. Roscius dtho carried a law which regainto a lower stage, upon which mimes, musicians, lated the places in the theatre to be occupied by the
and dancers played, while the ancient stage (pros- different classes of Roman citizens: it enacted that
cenium and logeum) remained destined, as before4 fourteen ordines of benches were to be assigned as
for the actors in the regular dranma. This lower seats to the-equites. (Liv. Epit. 99; Ascon. sad
stage was sometimes called thymele or orchestra. Cornel. p. 78, ed. Orelli.) Hence these quatuor(MUiller, Hist. of Greek Lit. i. p. 299; Donaldson, decim ordiine are sometimes mentioned without
Tle Theatre of' the Greeks.) any further addition as the honorary seats of the
The Romans must have become acquainted with equites. They wvere undoubtedly close behind the
the theatres of the Italian Greeks at an early seats of the senators and magistrates, and thus
period, whence they erected their own theatres in consisted of the rows of benches immediately besimilar positions upon the sides of hills. This is hind the orchestra. Velleius (ii. 32) and Cicero
still clear from the ruins of very ancient theatres at (pro ]m'ren. 19) speak of this law in a manner to
Tusculumn and Faesulae. (Nielbuhr, Hist. of Rome,I ead us to infer that it only restored to the equites
iii. p. 364, &c.) The Romans themselves however a right which they had possessed before. Another
did not possess a regular stone theatre until a very part of this law was that spendthrifts and persons
late period, and although dramatic representations reduced in their circumstances (decoctores), whether
were very popular in earlier times, it appears that through their own fault or not, and whether they
a wooden stage was erected when necessary, and belonged to the senatorian or equestrian order,
was afterwards pulled down again, and the plays should no longer occupy the seats assigned to their
of Plautus and Terence were performed on such order, but occupy a separate place set apart for
temporary scaffoldings. In the meanwhile many of them. (Cic. Philip. ii. 18.) In the reign of Authe neighbouring towns about Rome had their stone gustus the senate made a decree, that foreign amtheatres, as the introduction of Greek customs and bassadors should no longer enjoy the privilege
manners was less strongly opposed in then than mentioned above, as it had sometimes happened
in the city of Rome itself. Wooden theatres, that freedmen were sent to Rome as ambassadors.
adorned with the most profuse magnificence, were The soldiers also were separated from the people
erected at Rome even during the last period of the by the same decree; the same was the case with
republic. The first attempt to build a stone theatre women, praetextati and paedagogi. (Suet. Aug. 44.)
was made a short time before the consulship of This separation consisted probably in one or more
P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica. It was sanctioned by cunei being assigned to a particular class of perthe censors, and was advancing towards its com- sons. The woodcut on the following page contains
pletion, when Scipio, in 55 B. c., persuaded the a probable representation of the plan of a Roman
senate to command the building to be pulled down theatre.
as injurious to public morality. (Liv. Epit. 48.) Fori a fuller account of the construction of
-Respecting the magnificent wooden theatre which Greek and Roman theatres see the commentators
M. Aemilius Scaurus built in his aedile3hip, 58 B.c., on Vitruvius (1. c.), J. Chr. Genelli, das Theater zu
see Pliny, 11. N. xxxvi. 24. ~ 7. Its scena consisted Athen, hinsichtlich azf Architectur, Scenerie uand
of three stories, and the lowest of them was made Darstellsosgs Kunsst iiberh7aupt, Berlin, 1818, 8vo.;
of white marble, the middle one of glass, and the C. C. XV. rSchnider, Das Attische Thiaterwesen,
4c 2