Chapter VI: Introduction (4)

The same question arises in connection with Pollux. He catalogues eleven parts of a theater. Of these, only six concern us at present: σκηνή, orchestra, logium, proscenium, parascenia, and hyposcenium (IV, 123). Dörpfeld thinks that Pollux is describing the Greek Hellenistic theater,[197] but Pollux was for many years a professor at Athens and dedicated his work to the emperor Commodus (161-92 A.D.). Unless his language prevents it, it is more natural to suppose that he had the Athenian structure of his own day in mind, and this would be the Nero theater. In that case, every term falls into place. For the Nero theater logium could refer to the stage alone; and as there would be no sense in Pollux mentioning two words for stage, and since no other term for scene-building as a whole (including logium, proscenium, and parascenia) appears in his list, σκηνή must still mean scene-building and not stage. Pollux then proceeds to say that “the scene-building belongs to the actors and the orchestra to the chorus,” and a little later that “entering at the orchestra they mount to the scene-building on ladders (steps?).”[198] Believing that Pollux is describing the Hellenistic theater, Dörpfeld interprets the first of these passages much as Aristotle’s use of ἐπὶ (ἀπὸ) τῆς σκηνῆς has just been explained. The second passage he considers a reference to some such unusual incident as occurs in Aristophanes’ _Clouds_, where an actor is bidden to climb (from the orchestra) by means of a ladder to the housetop (i.e., to the top of the scene-building) and destroy the roof.[199] There is much merit in this explanation, and it is not necessarily inconsistent with a belief that Pollux is in general dealing with the contemporaneous theater; such learned digressions occur not infrequently in his text. Nevertheless, since stone steps leading from the orchestra to the stage of the scene-building are a part of the Phaedrus theater at Athens, it is not improbable that they belonged also to the Nero stage, if, as Dörpfeld first thought, this was only about six inches higher than the present stage (see p. 74, above). On the other hand, the pro-stage writers boldly cite these passages in support of their views and as if they pertained to the earlier periods of the theater’s history. But though Pollux is probably discussing a theater with a stage, σκηνή does not mean stage in these two sentences any more than in his catalogue of theater parts; and his testimony, however it is to be interpreted, should not be applied to fifth- and fourth-century conditions unless confirmatory evidence for so doing can be produced from these periods. Now the last of these sentences from Pollux concludes a discussion of the conventional significance of the parodi in the ancient theater (see p. 233, below). In my opinion, the Nero stage, though much deeper than the Hellenistic proscenium, was shallow enough so that the parodi still led directly into the orchestra. In that case, when the characters entered by either parodus, as they would when they were thought of as coming from the market place, harbor, or country, they would have to pass through the orchestra first and mount from there upon the stage by means of the steps, exactly as Pollux says. Furthermore, if actors could traverse this route it must have been available also for the chorus. In other words, although at this period the orchestra was the exclusive sphere of the dithyrambic choruses and other thymelic performers and was the normal place for the dramatic chorus, and though the actors regularly stood upon the stage, yet both the actors and the dramatic chorus appeared in either orchestra or stage according to the requirements of the plays. It must be understood, however, that this manner of staging was confined to the Nero theater at Athens; the stage of the Graeco-Roman theaters and the proscenium of the Hellenistic theaters were too high to make it feasible, and in the purely Roman theaters all performers appeared upon the stage. But why is it permissible to accept a low stage for the Nero theater and reject it for the fifth century? In the first place, the stage in Roman times is attested by incontrovertible evidence, both literary and archaeological, but for the fifth century it rests upon pure hypothesis. In the second place, there is no reason to believe that the Athenian chorus in Roman times was brought into actual contact with the tragic actors or had to pass to their place of action so frequently as in fifth-century drama (see p. 88, above).

