DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4264#0080
80
OF THE THEATRE OE BACCHUS.
b. The royal folding door \
c. One of the hospitalian doors b.
B. C. The versura0.
i
E. F. G. The orchestra.
d. e. The katatome, prsecision, or section, dividing the extremity of the pulpitum next the
orchestra".
H. H. The parasceniae.
of Vitruvius, after that in the early editions by Jocundus. The
< interval' or radius required for these arcs, is however supposed,
by Galiani and others, to be the whole diameter of the circle of
the orchestra, and the arcs described, to be the supplementary ex-
cess of the boundary of the Grecian orchestra, beyond the extent
of the semicircle. Vit. L. V. C. VIII. Ed. 1523. Vitruve, par
Perrault, p. 182. Vit. di Galiani. [>»•]
a The arch marked at (b) the place of the " mediae valvae aulae
Regise" (as described by Vitruvius in the following note) is
closed, having within it a closet, 8 ft. 2 in. wide, by 4 ft. G in.
deep, which was entered by a very low door : this has been sug-
gested, in a recent architectural work, to have been the probable
place of the prompter; but it possibly resulted from the structure
being an Odeum. LED-J
b " Ipsa; autem scena; suas habeant rationes explicatas ita, uti
media; valvce ornatus habeant aula; regia;; dextra ac sinistra
hospitalia" : " The parts of the scene are to be so distributed, that
the middle door may be decorated as one of a royal palace ; those
on the right and left, as the doors of the guests." Vit. L. V.
C. VII. Gwilt's Trans. LBD-H
« See Vitruvius, L. V. C. VI. and at C. VII. " Secundum ea
loca versura; sunt procurrentes, qua; efficiunt una a foro, altera a
peregre aditus in scenam." " Near these places the returns of the
walls project forward, which afford entrances, one as if from a
forum, another from the country." , CED,D
li The real Distribution of the various parts described about
the proscenium of the ancient Grecian and Roman theatres, is
still involved in great obscurity. This arises, not only from that
division of those structures we are still acquainted with, having
been exposed to greater dismemberment than the coilon, but per-
haps, also, because the construction at the front of the scene was of
a more temporary and perishable nature. The term Karam^*
above mentioned is from Pollux; it is supposed to be synonymous
with praecinctio and balteus. The Roman pulpitum was the Gre-
cian logeion, but of much greater relative extent; for on the
Grecian logeion the actors alone appeared, but on the Roman pul-
pitum, comedians, musicians, and dancers, equally performed, as
appears from the following passage of Vitruvius: " Ita a tribus cen-
tris hac descriptione ampliorem habent orchestram Grasci et scenam
recessionem minoreque latitudine pulpitum, quod toyttou appellant,
ideo quod apud eos tragici et comici actores in scena peragunt, re-
liqui autem artifices suas per orchestram prastant actiones. Itaque
ex eo scenici et thymelici Grace separatim nominantur. L. V.
C. VIII.
It has been supposed that the logeion was ' generally of wood',
but from an inscription, copied by several recent travellers, on
the eastern entrance of the theatre at Patara, in Lycia (which
was built a little previous to the Odeion of Herodes), the logeion
would there appear to have been of a more solid and permanent
construction, as it was incrusted with marble. This inscription,
which is interesting, as shewing the progressive completion of
that theatre, is as follows, and with it is introduced the inter-
pretation of it by that superior scholar, Mr. Walpole, the editor
of the valuable Tracts on the Levant.
AYTOKPATOPIK.AI2API0EOYAAPIANOYYIfi0EOYTPAIANOY
nAPGIKOTTIfiNneEOYNEPOTAErrONnTITnAIAinAAPlANfi
ANTfiNEINnSEEAXTnETEEBEIAPXIEPEIMEriSTnAHMAPXIKHi;
EHOY£IAETOirnATfiTOAriATPlnATPTAOXKAI0EOI£
5. XEBA£TOIEKAITOI£nATPfiOIX0EOI£KAITHrATKTTATH
nATPIAITHnATAPEnNITOAEITHMETPOIIOAEITOY
AYKIfiNE0NOY£OYEIAIAKoOYEIAIOYTITIANOY0YrATHP
nPOKAAIIATAPlEANEGHKEN
KAIKAQIEPflSENTOTEnPOEKHNIONOKATEZKEYASEN
10. EK0EMEAmNOnATHPAYTHEKoOYEIAIO£TITIANO2
KAITONENAYTOKOSMONKAITAnEPIAYTOKAITHNTfiN
ANAPIANTfiNKAIArAAMATfiNANAZTAEIN
KAITHNTOYAOrEIOYKATAEKEYHNKAI
nAAKfiEINAEnoIHSENAYTHTOAEENAEKATON
15. TOYAEYTEPOYAIAZI2MATOS BA0PONKAITABHAA '
TOYQEATPOYKATASKEYABSENTAYriOTETOY
IlATPOSAYTHXKAIYnAYTHS
npOANETE0HKAinAPEAO©HKATATAYnoTHSKPATI£THS
BOYAHZEYHlMXMENA
" f_To Antoninus Pius,] Consul the fourth Time, Father of
his Country ; to the Dii Augusti; and to the Dii Penates; and
to her beloved Country the City of Patara, the [first] mother
City of the Lycian Nations: Velia Procula of Patara, the
Daughter of Quintus Velius Titianus, has dedicated and conse-
crated both the Proscenium, which her Father, Q. V. Titianus,
raised from the foundation ; and the ornaments upon it, and the
things belonging to it, and the erection of the statues of men
and of gods, and the building of the Logeion, and the incrusta-
tion of it [with marble] j which things were done by herself:
but the eleventh step of the second Prascinctio, and the curtains
of the Theatre, raised both by her father and herself, had been
already dedicated and delivered over, according to the Decree of
the most august Senate."
