DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0121
86 ON THE FORM, ARRANGEMENT, AND
which was further improved at the time of ^Eschylus, by the introduction of painted scenes. The
scenic representations having left the fields and meadows, where they were originally exhibited, and
the passion of the Athenians increasing with the rapid improvement of the dramatic art, about the
Lxxvth Olympiad stationary theatres arose to receive the numerous frequenters, built of more solid
materials, enriched with sculptured marbles, and combining all the requisites for the more perfect and
complex performances then produced.
Themistoclesa had the distinguished honour of erecting the first permanent theatre at Athens,
which was called Ativa7oi>b, on account of the spot where it was built, and lxa.ro(vzolov probably from
the diameter of the orchestra equalling one hundred feet.
From the more particular appropriation of the theatre to the celebration of the Dionysian fes-
tivals, it was dedicated to Bacchus, and, on account of the immoralities tolerated there, to Venus; but
from the combination of music and poetry prevailing in the dramatic compositions, Apollo, Diana,
Minerva, Mercury, and the Muses also were supposed to preside over the scenic representations, and
some parts were more especially consecrated in honour of those divinities.
The word theatre (3-ear^ov) is essentially of Greek derivation from the verb Ssuoput "to see" as
the uninterrupted space between the audience and the actors, afforded the former the opportunity of
beholding the representations upon the platform or podium.
According to Vitruvius, great attention was paid to the choice of a healthy situation for the
Theatre ; and he requires that it should not have a southern aspect, lest the confined rays of the sun
should produce a pernicious effect upon the health of the audience. The ancients, however, do not
appear, in every instance, to have paid such strict attention to this latter point, as the aspects of many
of the theatres vary from this rule.
The Greeks always seized a locality, where nature favoured the requisite arrangement of the
theatre, and constructed their edifice on the side of a hillc, by which judicious choice they incurred a
much less expense in the erection of these magnificent structures. When the immediate nature of
the hill allowed, as at Chaeronea, Argos, and many other places, they cut very many of the seats out
of the solid rock, or otherwise laid the stone seats immediately upon the soil, and often sunk the or-
chestra and some of the lower rows of seats below the general surface. To the desire of diminishing
the expense, we may attribute the selection of a slope for the theatre, rather than to the wish of pro-
curing the spectators the enjoyment of an extensive view, as has been supposed by many authors j
for however beautiful many of the views are, which travellers at this time command from the ruins of
almost all the theatres, yet it cannot be doubted but that the ancients would be rather inclined to
confine the attention of the audience to the scenic representations ; independently of which circum-
stance the very height to which the wall of the scene was carried would almost entirely preclude the
view of any object beyond the area occupied by the building itself.
The site chosen for the theatre was in that part of the city by nature most favorable to the
transmission of sound d, and if possible near the stadium, hippodrome, odeon, agora, and gymnasium.
Strabo mentions that at Nyssae the horns of the theatre adjoined the gymnasium on one side, and on
" In the third year of the Lxvith Olympiad, Themistocles was " Sunt enim nonnulli loci naturaliter impedientes vocis motus:
at the charge of the furniture of the scene and chorus to a uti dissonantes, qui Greece dicuntur ■A.a.Tnypimn; circumsonantes,
tragedy by Phrynichus, and in memory of it set up this inscrip- qui apud eos nominantur ■n-i^nx"^>~H ■ item resonantes, qui di-
tion : 0EMI2TOKAHS OPEAPIOS EXOPHTE1- *PTNIX0S EAI- cunturai/Ty,x<wT6;; consonantesque,quosappellanto-um^otVrfi.—Ita
AA2K.EN- AAEIMANTOS HPXEN. Plut. in Themist. si in locorum electione fuerit; diligens animadversio emendatus
From an appellation of Bacchus, " Quoniam torcularibus et erit prudentia ad utilitatem in theatris vocis effectus."
vim expressioni prseest." Orph. e Lib. XIV. Tu i\ Starry Svo av^ai, Jv te f«v lTo*.uTai
J-he only instances now known of Greek theatres built in a to y£fim<ru» tS» nm, tvi Je «)">£?> >u»J *q ye^inwot, x. t. a.
plain, are those of Mantinea and Megalopolis in European The ruins of Nyssa are near Eski-Hissar a small village at
Greece, and a small one near Arabi-Hissar, probably the ancient about an hour's ride, or three miles from Sultan-Hissar, and
Alabanda, in Asia Minor. between the two are the remains of this ancient city. No de-
Vitruvius, Lib. V. Cap. iii. " Etiam diligenter est anim- scription can be more faithful than that of Strabo. Some of the
advertendum, ne sit locus surdus, sed ut in eo vox quam cla- seats of the theatre are to be found in loco and a few indications
rissime vagari possit. Hoc vero neri jta poterit, si locus electus of the scene. The theatre occupies an angle formed by a ra-
fuent, ubi non impediatur resonantia." Lib. V. Cap. viii. vine, where the hollow is artificially filled up, and a subterra-
which was further improved at the time of ^Eschylus, by the introduction of painted scenes. The
scenic representations having left the fields and meadows, where they were originally exhibited, and
the passion of the Athenians increasing with the rapid improvement of the dramatic art, about the
Lxxvth Olympiad stationary theatres arose to receive the numerous frequenters, built of more solid
materials, enriched with sculptured marbles, and combining all the requisites for the more perfect and
complex performances then produced.