There is still another sentence in Pollux which needs to be discussed. He declares that “the hyposcenium is adorned with columns and sculptured figures turned toward the audience, and it lies beneath (ὑπό) the logium.”[200] There is no doubt as to the general position of the hyposcenium—it is the room[201] immediately behind the orchestra and on the same level—but there is a division of opinion as to the type of theater which had one and as to its function. In accordance with his belief that Pollux is describing the Hellenistic theater, Dörpfeld understands it as the first story of the scene-building in a theater of this type.[202] The columns and statuary would then refer to the proscenium just in front of it and to the figures which were sometimes placed in the intercolumniations thereof. In Hellenistic theaters Dörpfeld believes the top of the proscenium to have been used by speakers in the public assemblies and for that reason to have been known as a logium (see p. 59, n. 1, above); the hyposcenium, of course, lay on a lower level. Pollux’ statement could not refer to a theater with a stage because the wall beneath the front of the stage was not decorated with columns or statuary (see p. 86, above), the proscenium now being raised one story and appearing at the back of the stage. On the contrary, the pro-stage writers maintain that Pollux refers to the space under a stage. In this instance I agree with them as against Dörpfeld, though I would not look upon Pollux’ statement as applying to the theaters before his own day. Accepting Dörpfeld’s opinion that the Hellenistic theaters had no stage, I think that the first story of their scene-buildings had no special name and that the term “hyposcenium” had not yet come into use; Pollux, however, is referring to the space under the stage in the Nero theater. The front of this was probably adorned with the same frieze as now stands before the Phaedrus stage, and we may not dogmatically assert that no columns stood there as well.[203] The Athens theater was inclined to be _sui generis_ at all periods, and these would not be the only particulars in which the Nero theater differed from the Graeco-Roman type.

There remains for discussion a passage in Plutarch. It concerns an episode in the career of Demetrius Poliorcetes (337-283 B.C.) and has been thought to refer to the theater of his day. But a study has been made of Plutarch’s practice in such matters and it has been found that many times he deliberately sought vividness of presentation by modernizing his accounts and picturing his scenes amid the familiar surroundings of contemporaneous life; in other words, the references to the theater in connection with his anecdotes never presuppose any other type of building than the stage-equipped buildings of his own day, and in several instances this method resulted in patent anachronisms. One example will suffice.[204] Plutarch declares that Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver of about the ninth century B.C., believed that the minds of assemblymen were distracted by “statues and paintings or the proscenia of theaters or the extravagantly wrought roofs of council chambers,” and so caused the Spartans to hold their assemblies in an open space. The author has here modernized his account in two particulars: he speaks as if Lycurgus were familiar with a fully developed theater building and as if it had already come to be used, elsewhere in Greece, as a place of meeting for the popular assembly. Of course, Lycurgus antedated the Greek drama and all but the crudest forms of choral performances by centuries, and this fact was as well known to Plutarch as it is to us.

See p. 104, n. 1]

Now Plutarch says[205] that “Demetrius came into the city (Athens) and ordered the entire population to be assembled into the theater and hedged in the scene-building (σκηνήν) on every side with troops and surrounded the stage (λογεῖον) with guards, and himself descending (καταβάς), like the tragic actors, through the upper parodi (διὰ τῶν ἄνω παρόδων) he ended their fears with his very first words.” In my opinion, the word καταβάς (“descending”) clearly shows that λογεῖον means “stage.” The “upper parodi,” then, must be the passages opening upon the logium from the parascenia. As Plutarch visualized the scene and wished his readers to do so, Demetrius came out upon the stage from one of the side entrances but did not address the people from there, as an orator of Plutarch’s own day would have done.[206] Instead, in his desire to show the Athenians his good-will he passed on down the central steps, as Plutarch had often seen the actors do in that theater (see p. 99, above), and addressed the assemblage from the orchestra. Since he could have passed through only one side entrance, the plural (παρόδων) must be due to a sort of zeugma, to imply that he came through one upper parodus and one upper entrance, viz., the central steps. The pro-stage writers who seek to apply Plutarch’s words to the Lycurgus theater in which the incident really happened, and who use them as an argument for a stage at that period, are forced to ignore the word καταβάς, for they cannot allow that “tragic actors” regularly descended from the Lycurgus proscenium into the orchestra. If we go back of Plutarch’s words and inquire what Demetrius actually did in the Lycurgus theater, the answer is plain: he simply advanced from the scene-building into the orchestra, and expressions consistent with this must have appeared in the source from which Plutarch derived his account. In fact, in describing a similar scene at Corinth, Plutarch retained words which are vague enough to be applicable to either type of theater.[207] He has simply modernized one account and brought over the other unchanged.

