DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47233#0054
7
Repairs to same.
End benches.
These have been
lengthened.
Mistake in
rearrangement
of blocks.
Pavement behind
was not
continued.
Gutter was
lengthened.
Rough sinking in
passage.
Workmanship of
benches.
Level of passage.
Explanation of
unusual slope in
Orchestra.
No evidence of
earlier gutter.
38 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS. [chap. iii.
fixing—the broken parts have been cut out and other pieces neatly inserted and dowelled in,
the dowels having been run in with lead from behind.
The benches at each end are now about 5 feet longer than the others, and they have
five blocks in their length. They were originally the same size, and were afterwards
lengthened so that their ends came into a line with the outer face of the retaining walls of
the Theatre. This was done by taking down the benches and refixing the old blocks, but
with a new intermediate block inserted to give the greater length necessary. This inserted
block can easily be distinguished by its rougher workmanship. It is curious to observe also
that, in the refitting of these blocks, they were not arranged consecutively as they had been
before, for we find that the original inscription of the bench on the west side begins on the
inner stone, passes over the second one—also an old one refixed—and continues on the
third one which must have been originally the second block and have got transposed in the
refixing. In this bench the fourth block is the new one. The inscription on the east bench
is correct. This mistake seems to indicate that the time when this alteration was effected
was sufficiently remote from that at which the benches were made to make the correct re-
arrangement of the inscription a matter of indifference to those who were concerned in the
alteration; otherwise, surely it would have been put right when it was discovered.
We can also observe, on the back of the outer block of the east bench, the mark of
tlie line where the pavement of the passage behind abutted on. When the bench was
lengthened, this block was moved further out, but the stone paving of the passage was
evidently not continued, and the level of the ground must have sloped down from the end
of the old stones—after the benches were lengthened—to meet the lower level of the orchestra.
The gutter in front however was lengthened as well as the benches, and on the upright face
of the additional cill stones under the extension of the benches, which cill stones form the
inner kerb of the gutter, the projecting rough knobs which were generally left on for
convenience of carrying and fixing have never been dressed down and remain to this day.
It is almost certain that the sinking in the slabs of the passage, leaving a raised fillet
immediately behind the benches, was done, after the benches had been added, for the purpose
of running the rain-water off at the sides by the steps and so preventing it from collecting
against the back of the benches and oozing through the joints. The workmanship of this
cutting is much rougher than that of the other work generally.
The surface of the limestone composing these benches and seats is a good deal weathered
and the harder veins stand up prominently ; it is therefore not easy to gauge accurately the
original appearance of the tooling, but enough can be seen to enable us to conclude that it
was of similar nature to that on the same material elsewhere.
The level of the passage is almost exactly that of the foundation slab of the later
steps of the portico (see Pl. XI. Fig. 1). A drop of a few inches from the edge of the
passage down to the orchestra would have given the latter just enough slope to have allowed
the water to run off. The extra and unusual slope which we find to-day can best be
explained by the theory of the later insertion of the benches and the fact that they were
sunk down about 18 inches below the level of the passsage, so as not to obstruct the view
from the seats immediately behind.
We have no evidence as to whether there was an earlier gutter in front of the passage,,
but it is not by any means improbable that there may have been one in order to hold the
spring-water as well as to drain both the orchestra and the auditorium ; perhaps it may
have been a broad and shallow one. We shall see, on referring further on to the drain in
the Skanotheka, that the levels lend themselves to such a supposition.
Repairs to same.
End benches.
These have been
lengthened.
Mistake in
rearrangement
of blocks.
Pavement behind
was not
continued.
Gutter was
lengthened.
Rough sinking in
passage.
Workmanship of
benches.
Level of passage.
Explanation of
unusual slope in
Orchestra.
No evidence of
earlier gutter.
38 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS. [chap. iii.
fixing—the broken parts have been cut out and other pieces neatly inserted and dowelled in,
the dowels having been run in with lead from behind.
The benches at each end are now about 5 feet longer than the others, and they have
five blocks in their length. They were originally the same size, and were afterwards
lengthened so that their ends came into a line with the outer face of the retaining walls of
the Theatre. This was done by taking down the benches and refixing the old blocks, but
with a new intermediate block inserted to give the greater length necessary. This inserted
block can easily be distinguished by its rougher workmanship. It is curious to observe also
that, in the refitting of these blocks, they were not arranged consecutively as they had been
before, for we find that the original inscription of the bench on the west side begins on the
inner stone, passes over the second one—also an old one refixed—and continues on the
third one which must have been originally the second block and have got transposed in the
refixing. In this bench the fourth block is the new one. The inscription on the east bench
is correct. This mistake seems to indicate that the time when this alteration was effected
was sufficiently remote from that at which the benches were made to make the correct re-
arrangement of the inscription a matter of indifference to those who were concerned in the
alteration; otherwise, surely it would have been put right when it was discovered.
We can also observe, on the back of the outer block of the east bench, the mark of
tlie line where the pavement of the passage behind abutted on. When the bench was
lengthened, this block was moved further out, but the stone paving of the passage was
evidently not continued, and the level of the ground must have sloped down from the end
of the old stones—after the benches were lengthened—to meet the lower level of the orchestra.
The gutter in front however was lengthened as well as the benches, and on the upright face
of the additional cill stones under the extension of the benches, which cill stones form the
inner kerb of the gutter, the projecting rough knobs which were generally left on for
convenience of carrying and fixing have never been dressed down and remain to this day.
It is almost certain that the sinking in the slabs of the passage, leaving a raised fillet
immediately behind the benches, was done, after the benches had been added, for the purpose
of running the rain-water off at the sides by the steps and so preventing it from collecting
against the back of the benches and oozing through the joints. The workmanship of this
cutting is much rougher than that of the other work generally.
The surface of the limestone composing these benches and seats is a good deal weathered
and the harder veins stand up prominently ; it is therefore not easy to gauge accurately the
original appearance of the tooling, but enough can be seen to enable us to conclude that it
was of similar nature to that on the same material elsewhere.
The level of the passage is almost exactly that of the foundation slab of the later
steps of the portico (see Pl. XI. Fig. 1). A drop of a few inches from the edge of the
passage down to the orchestra would have given the latter just enough slope to have allowed
the water to run off. The extra and unusual slope which we find to-day can best be
explained by the theory of the later insertion of the benches and the fact that they were
sunk down about 18 inches below the level of the passsage, so as not to obstruct the view
from the seats immediately behind.
We have no evidence as to whether there was an earlier gutter in front of the passage,,
but it is not by any means improbable that there may have been one in order to hold the
spring-water as well as to drain both the orchestra and the auditorium ; perhaps it may
have been a broad and shallow one. We shall see, on referring further on to the drain in
the Skanotheka, that the levels lend themselves to such a supposition.