DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0097
82
ANCIENT ATHENS.
Peisistratids is evident from the circumstance that Peisistratus, the son
of Hippias, erected in it the Altar of the Twelve Gods, which remained
there in the time of Thucydides, as we shall see further on.
On the other hand there are some passages which show that dra-
matic contests also took place in the Lenseum or peribolos sacred to the
Lenaean Dionysus, at the south-east foot of the Acropolis, before the
theatre was built j1 but these were probably in the festival called the
Lensea (t<x Arjvaia), celebrated in the month Gamelion, when these
representations would very naturally take place in the proximity of
the temple of the Lensean Dionysus; while those during the great
Dionysia, we may conclude, were originally held in the wooden theatre
in the agora. The existence of a primitive orchestra here, near the
spot where afterwards stood the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton,
is strongly confirmative of this view.2 This orchestra was probably
first used for the performances of the cyclic chorus. We have only the
evidence of Suidas, in the article II parlva<;, before quoted, respecting
the building of the stone theatre and its date, which he fixes in
Olympiad 70.1, or b.c. 500. It was constructed in the Lenseum, or
Dionysiac enclosure, which, as we have said, lay under the south-east
1 Arjvaiov' irepijioKos jj-eyas ' Adtjirrjo-iv,
iv a tovs dyavas rjyov rrpb tov to BcaTpov
otKohoprjBrjvat, ovopd^ovris irfi Arjvaia-
eaTiv be iv avra <cai Upbv Atovvaov Arjvaiov.
Phot. Lex.; Bekk. An. Gr«c. p. 278;
Hesych. 'Em Arjvaia dyav. Let us
observe here that the phrase iir\ Arjvaia,
as in Aristophanes, Acharu. 504—airol
yap co-pev oi7rl Arjvaia t' ayav—though it
may have originally meant a contest in or
at the Lenseum, came in process of time
to denote rather an agon in honour of the
Lenaean Dionysus, or the Lena>an festival.
In fact, as a designation of place, it would
have ceased to have any meaning, as the
plays at the Great Dionysia were also per-
formed at the Lenseum. The words of the
law quoted by Demosthenes (Mid. p. 517,
Reiske), r) eVi Arjvaia Tropirr), do not admit
such a meaning, for it would be absurd
to imagine a solemn procession confining
itself to a place like the Lenseum. «ri
Arjvaia means the Lenaean festival in
Plato, Protagoras, 327 D (i. i. 187, Bekk.):
ayptoi Tives, oioi nep ovs iripvo-i QtptKpaTrjs
6 7toi?jti)s iSi&a^tv firl Arjvaia. Some-
times the form occurs: Aiovvma ra <Vi
Arjvaia—Boeckh, C. Inscr. Gr. i. No. 157 ;
Eangabe, ' Ant. Helleniques,' t. ii. p. 501.
Cf. Wieseler, 'Disputatio de loco,' &c,
p. 13, note 40.
2 'OpxTjorpa . . . tottos iirMpavrjs fis
navr/yvpiv, iv6a 'Appobiov Kai 'Apio-royd-
tovos e"icoves.—Tim. Lex. Plat. 'Op^rjarpa •
TTpaTov iK\r)6r) iv Trj dyopa, tlra Kai tov
8(aTpov to Kara rjpUvKKov.—Phot. Lex.
ANCIENT ATHENS.
Peisistratids is evident from the circumstance that Peisistratus, the son
of Hippias, erected in it the Altar of the Twelve Gods, which remained
there in the time of Thucydides, as we shall see further on.
On the other hand there are some passages which show that dra-
matic contests also took place in the Lenseum or peribolos sacred to the
Lenaean Dionysus, at the south-east foot of the Acropolis, before the
theatre was built j1 but these were probably in the festival called the
Lensea (t<x Arjvaia), celebrated in the month Gamelion, when these
representations would very naturally take place in the proximity of
the temple of the Lensean Dionysus; while those during the great
Dionysia, we may conclude, were originally held in the wooden theatre
in the agora. The existence of a primitive orchestra here, near the
spot where afterwards stood the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton,
is strongly confirmative of this view.2 This orchestra was probably
first used for the performances of the cyclic chorus. We have only the
evidence of Suidas, in the article II parlva<;, before quoted, respecting
the building of the stone theatre and its date, which he fixes in
Olympiad 70.1, or b.c. 500. It was constructed in the Lenseum, or
Dionysiac enclosure, which, as we have said, lay under the south-east
1 Arjvaiov' irepijioKos jj-eyas ' Adtjirrjo-iv,
iv a tovs dyavas rjyov rrpb tov to BcaTpov
otKohoprjBrjvat, ovopd^ovris irfi Arjvaia-
eaTiv be iv avra <cai Upbv Atovvaov Arjvaiov.
Phot. Lex.; Bekk. An. Gr«c. p. 278;
Hesych. 'Em Arjvaia dyav. Let us
observe here that the phrase iir\ Arjvaia,
as in Aristophanes, Acharu. 504—airol
yap co-pev oi7rl Arjvaia t' ayav—though it
may have originally meant a contest in or
at the Lenseum, came in process of time
to denote rather an agon in honour of the
Lenaean Dionysus, or the Lena>an festival.
In fact, as a designation of place, it would
have ceased to have any meaning, as the
plays at the Great Dionysia were also per-
formed at the Lenseum. The words of the
law quoted by Demosthenes (Mid. p. 517,
Reiske), r) eVi Arjvaia Tropirr), do not admit
such a meaning, for it would be absurd
to imagine a solemn procession confining
itself to a place like the Lenseum. «ri
Arjvaia means the Lenaean festival in
Plato, Protagoras, 327 D (i. i. 187, Bekk.):
ayptoi Tives, oioi nep ovs iripvo-i QtptKpaTrjs
6 7toi?jti)s iSi&a^tv firl Arjvaia. Some-
times the form occurs: Aiovvma ra <Vi
Arjvaia—Boeckh, C. Inscr. Gr. i. No. 157 ;
Eangabe, ' Ant. Helleniques,' t. ii. p. 501.
Cf. Wieseler, 'Disputatio de loco,' &c,
p. 13, note 40.
2 'OpxTjorpa . . . tottos iirMpavrjs fis
navr/yvpiv, iv6a 'Appobiov Kai 'Apio-royd-
tovos e"icoves.—Tim. Lex. Plat. 'Op^rjarpa •
TTpaTov iK\r)6r) iv Trj dyopa, tlra Kai tov
8(aTpov to Kara rjpUvKKov.—Phot. Lex.