At the theatre of Patara it is ascertained that there was a pra-
' B?X«. This word, which is here translated " the curtains " of the theatre, must
have meant the velarium, or awning extended on occasions above the cavea, to
protect the aud.ence, who sat have-headed, from the heat of the sun. The inci-
cinctio below the lowest seat twelve feet wide; and the level of the
orchestra is found to have been only four feet below it. Much of
the proscenium is still very perfect, as represented in the two views
of it engraved in the Ionian Antiquities, and so described, more
recently, by Captain Beaufort, who observes, that " the superior
preservation of the proscenium would render it well worthy of mi-
nute architectural detail." We understand that this is about to
appear in a new volume in continuation of the Ionian Antiquities,
to be published under the auspices of the Dilettanti Society, from
researches made at their expense in 1813. Walpole's Memoirs, note
on Dr. Hunt's Descrip.of the Ruins of Assos, V. I. p. 130. Vol. II.
Ins. I. p. 534. Ionian Ant. V. II. PI. LVI. LVII. Beaufort's Ca-
ramania, p. 2. Leake's Tour in Asia Minor, p. 325. [eo.]
e The p'arascenia are more probably divisions of the theatre
behind the scene. [ed.]
pient letter of the word, farther shews that the V of the Romans had the same
pronunciation as the B of the Greeks, as well with the ancients as the moderns.
[ED.]
i jnapi
%
':^h
c
OF THE THEATRE OE BACCHUS.
b. The royal folding door \
c. One of the hospitalian doors b.
B. C. The versura0.
i
E. F. G. The orchestra.
d. e. The katatome, prsecision, or section, dividing the extremity of the pulpitum next the
orchestra".
H. H. The parasceniae.
of Vitruvius, after that in the early editions by Jocundus. The
< interval' or radius required for these arcs, is however supposed,
by Galiani and others, to be the whole diameter of the circle of
the orchestra, and the arcs described, to be the supplementary ex-
cess of the boundary of the Grecian orchestra, beyond the extent
of the semicircle. Vit. L. V. C. VIII. Ed. 1523. Vitruve, par
Perrault, p. 182. Vit. di Galiani. [>»•]
a The arch marked at (b) the place of the " mediae valvae aulae
Regise" (as described by Vitruvius in the following note) is
closed, having within it a closet, 8 ft. 2 in. wide, by 4 ft. G in.
deep, which was entered by a very low door : this has been sug-
gested, in a recent architectural work, to have been the probable
place of the prompter; but it possibly resulted from the structure
being an Odeum. LED-J
b " Ipsa; autem scena; suas habeant rationes explicatas ita, uti
media; valvce ornatus habeant aula; regia;; dextra ac sinistra
hospitalia" : " The parts of the scene are to be so distributed, that
the middle door may be decorated as one of a royal palace ; those
on the right and left, as the doors of the guests." Vit. L. V.
C. VII. Gwilt's Trans. LBD-H
« See Vitruvius, L. V. C. VI. and at C. VII. " Secundum ea
loca versura; sunt procurrentes, qua; efficiunt una a foro, altera a
peregre aditus in scenam." " Near these places the returns of the
walls project forward, which afford entrances, one as if from a
forum, another from the country." , CED,D
li The real Distribution of the various parts described about
the proscenium of the ancient Grecian and Roman theatres, is
still involved in great obscurity. This arises, not only from that
division of those structures we are still acquainted with, having
been exposed to greater dismemberment than the coilon, but per-
haps, also, because the construction at the front of the scene was of
a more temporary and perishable nature. The term Karam^*
above mentioned is from Pollux; it is supposed to be synonymous
with praecinctio and balteus. The Roman pulpitum was the Gre-
cian logeion, but of much greater relative extent; for on the
Grecian logeion the actors alone appeared, but on the Roman pul-
pitum, comedians, musicians, and dancers, equally performed, as
appears from the following passage of Vitruvius: " Ita a tribus cen-
tris hac descriptione ampliorem habent orchestram Grasci et scenam
recessionem minoreque latitudine pulpitum, quod toyttou appellant,
ideo quod apud eos tragici et comici actores in scena peragunt, re-
liqui autem artifices suas per orchestram prastant actiones. Itaque
ex eo scenici et thymelici Grace separatim nominantur. L. V.