The zenith of Attic drama had passed by, entirely for tragedy and almost so for comedy, before the remains of theaters outside of Athens become frequent.[208] Nevertheless, these sometimes aid materially in reconstructing or interpreting the Athenian theater, and it will be necessary to dwell briefly upon a few of them. Perhaps the earliest and most primitive is found at Thoricus in southern Attica (Figs. 70 f.). This was built in the fifth or fourth century B.C. and was subsequently enlarged somewhat. The orchestra is oblong rather than circular, being bounded at one side by a temple, at the other side by a greenroom or storage chamber, and at the rear by a retaining wall. There is no reason to believe that a permanent scene-building was ever erected behind the orchestra. It is apparent that this structure has several points of resemblance to the Athenian theater of the period between _ca._ 499 B.C. and _ca._ 465 B.C. (see pp. 65 f., above).

The most symmetrical of all the Greek theaters and one of the best preserved is that at Epidaurus (Figs. 46-52 and 72, 2).[209] Its architect was the younger Polyclitus, and it was built toward the close of the fourth century B.C. If we are right in believing that the proscenium was not used as a stage, then the Epidaurus theater never had a stage. At any rate, it was not rebuilt and provided with one in Roman times. In the center of the orchestra stands a block of stone with a circular cavity, doubtless the foundation of the thymele. There is not only space for the full circle of the orchestra (in the narrowest sense; see p. 83, n. 2) but the bounding stones are actually continued for the full distance. The stone proscenium, containing half-columns (Fig. 72, 2) of the Ionic order and once eleven feet seven inches or about twelve Roman feet in height, was erected in the second or third century B.C. and replaced a wooden proscenium. The parascenia were rebuilt at the same time and seem originally to have been broader and to have projected farther from the scene-building. In either parodus stood a handsome double gateway (Figs. 49 and 51 f.), one door of which led into the orchestra and the other opened upon a ramp, somewhat sharply inclined, which debouched on the top of the proscenium. Ramps are found also in the Sicyon theater.

THE THEATER AT EPIDAURUS

See p. 104, n. 1

See p. 104, n. 2]

See p. 104, n. 2]

The theater at Eretria, on the west coast of Euboea, is not only one of the earliest but also presents several unusual features (Figs. 53-55 and 72).[210] It falls into three periods. The old scene-building was erected early in the fourth century B.C. A later scene-building was erected in front of the other about 300 B.C. The white marble proscenium belongs to the first century B.C. or later. The precinct of Dionysus at Eretria was situated on level ground, and this fact necessitated different arrangements than were feasible on the usual hillside site. The highest ground in Fig. 55 shows the original level on which the first scene-building, orchestra, and auditorium were erected (Fig. 54). This scene-building was of the common type with projecting parascenia between which the proscenium must have been constructed of wood. The seats at this period apparently were wooden bleachers like the ἴκρια of the primitive orchestra in the old market place at Athens (see pp. 63 f., above); and when they proved unsatisfactory, it seemed easier to excavate the center of the area than to throw up a mound around it. Accordingly, earth to a depth of ten and a half feet was removed to form a new orchestra somewhat north of the old one. In order that the old scene-building might not have to be taken down or lose its serviceability, the earth just in front of it was left standing and was held in place by a retaining wall. Over this space was built a new scene-building, really only an episcenium. Communication between the old level and the new was secured by means of a vaulted passageway and stone steps. Before the retaining wall stood a wooden proscenium, the top of which doubtless continued the floor of the scene-buildings at the original ground level. The boundary of the orchestra (in the narrowest sense) stopped at the semicircumference, but there was sufficient room before the proscenium for the complete circle. A tunnel, six and a half feet high and three feet wide and with stone steps at either end, led from behind the proscenium to the center of the orchestra. Such an arrangement is probably what Pollux referred to as “Charon’s steps”[211] and was convenient when an actor was to make an appearance from the earth or, like the ghost of Darius in Aeschylus’ _Persians_, from some structure which might temporarily be erected in the orchestra. Somewhat similar passages have been found in several other theaters, including Athens, but because of their size or other considerations seem not to have been used by actors. The downward pitch of the parodus, owing to the excavations, is clearly seen in Fig. 55. The marble proscenium is thought to have been about eleven and a half feet high and was supported by rimmed columns (Fig. 72, 1_b_). The parascenia did not project from this but merely continued the line of the proscenium, as in many of the Asia Minor theaters. Traces of tracks for the wheels of an eccyclema (see pp. 284 ff., below) are said to have been found in this theater on a level with the logium,[212] but the stones have now disappeared and their purpose is not free from doubt.