Themistoclesa had the distinguished honour of erecting the first permanent theatre at Athens,
which was called Ativa7oi>b, on account of the spot where it was built, and lxa.ro(vzolov probably from
the diameter of the orchestra equalling one hundred feet.
From the more particular appropriation of the theatre to the celebration of the Dionysian fes-
tivals, it was dedicated to Bacchus, and, on account of the immoralities tolerated there, to Venus; but
from the combination of music and poetry prevailing in the dramatic compositions, Apollo, Diana,
Minerva, Mercury, and the Muses also were supposed to preside over the scenic representations, and
some parts were more especially consecrated in honour of those divinities.
The word theatre (3-ear^ov) is essentially of Greek derivation from the verb Ssuoput "to see" as
the uninterrupted space between the audience and the actors, afforded the former the opportunity of
beholding the representations upon the platform or podium.
According to Vitruvius, great attention was paid to the choice of a healthy situation for the
Theatre ; and he requires that it should not have a southern aspect, lest the confined rays of the sun
should produce a pernicious effect upon the health of the audience. The ancients, however, do not
appear, in every instance, to have paid such strict attention to this latter point, as the aspects of many
of the theatres vary from this rule.
The Greeks always seized a locality, where nature favoured the requisite arrangement of the
theatre, and constructed their edifice on the side of a hillc, by which judicious choice they incurred a
much less expense in the erection of these magnificent structures. When the immediate nature of
the hill allowed, as at Chaeronea, Argos, and many other places, they cut very many of the seats out
of the solid rock, or otherwise laid the stone seats immediately upon the soil, and often sunk the or-
chestra and some of the lower rows of seats below the general surface. To the desire of diminishing
the expense, we may attribute the selection of a slope for the theatre, rather than to the wish of pro-
curing the spectators the enjoyment of an extensive view, as has been supposed by many authors j
for however beautiful many of the views are, which travellers at this time command from the ruins of
almost all the theatres, yet it cannot be doubted but that the ancients would be rather inclined to
confine the attention of the audience to the scenic representations ; independently of which circum-
stance the very height to which the wall of the scene was carried would almost entirely preclude the
view of any object beyond the area occupied by the building itself.
The site chosen for the theatre was in that part of the city by nature most favorable to the
transmission of sound d, and if possible near the stadium, hippodrome, odeon, agora, and gymnasium.
Strabo mentions that at Nyssae the horns of the theatre adjoined the gymnasium on one side, and on
" In the third year of the Lxvith Olympiad, Themistocles was " Sunt enim nonnulli loci naturaliter impedientes vocis motus:
at the charge of the furniture of the scene and chorus to a uti dissonantes, qui Greece dicuntur ■A.a.Tnypimn; circumsonantes,
tragedy by Phrynichus, and in memory of it set up this inscrip- qui apud eos nominantur ■n-i^nx"^>~H ■ item resonantes, qui di-
tion : 0EMI2TOKAHS OPEAPIOS EXOPHTE1- *PTNIX0S EAI- cunturai/Ty,x<wT6;; consonantesque,quosappellanto-um^otVrfi.—Ita
AA2K.EN- AAEIMANTOS HPXEN. Plut. in Themist. si in locorum electione fuerit; diligens animadversio emendatus
From an appellation of Bacchus, " Quoniam torcularibus et erit prudentia ad utilitatem in theatris vocis effectus."
vim expressioni prseest." Orph. e Lib. XIV. Tu i\ Starry Svo av^ai, Jv te f«v lTo*.uTai
J-he only instances now known of Greek theatres built in a to y£fim<ru» tS» nm, tvi Je «)">£?> >u»J *q ye^inwot, x. t. a.
plain, are those of Mantinea and Megalopolis in European The ruins of Nyssa are near Eski-Hissar a small village at
Greece, and a small one near Arabi-Hissar, probably the ancient about an hour's ride, or three miles from Sultan-Hissar, and
Alabanda, in Asia Minor. between the two are the remains of this ancient city. No de-
Vitruvius, Lib. V. Cap. iii. " Etiam diligenter est anim- scription can be more faithful than that of Strabo. Some of the
advertendum, ne sit locus surdus, sed ut in eo vox quam cla- seats of the theatre are to be found in loco and a few indications
rissime vagari possit. Hoc vero neri jta poterit, si locus electus of the scene. The theatre occupies an angle formed by a ra-
fuent, ubi non impediatur resonantia." Lib. V. Cap. viii. vine, where the hollow is artificially filled up, and a subterra-