Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (4.1885-1886)

THE THEATRE OF THORICUS.

7

with but few displacements; from A to B, and from A" to B", it
descends in regular steps. See Plate II., Fig. 5, which represents the
point B" and the part adjoining it. See also the Frontispiece, Plate VII.

Of the break at this point and of the inferior continuation which
supports the ends of the seats above the rock-chamber, we have
already spoken (p.' 8). This continuation forms a tangent to the
produced curve, not a chord of it. At the other corner of the
theatre, however, the case is quite different. The wall does not bend
in a curve, but makes a slightly obtuse angle at A, and then continues
in a straight line to the place where it intersects the wall GBB'.
Here, at B, the seats resting upon it meet with those lying upon the
natural terrain. The west side of the theatre has, as will be seen,
a heart-shaped form, because of the reentrant angle.

It might be a question whether this outer wall, A A'A", was not
a later addition made for the sake of increasing the seating capacity
of the building. The joining of the walls on the west side, at B,
favors that view, but on the other side evidence is lacking, on account
of the break and the subsequent repairs, at just the critical point.

At the back of the theatre there are two huge stone abutments
(F and Z on the plan), which served as entrances for the spectators.
They are built up from the slope of the hill to the top of the wall,
so that by taking a few steps uphill one might enter the theatre by a
slightly inclined plane. Both are built up against the wall, but are
not bonded to it. The western one presents some noticeable pecu-
liarities. It is pierced by an arch (see Plate II., Fig. 1) very similar
in style to the pointed arches in the walls of Tiryns.1 The opening
is 0.72 m. from the wall AA', and is 0.80 m. wide. The object of
this arch is not clear. At first one is tempted to say that it was
made to let out the water that should flow from the hill and collect
between the two buttresses. But upon digging down to a depth of
4.00 m. from the top of the wall, this theory had to be abandoned, for
the natural rock sloped the wrong way for the water to flow off. The
explanation given in Badeker's Griechenland, that the opening was
left in order to save material, is hardly tenable. Probably the arch
was built simply to afford an easy passage around the outside of the
theatre. It is to be observed that this western abutment has a
branch, ¥', nearly at right angles to Y, 4.15 m. from BB', an

1 See illustrations in Schliemann, Tiryns, pp. 184, 320, and 334.