See p. 104, n. 2]

See p. 108, n. 1]

Inscriptions in the island of Delos[213] show that contractors received payment for a scene-building and proscenium in 290 B.C. Panels (πίνακες) for the proscenium are mentioned in 282 B.C. Wood for the “logium of the scene-building” was paid for in 279 B.C. Extensive repairs and improvements seem to have been carried through in 274 B.C. Stone was provided for the parascenium in 269 B.C. Wood was used for “panels for the logium” in 180 B.C. These were probably used to close large openings in the episcenium (see the θυρώματα at Oropus on p. 109, below). Most of these entries refer to wooden construction and antedate the extant remains in stone. There is no orchestra in the more restricted sense, but a gutter extends for about two-thirds of a circumference. If prolonged, this would just reach the front wall of the scene-building but would have a large segment subtended by the proscenium. The scene-building is an oblong with three doors in front and one in the rear. It is bounded on all four sides by a portico about nine and a third feet high. The front of this formed the proscenium, and it is clear that what was an ornament and certainly not a stage on the other three sides was primarily an ornament and certainly not a stage also on the fourth side. The oblong pillars, which were left plain on the other three sides of the building, on this side have their front surfaces rounded off into half-columns, and a vertical rim expedited the insertion of panels (Fig. 72, 3). There were no parascenia in the stone theater except as these were provided by the ends of the side porticos. The inscriptions, however, would seem to indicate that the situation had previously been different. From the front corners of the colonnade slanting doorways extended across the parodi. In the orchestra several bases stand in front of the proscenium, probably for the erection of statues or votive offerings.

There are theaters also at Delphi (Fig. 26), Megalopolis (Figs. 27 and 72, 1_a_), and Sicyon, but it is not possible to discuss every theater on the Greek mainland. We must not, however, pass by the small theater at Oropus in northern Attica (Figs. 56 f. and 72, 4).[214] It stood in the precinct of Amphiaraus and dates from the first and second centuries B.C. The auditorium is almost completely destroyed; evidently the seats were always wooden bleachers. Five marble thrones, however, stand within the orchestra, an unusual arrangement which recurs at Priene (see p. 113, below). Another peculiarity is that no orchestra, in the narrowest sense, is marked out, either in whole or in part. But if a circle is drawn through the seats of honor, as has been done in Fig. 56, it falls just outside the proscenium. On the contrary, a circle as determined by the lowest row of seats cuts into the proscenium slightly. The parodi have been banked up so that their outer entrances are on a level with the top of the proscenium. The chief merit of this theater consists in the fact that the superior preservation of its scene-building and the presence of two inscriptions enable us to form a fairly clear picture of how a proscenium and an episcenium looked at this period. The front wall of the scene-building is pierced by one door; the side walls are continued so as to frame the proscenium but themselves turn sharply back along the parodi without forming projecting parascenia. The proscenium consisted of Doric half-columns and was eight and a quarter feet high. Its central intercolumniation was intended to be filled by a door, but the four on either side were so made as to be readily filled in with painted panels (Fig. 72, 4). Across the architrave ran an inscription: “... having been agonothete, dedicated the proscenium and the panels.” Another inscription ran along the top of the episcenium: “... having been priest, dedicated the scene-building and the doors.”[215] The last item refers to five (or three) large openings in the front wall of the episcenium. Similar doors are found at Ephesus, and they were doubtless used in connection with the crane (μηχανή, see pp. 67 f., above, and p. 289, below). All in all, Oropus contributes very materially to our knowledge of the ancient theater.

