DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0194
146
POMPEII
the orchestra was on a level with the top of the present
stage, and that the broad ledges of the lowest part of the
cavea were not yet laid ; the orchestra, moreover, must have
been so much larger that the rear wrall of the stage lay on
a tangent of it, while the present entrances at the end of the
stage, which belong to the oldest part of the building, were
entrances to the orchestra, the parodoi. We are therefore led
to the impossible conclusion that the orchestra had two entrances
on each side : one opening directly upon the place occupied by
the actors, the present stage entrances ; and the other on a lower
level further back near the foot of the cavea, the present en-
trances to the orchestra; for these also were a part of the
original structure.
In opposition to Doerpfeld’s view Puchstein and Koldewey
have recently expressed the opinion that the Theatre was origi-
nally of the Greek type described by Vitruvius, with a narrow
stage 3 or 4 feet higher than now, and that then the stage was
separated from the rest of the structure by unroofed parodoi.
The last assumption is clearly incorrect, because the vaulted
entrances of the parodoi belong to the oldest parts of the build-
ing. The assumption of a higher stage also involves serious
difficulties, but they are of too technical a character to be dis-
cussed here.
In the open space between the Theatre, the Forum Triangu-
lare, and the Palaestra there is a small reservoir for water (D),
square on the outside and round within. It was evidently used
for the sprinklings, sparsiones, with saffron-colored water, by
which on summer days the heat of the Theatre was mollified.
That such sprinklings were in vogue in Pompeii is known from
announcements of gladiatorial combats, painted on walls, in
which they are advertised together with an awning as part of
the attraction, — sparsiones, vela erant.
POMPEII
the orchestra was on a level with the top of the present
stage, and that the broad ledges of the lowest part of the
cavea were not yet laid ; the orchestra, moreover, must have
been so much larger that the rear wrall of the stage lay on
a tangent of it, while the present entrances at the end of the
stage, which belong to the oldest part of the building, were
entrances to the orchestra, the parodoi. We are therefore led
to the impossible conclusion that the orchestra had two entrances
on each side : one opening directly upon the place occupied by
the actors, the present stage entrances ; and the other on a lower
level further back near the foot of the cavea, the present en-
trances to the orchestra; for these also were a part of the
original structure.
In opposition to Doerpfeld’s view Puchstein and Koldewey
have recently expressed the opinion that the Theatre was origi-
nally of the Greek type described by Vitruvius, with a narrow
stage 3 or 4 feet higher than now, and that then the stage was
separated from the rest of the structure by unroofed parodoi.
The last assumption is clearly incorrect, because the vaulted
entrances of the parodoi belong to the oldest parts of the build-
ing. The assumption of a higher stage also involves serious
difficulties, but they are of too technical a character to be dis-
cussed here.
In the open space between the Theatre, the Forum Triangu-
lare, and the Palaestra there is a small reservoir for water (D),
square on the outside and round within. It was evidently used
for the sprinklings, sparsiones, with saffron-colored water, by
which on summer days the heat of the Theatre was mollified.
That such sprinklings were in vogue in Pompeii is known from
announcements of gladiatorial combats, painted on walls, in
which they are advertised together with an awning as part of
the attraction, — sparsiones, vela erant.