DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.796#0280
240 THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS
the wall of the stage-building (o-kt/vij) built by Lycurgus, both
together resting on the broad conglomerate foundation facing
the orchestra, while in the parascenia the rows of columns
extend at both sides beyond the projecting wings of this founda-
tion and stand out free. To this restoration Puchstein objects
that it is unlikely that the foundation would have been made
so broad on the wings if it had been originally intended to
carry only this narrow stylobate, and that the effect of a row
df columns standing close to a wall fronting the orchestra and
standing free on the wings would be inharmonious. According
to Puchstein the proscenium with marble columns is of later
origin than the conglomerate foundations of the earliest stage-
building, may have been the work of Lycurgus, was shifted
into its present position at a later period, occupied originally
more nearly the position of its wooden predecessor, and was
from the first a raised platform, on which the actors performed
their parts. That the earliest permanent stage-building at
Athens must antedate the time of Lycurgus Puchstein argues
from the existence of the stone stage-building at Eretria,
which is a theatre of the same type as that at Athens, and
whose stage dates, he thinks, from the fourth or possibly the
fifth century B.C.
The third period in the history of the Dionysiac theatre
is marked by the remodelling both of the stage and
the orchestra in the reign of Nero. Existing walls, marble
pavement, remains of architecture and sculpture attest this
reconstruction, the date of which is fixed by an inscription
{C.I.A. iii. 158), carved on an architrave which records a
dedication to Eleutherian Dionysus and Nero. The chief
changes made in this period were the construction of a low
broad Roman stage projecting into the orchestra, the laying
down of a marble pavement in the orchestra, and the separa-
tion of the auditorium from the orchestra by a marble parapet.
The front line of this new stage is believed by Dorpfeld to have
coincided with the still later stage of Phaedrus (see below),
except that it was not prolonged on either side as far as the
seats of the spectators. The communication between the
farodoi and the auditorium was not yet cut off. Besides
the architrave which carries the inscription above mentioned,
the shaft of one column and several fragments of columns,
the wall of the stage-building (o-kt/vij) built by Lycurgus, both
together resting on the broad conglomerate foundation facing
the orchestra, while in the parascenia the rows of columns
extend at both sides beyond the projecting wings of this founda-
tion and stand out free. To this restoration Puchstein objects
that it is unlikely that the foundation would have been made
so broad on the wings if it had been originally intended to
carry only this narrow stylobate, and that the effect of a row
df columns standing close to a wall fronting the orchestra and
standing free on the wings would be inharmonious. According
to Puchstein the proscenium with marble columns is of later
origin than the conglomerate foundations of the earliest stage-
building, may have been the work of Lycurgus, was shifted
into its present position at a later period, occupied originally
more nearly the position of its wooden predecessor, and was
from the first a raised platform, on which the actors performed
their parts. That the earliest permanent stage-building at
Athens must antedate the time of Lycurgus Puchstein argues
from the existence of the stone stage-building at Eretria,
which is a theatre of the same type as that at Athens, and
whose stage dates, he thinks, from the fourth or possibly the
fifth century B.C.
The third period in the history of the Dionysiac theatre
is marked by the remodelling both of the stage and
the orchestra in the reign of Nero. Existing walls, marble
pavement, remains of architecture and sculpture attest this
reconstruction, the date of which is fixed by an inscription
{C.I.A. iii. 158), carved on an architrave which records a
dedication to Eleutherian Dionysus and Nero. The chief
changes made in this period were the construction of a low
broad Roman stage projecting into the orchestra, the laying
down of a marble pavement in the orchestra, and the separa-
tion of the auditorium from the orchestra by a marble parapet.
The front line of this new stage is believed by Dorpfeld to have
coincided with the still later stage of Phaedrus (see below),
except that it was not prolonged on either side as far as the
seats of the spectators. The communication between the
farodoi and the auditorium was not yet cut off. Besides
the architrave which carries the inscription above mentioned,
the shaft of one column and several fragments of columns,