See p. 108, n. 1]

See p. 110, n. 1]

Beginning with the first century B.C. the only kind of Greek theater which was newly built was what Dörpfeld calls the Graeco-Roman type, cf. the theaters at Termessus (Fig. 58)[216] and Aspendus in Asia Minor. During this period several Hellenistic theaters (e.g., those at Priene, Magnesia, Tralles, Pergamum [Fig. 28], Athens [?], Syracuse, Pompeii, etc.) were remodeled to the Graeco-Roman type. That this is a Greek and not a Roman form of theater is proved by the fact that its orchestra, though no longer a complete circle, yet exceeded a semicircumference (see p. 77, above). These theaters had a stage varying from eight to ten feet in height and from eleven and a half to twenty in depth. The scene-buildings were of three stories—hyposcenium, logium, and theologium (Fig. 24). The first presented to the spectator an undecorated wall with doors leading into the orchestra; the second was terminated by a proscenium with columns and statues. The proscenium was seldom so simple as in the earlier theaters but was an ornamental façade with projections and recesses (Fig. 59), which added materially to the area of the stage.

See p. 111, n. 2]

See p. 113, n. 1]

Hellenistic theaters could be remodeled either (_a_) by building a new (undecorated) wall in front of the old proscenium and roofing the two over to form a stage or (_b_) by moving back the front wall of the scene-building slightly and constructing a stage between this and the old proscenium.[217] In either case, a new (decorated) proscenium would be erected at the back of the stage. In the latter case, the columns of the old proscenium would either be removed and a blank surface built in their stead or they would be walled up. As already explained (see p. 86, above) this was done because the floor of the stage was thought of as representing earth or a street. At Priene (Fig. 64) the Hellenistic columns were left standing, but this is the sole instance of a Graeco-Roman hyposcenium having columns.

Method (_a_) is illustrated at Ephesus (Figs. 24 and 59-62),[218] where the first permanent scene-building was built about 300 B.C. (Fig. 60). The dotted lines show the position of the stone proscenium, eight and a half feet high and nine feet ten inches deep, which was erected in the first century B.C. (Fig. 61). There were no parascenia. The seven openings (θυρώματα) in the episcenium furnish an interesting parallel to the five at Oropus (see p. 109, above). In the last half of the first century A.D. this structure was converted into a Graeco-Roman type (Figs. 24 and 62). The new logium was left of the same height as the old proscenium, but was made nearly twenty feet deep; and at certain points this depth received a considerable accession from the recesses of the new proscenium (Fig. 59). These changes were made at the expense of the orchestra, which derived some compensation from the fact that several rows of the lowest seats were removed; as a result the orchestra became a sort of pit (Fig. 24). The hyposcenium was plain and was pierced by three doors leading into the orchestra. The top story of the proscenium in Fig. 59 was not added until the third century A.D.

See p. 111, n. 2]

See p. 111, n. 2]

Method (_b_) was employed at Priene (Figs. 63 f.).[219] This theater enjoys the distinction of being the only one in which an altar was found, and this was not situated in the center of the orchestra, as the foundations at Athens and Epidaurus would seem to indicate was the case there, but on its circumference. Seats of honor were placed in the orchestra, as at Oropus (see p. 108, above); but in Roman times new seats for dignitaries were erected in the center of the fifth row of seats (Fig. 63). The proscenium was of the same age as the scene-building and belongs to the third century B.C. At the Graeco-Roman rebuilding the columns of this proscenium were left standing, but the intercolumniations, except the three which served as doors, were walled up. The front wall of the Hellenistic episcenium was torn down and a new proscenium was built about six and a half feet farther back (see cross-hatched wall in Fig. 63).