C. VIII.
It has been supposed that the logeion was ' generally of wood',
but from an inscription, copied by several recent travellers, on
the eastern entrance of the theatre at Patara, in Lycia (which
was built a little previous to the Odeion of Herodes), the logeion
would there appear to have been of a more solid and permanent
construction, as it was incrusted with marble. This inscription,
which is interesting, as shewing the progressive completion of
that theatre, is as follows, and with it is introduced the inter-
pretation of it by that superior scholar, Mr. Walpole, the editor
of the valuable Tracts on the Levant.
AYTOKPATOPIK.AI2API0EOYAAPIANOYYIfi0EOYTPAIANOY
nAPGIKOTTIfiNneEOYNEPOTAErrONnTITnAIAinAAPlANfi
ANTfiNEINnSEEAXTnETEEBEIAPXIEPEIMEriSTnAHMAPXIKHi;
EHOY£IAETOirnATfiTOAriATPlnATPTAOXKAI0EOI£
5. XEBA£TOIEKAITOI£nATPfiOIX0EOI£KAITHrATKTTATH
nATPIAITHnATAPEnNITOAEITHMETPOIIOAEITOY
AYKIfiNE0NOY£OYEIAIAKoOYEIAIOYTITIANOY0YrATHP
nPOKAAIIATAPlEANEGHKEN
KAIKAQIEPflSENTOTEnPOEKHNIONOKATEZKEYASEN
10. EK0EMEAmNOnATHPAYTHEKoOYEIAIO£TITIANO2
KAITONENAYTOKOSMONKAITAnEPIAYTOKAITHNTfiN
ANAPIANTfiNKAIArAAMATfiNANAZTAEIN
KAITHNTOYAOrEIOYKATAEKEYHNKAI
nAAKfiEINAEnoIHSENAYTHTOAEENAEKATON
15. TOYAEYTEPOYAIAZI2MATOS BA0PONKAITABHAA '
TOYQEATPOYKATASKEYABSENTAYriOTETOY
IlATPOSAYTHXKAIYnAYTHS
npOANETE0HKAinAPEAO©HKATATAYnoTHSKPATI£THS
BOYAHZEYHlMXMENA
" f_To Antoninus Pius,] Consul the fourth Time, Father of
his Country ; to the Dii Augusti; and to the Dii Penates; and
to her beloved Country the City of Patara, the [first] mother
City of the Lycian Nations: Velia Procula of Patara, the
Daughter of Quintus Velius Titianus, has dedicated and conse-
crated both the Proscenium, which her Father, Q. V. Titianus,
raised from the foundation ; and the ornaments upon it, and the
things belonging to it, and the erection of the statues of men
and of gods, and the building of the Logeion, and the incrusta-
tion of it [with marble] j which things were done by herself:
but the eleventh step of the second Prascinctio, and the curtains
of the Theatre, raised both by her father and herself, had been
already dedicated and delivered over, according to the Decree of
the most august Senate."
At the theatre of Patara it is ascertained that there was a pra-
' B?X«. This word, which is here translated " the curtains " of the theatre, must
have meant the velarium, or awning extended on occasions above the cavea, to
protect the aud.ence, who sat have-headed, from the heat of the sun. The inci-
cinctio below the lowest seat twelve feet wide; and the level of the
orchestra is found to have been only four feet below it. Much of
the proscenium is still very perfect, as represented in the two views
of it engraved in the Ionian Antiquities, and so described, more
recently, by Captain Beaufort, who observes, that " the superior
preservation of the proscenium would render it well worthy of mi-
nute architectural detail." We understand that this is about to
appear in a new volume in continuation of the Ionian Antiquities,
to be published under the auspices of the Dilettanti Society, from
researches made at their expense in 1813. Walpole's Memoirs, note
on Dr. Hunt's Descrip.of the Ruins of Assos, V. I. p. 130. Vol. II.
Ins. I. p. 534. Ionian Ant. V. II. PI. LVI. LVII. Beaufort's Ca-
ramania, p. 2. Leake's Tour in Asia Minor, p. 325. [eo.]
e The p'arascenia are more probably divisions of the theatre
behind the scene. [ed.]
pient letter of the word, farther shews that the V of the Romans had the same
pronunciation as the B of the Greeks, as well with the ancients as the moderns.
[ED.]
i jnapi
%
':^h
c