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

HISTRIO. HIISTRIO. 611
for the connecting wall, II, between the goals, to introduce a third actor, as is the case in tho
nor does he state that the winning line, q, was Agamemnon, Choephori, and Eumenides. (-Pollux,
marked out as a white line; but these details are iv..1 ]0.) This number of three actors was also
inserted from the analogy of the Roman circus. adopted by Sophocles and Euripides, and was but
So also is the oblique position of the line of the seldom exceeded in any Greek drama. In the
goals, as compared with the axis of the figure: of Oedipus in Colonus, however, which was performed
course the greatest space was required at E,: where after the death of Sophocles, four actors appeared
the chariots were all nearly abreast of each other. on the stage at once, and this deviation from the
Respecting the dimensions of the Olympic Hip- general rule was called 7rapaXopyrj7ua. (Pollux,
podrome we have no precise information; but, 1. c.) The three regular actors were distinguished
from the length of the measure called HIPPIcoN, by the technical names of 7rpaTraZywivio-s, aEvTepaand oil other grounds, it seems probable that the YWvLOrTis, and TprTaywsra7Trs (Suidas, s. v. Tp-ra.
distance from the starting-place to the goal, or'yWvsLOTS: Demosth. de Coron. p. 315, de Fals.
perhaps rather from one goal to the other, was two Leg. p. 344 and 403), which indicated the more or
stadia, so that one double course was four stadia. less prominent part which an actor had to perform
How many such double courses made up the whole in the drama. Certain conventional means were
race, we are not informed. The width must have also devised, by which the spectators, at the mobeen, at least, as great as the length of each side ment an actor appeared on the stage, were enabled
of the aplesis, namely, more than 400 feet. There to judge which part he was going to perform; thus,
does not appear to have been much architectural the protagonistes always came on the stage from a
display in the structure, and not many statues. door in the centre, the deuteragonistes from one on
The internal area of the aphesis, D, contained the right, and the tritagonistes from a door on the
several altars. left hand side. (Pollux, iv. 124.) The protagonistes
The chief points of difference between the Greek was the principal hero or heroine of a play, in
hippodrome and the Roman circus are the smaller whom all the power and energy of the drama were
width of the latter, as only four chariots ran at concentrated; and whenever a Greek drama is
once, and the different arrangement of the caesceres. called after the name of one of its personae, it is
The periods at which the Olympic horse-races were always the name of the character which was perinstituted are mentioned under OLYMPIA. formed by the protagonistes. The deuteragonistes,
A few other hippodromes in Greece, Syria, and in the pieces of Aeschylus for two actors, calls
Egypt, are mentioned by Pausanlias and other forth the various emotions of the protagonistes
writers; but they deserve no special mention. either by friendly sympathy or by painful tidings,
(Comp. Krause, Gynze. und Agon. vol. i. pp. 151, &c. The part of a tritagonistes is represented by
&c.) See also HORTUS. [P. S.] some external and invisible power, by which the
HIPPOPE'RAE (ibrro7rfpac), saddle-bags. hero is actuated or caused to suffer. When a
This appendage to the saddle [EpHIppIUM] was tritagonistes was added, the part assigned to him
made of leather (sacculi scortei, Festus, s. v. Bul- was generally that of an instigator who was the
gae), and does not appear ever to have changed its cause of the sufferings of the protagonistes, while
form and appearance. Its proper Latin name was he himself was the least capable of depth of feeling
bisacciumn (Petron. Sat. 31), which gave origin to or sympathy. The deuteragonistes in the dramas
bisaccia in Italian and besace in French. By the for three actors is generally distinguished by loftiGauls, saddle-bags were called bulgae (Festus, 1. c.; ness and warmth of feeling, but has not its depth
Onomaest. Gr. Lat.), because they bulge or swell and vehemence peculiar to the protagonistes, and
outwards; this significant appellation is still re- thus serves as a foil to set forth the character of
tained in the Welsh bolyan or bwlgan. The more the chief hero in its most striking and vivid colours.
elegant term zippoperae is adopted by Seneca (MUller, Hist of G-eek Lit. i. p. 305, &c.; compare
(ELpist. 88). [J. Y.] Bbttiger, De Actoribus Pmarsuem,, Secund. et Test.
HISTION and HISTOS (iroriov, loATs). Pa-tiuen.)
[NAvZs.] The female characters of a play were always
HI'STRIO (uzrotcpL7Ts), an actor. i. GREEK. performed by young men. A distinct class of
It is shown in the articles CHORUs and DIONYSIA persons, who made acting on the stage their prothat the Greek drama originated in the chorus fession, was umknown to the Greeks during the
whichi at the festivals of Dionysus danced around period of their great dramatists. The earliest and
his altar, and that at first one person detached greatest dramatic poets, Thespis, Melanthius, Sohimself from the chorus, and, with mimic gesticu- phocles, and probably Aeschylus also, acted in
lation, related his story either to the chorus or in their own plays, and in all probability as protagoconversation with it. If the story thus acted re- nistae. We also know of several instances in
quired more than one person they were all repre- which distinguished Athenian citizens appeared on
sented in succession by the same actor, and there the stage, and Aeschines, the orator, did not scruple
was never more than one person on the stage at to act the part of tritagonistes. (Demosth. 1. c.)
a time. This custom was retained by Thespis and These circumstances show that it was by no means
Phrynichus. But it was clear that if the chorus thought degrading in Greece to perform as an
took an active and independent part in such a play, actor, and that no stigma whatever was attached
it would have been obliged to leave its original to the name of a man for his appearing on the
and characteristic sphere. Aeschylus therefore stage. Bad actors, however, to whatever station
added a second actor, so that'the action and the in life they belonged, were not, on that account,
dialogue became independent of the chorus, and the spared; and the general mode of showing disdramatist at the same time had an opportunity of pleasure on the part of the spectators seems to have
showing two persons in contrast with each other been by whistling. (D mosth. De Coron. p. 315.)
ln the stage. (Aristot. Poet. ii. 14.) Towards the It appears that when the spectators showed their
close of his career, Aeschylus found it necessary displeasure in too offensive or illsultilig a nmanner,
R Y c2