See p. 111, n. 2]

The height of the Graeco-Roman stage as compared with the low Roman stage was partly due to convenience in remodeling when it was kept at the same figure as the earlier proscenium, but mostly to the conditions of exhibition.[220] The Greeks did not, like the Romans, sit in their orchestras. Choral and musical competitions still were held there, as well as such Roman sports as gladiatorial and animal combats. It was necessary, therefore, that the orchestra should be accessible from the hyposcenium, and the doors could scarcely be lower than six and a half or seven feet. Accordingly, the stage could hardly be less than eight feet high.

See p. 113, n. 1]

But the seats of honor in Greek theaters had always been in the lowest tier (nearest the orchestra), and from there the view of dramatic performances, when presented upon an eight- or ten-foot stage, would be seriously obstructed.[221] Usually when such theaters were remodeled, as at Ephesus, Assus, Pergamum, and Delphi, enough tiers were removed so that the lowest seats would be only about five feet below the stage level. The orchestra thus became like a pit and was inclosed with vertical walls (Fig. 24). At Side the space from which seats had been removed was built over with a six-foot wall, which was especially suitable in view of the gladiatorial and animal fights of Roman times. Where the auditorium was not altered, as at Priene and Magnesia, it is supposed that the lowest seats were unoccupied at dramatic performances, but were put to use, as the best places, at orchestral sports and contests.

As to the function of the dramatic chorus in the period of the Graeco-Roman theaters, especially in Asia Minor, we have little information. Nevertheless, it is necessary to consider the question. Already in Hellenistic (New) Comedy the chorus appeared only between acts (see p. 147, below). It is possible that by this time it had disappeared entirely or that it was so detached that, though the comic actors stood on a stage, the _entr’actes_ could be given in the orchestra, or that its numbers were so reduced (see p. 135, below) that it could perform upon a Graeco-Roman stage—in any case, the chorus in contemporaneous comedy is negligible. The number of the tragic choreutae had probably been reduced also (see p. 134, below). But what is still more significant is that, if the fragments of Roman drama are any criterion[222], the tragic choruses had abandoned the strophic responsions of the old Greek tragedy, and this means the abandonment of the complicated evolutions which had carried the chorus over the full expanse of the ancient orchestra. It was quite feasible for a small chorus which sang astrophic odes, spoke through its coryphaeus, and danced in a restricted fashion to appear upon a Graeco-Roman stage with the actors, to be closely connected with the plot, and even to participate in the action. As to the reproduction of old plays, the situation was not especially different. Fifth-century comedies were probably never repeated at this period. New Comedy, as we have just seen, would present little difficulty. As to old tragedies, the choral parts could be excised _ad libitum_ or sung on the stage by a reduced chorus without dancing (or at least without evolutions). It will be remembered that I do not accept Dörpfeld’s opinion that the Nero stage at Athens was of the Graeco-Roman type. Accordingly, I believe that different physical conditions and the glory of their traditions kept up a livelier interest in the dramatic chorus at Athens than elsewhere and still retained the Athenian orchestra as the normal place of activity for the dramatic choreutae (see p. 99, above).

The foregoing account shows that there are many points of dispute with regard to the Greek theater and many points concerning which no one can do aught but guess. In closing, let me repeat that we are interested in the Greek theater mainly because of the Greek drama and that the extant pieces belong almost exclusively to the fifth century B.C. Now for that century the irreducible minimum, as shown by the plays themselves, is that there can have been no place, elevated much or little, which was reserved exclusively for the actors.

In the case of the drama the religious origin and the
persisting religious meaning are self-evident. Performed at a
festival of Dionysus, beside his temple, in the presence of
his altar and his priest, tragedy and comedy are the natural
response to that Greek demand for the enrichment of worship by
art.—ARTHUR FAIRBANKS.