DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0072
r,2
PRINCIPLES OF GREEK ART
CHAP.
Of several Greek cities, notably of Messene, a great part of
the circuit of the walls, with the towers set at intervals to
strengthen the walls, and to provide nucleus-points for defence,
still remains standing. At Syracuse we can trace at least the
plan of the great fortress of Euryelus, built by Dionysius at the
most assailable point of his wall of circumvallation. These,
however, were military constructions intended solely for prac-
tical ends. The impression produced by them, especially at
Messene, is very noble and harmonious. But the good taste of
the Greeks preserved them from any attempt at beautifying by
sculptural decoration fortifications which could only be con-
nected in the mind with hostile attack and fierce sortie.
More nearly related to the gentle and pleasurable side of life
were the theatres. In recent days, partly in consequence of the
interest aroused by the question whether or not the Greek
theatre had a raised stage, the theatres on a multitude of Greek
sites, at Athens, Epidaurus, Megalopolis, Oropus, Ephesus,
Pergamon and a host of other cities, have been carefully ex-
cavated. Here again the beauty of form, especially in the case
of the exquisite theatre of Epidaurus, is a matter for wonder.
The slope of a hill is so used as to diminish to the utmost extent
the labour of construction; the arrangement of the seats and
the construction of the stage-buildings combine in the highest
degree simplicity and practical convenience. But in theatres
no less than in fortresses artistic adornment would have been
felt to be out of place. The theatres were dedicated to an art,
but it was the art of play-acting, and any use of plastic art
which could in any way interfere with or come into competition
with that special function would have been worse than out of
place. A few statues of great playwriters decorated the audi-
torium of the Athenian theatre of Dionysus from the fourth
century B.C. onwards. The reliefs which at present occupy
there the front of the stage date only from the Roman age, and
were so little regarded that when a subsequent fashion reduced
PRINCIPLES OF GREEK ART
CHAP.
Of several Greek cities, notably of Messene, a great part of
the circuit of the walls, with the towers set at intervals to
strengthen the walls, and to provide nucleus-points for defence,
still remains standing. At Syracuse we can trace at least the
plan of the great fortress of Euryelus, built by Dionysius at the
most assailable point of his wall of circumvallation. These,
however, were military constructions intended solely for prac-
tical ends. The impression produced by them, especially at
Messene, is very noble and harmonious. But the good taste of
the Greeks preserved them from any attempt at beautifying by
sculptural decoration fortifications which could only be con-
nected in the mind with hostile attack and fierce sortie.
More nearly related to the gentle and pleasurable side of life
were the theatres. In recent days, partly in consequence of the
interest aroused by the question whether or not the Greek
theatre had a raised stage, the theatres on a multitude of Greek
sites, at Athens, Epidaurus, Megalopolis, Oropus, Ephesus,
Pergamon and a host of other cities, have been carefully ex-
cavated. Here again the beauty of form, especially in the case
of the exquisite theatre of Epidaurus, is a matter for wonder.
The slope of a hill is so used as to diminish to the utmost extent
the labour of construction; the arrangement of the seats and
the construction of the stage-buildings combine in the highest
degree simplicity and practical convenience. But in theatres
no less than in fortresses artistic adornment would have been
felt to be out of place. The theatres were dedicated to an art,
but it was the art of play-acting, and any use of plastic art
which could in any way interfere with or come into competition
with that special function would have been worse than out of
place. A few statues of great playwriters decorated the audi-
torium of the Athenian theatre of Dionysus from the fourth
century B.C. onwards. The reliefs which at present occupy
there the front of the stage date only from the Roman age, and
were so little regarded that when a subsequent fashion reduced