DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0099
DIONYSIAC THEATRE. 83
side of the Acropolis. The upper part of the koTKov, or place for the
audience, was excavated out of the cliff; whilst the lower part, including
the stage, was constructed of wood and masonry. At first, probably,
it was but a rude construction in comparison with what Lycurgus the
orator made it about a century and a half later. There is even reason
to believe that the stone and marble seats for the spectators were not
added till that time, except, perhaps, those higher ones actually cut
out of the rock; for we find Cratinus and Aristophanes alluding to
the 'Upia, or wooden benches, long after the stone theatre was in
existence.1 A passage in the ' Thesmophoriazusee' of Aristophanes
seems to confirm our notion that the lower benches were still con-
structed of wood. One of the women in the play, after alluding to
Euripides' abuse of the female sex, and the bad impressions of them it
had given the men, proceeds to say:
(oa~T tvOvs cl&lOVTfS O7T0 TWV IKpitoV
v7roft\eirov(r ^as, {TKonovvrai t ei'&W.—V. 394.
" The men no sooner fill the wooden scats
Than they stare up and scrutinize us thence:"
a passage which seems to show not only that the women sat apart from
the men, but also that they occupied the upper seats, which were of
stone.2 The excavations undertaken in 1862, the results of which
will be described in the proper place, have now laid bare the whole of
this magnificent theatre: one of the most important and interesting
revelations of classical antiquity that has been made in our days.
An event was now at hand that was to change the whole face of
Athens—its capture by the Persians. But before relating it, let us
endeavour to realize the appearance of the primitive, or as it has been
sometimes called, the Thesean city.
First, then, we must remark that it was surrounded with a wall.
This is clear, from the account given above, from Thucydides, of the
assassination of Hipparchus, where it is said that Harmodius and Aristo-
geiton rushed through the gate into the city (p. 78).
1 licpiatv \jr6<pT](Tis. Crat. Inc. Fab. Frag. 2 The scholiast on the passage observes:
no. li. Meineke. o>ff en iKpiatv ovratv ev rat dedrpat.
a 2
side of the Acropolis. The upper part of the koTKov, or place for the
audience, was excavated out of the cliff; whilst the lower part, including
the stage, was constructed of wood and masonry. At first, probably,
it was but a rude construction in comparison with what Lycurgus the
orator made it about a century and a half later. There is even reason
to believe that the stone and marble seats for the spectators were not
added till that time, except, perhaps, those higher ones actually cut
out of the rock; for we find Cratinus and Aristophanes alluding to
the 'Upia, or wooden benches, long after the stone theatre was in
existence.1 A passage in the ' Thesmophoriazusee' of Aristophanes
seems to confirm our notion that the lower benches were still con-
structed of wood. One of the women in the play, after alluding to
Euripides' abuse of the female sex, and the bad impressions of them it
had given the men, proceeds to say:
(oa~T tvOvs cl&lOVTfS O7T0 TWV IKpitoV
v7roft\eirov(r ^as, {TKonovvrai t ei'&W.—V. 394.
" The men no sooner fill the wooden scats
Than they stare up and scrutinize us thence:"
a passage which seems to show not only that the women sat apart from
the men, but also that they occupied the upper seats, which were of
stone.2 The excavations undertaken in 1862, the results of which
will be described in the proper place, have now laid bare the whole of
this magnificent theatre: one of the most important and interesting
revelations of classical antiquity that has been made in our days.
An event was now at hand that was to change the whole face of
Athens—its capture by the Persians. But before relating it, let us
endeavour to realize the appearance of the primitive, or as it has been
sometimes called, the Thesean city.
First, then, we must remark that it was surrounded with a wall.
This is clear, from the account given above, from Thucydides, of the
assassination of Hipparchus, where it is said that Harmodius and Aristo-
geiton rushed through the gate into the city (p. 78).
1 licpiatv \jr6<pT](Tis. Crat. Inc. Fab. Frag. 2 The scholiast on the passage observes:
no. li. Meineke. o>ff en iKpiatv ovratv ev rat dedrpat.
a 2