DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0124
CONSTRUCTION OF THE GREEK THEATRE. 39
games, was called (3ov\evnxos ; that for the youth lq>ri@ixog \ Independently of those occupied by
dignitaries and the youth, there were others, irgoedgiui, reserved for those persons who were entitled
to them by hereditary right, as descended from ancestors who had rendered distinguished services to
the state. The upper flight was occupied by the lowest orders, classed according to their tribes, and
by the women b. Above this upper flight was a covered portico (tectum porticus) which not only
protected the audience from the currents of air, but also confined the sound of the voices of the
actors within the circuit of the coilon ; under this portico were the entrances into the Ko7\ov, and the
entablature of the order ranged level with the upper member of the elevation of the scene. In many
of the theatres, but more especially in those of Asia Minor, there were two other lateral entrances by
doors in the extreme walls of the cavea, and which appear to have led by covered ways into the or-
chestra, as in the theatres of Syracuse, Miletusc, Ephesus, &c. In the theatre of /Esculapius above
mentioned, there does not appear to have been any such entrance ; in that near Joannina, broad
flights of stairs outside the extreme walls of the cavea afforded direct access to the first and second
diazomata.
Ere we quit the Ko7Xov we must not omit noticing the £%«* or modulating vases mentioned
by Vitruvius d ; for although it is a subject, at this time difficult of just appreciation, yet as
they occupy so important a portion of the Treatise of our classic author, to pass them by altogether
might appear an unpardonable inadvertency. It is now generally admitted that the communication of
sound is produced by the reverberation of the airc; for the sound of the voice issuing from the mouth
as a centre, vibrates through the air in circles, infinite as those produced on the surface of water by the
fall of a stonef, and like them the more remote they become, the more feeble their centrifugal power,
and the less effective their impression on the air, till lost in the distance. But whereas on the water the
circles are merely superficial, the vibration in the air expands in all directions, proceeding however to a
greater extent upwards and in front2, than it does laterally or behind the speaker. By the pro-
perties of acoustics, if two instruments in perfect harmony be placed within the sphere of each other's
power, and the cord of one be struck, the chord of the other will vibrate the note to a sensible degree.
This vibration of the second instrument, will, of course, extend the sound of the first to a greater dis-
tance. Acting upon this principle, which particularly suited the recitative in which the epic and
dramatic compositions were delivered, the ancients had echea of earth and metal, modulated to the
intervals of the different notes of the voice, placed in small cells under the seats in one, two, or three
rows, according to the extent of the theatre. Hence it resulted that the voice, parting from the
scene as the centre, expanded itself all round, and striking the cavity of those vases, produced a clear
and more distinct sound, by means of the consonance of these different modulated tones, and ex-
tended the powers of the speaker to the utmost limits of the coilon. The vases were in the shape of
a bell, placed in an inverted position, the side towards the audience resting on a pedestal not less
than half a foot high, in all other respects quite free from contact: and in order to allow the vibration
of the sound, a small aperture was left in the front of the seat, about two feet long, and half a foot
high. It is remarkable, that no writer has hitherto been able to adduce an existing example in con-
Genelli suggests that probably the upper ranges of seats that women were present. " Nam ct falso commentus est mu-
were given to the youth who had not yet attained the age at lieres Athenis tragcedias non spectasse, quod qui credere notet
which they were required to take the oath of allegiance to the adeat is Platonem nostrum, Gorg. p. 502. D, ubi tragcediam
state. vocat cr;Toci«i5f Tiva ttfo; oy[/.ov,TQiovTov oiov ircaSivv rs bfj.ov, y.a-i yvva.ix.uv,
i> Some authors however have been of opinion that at Athens x«) utfym, nm Sovhuv, xa) ixitffiifiw, ac proeterea Legg. II. quibus
females were not allowed to be present at the scenic games, nor locis omnis ista ratio exploditur."
indeed at any public assemblage of the people ; thus Boettiger, c Vide Ion. Antiquities, Vol. II.
Neuer Teutscher Mcrcur, January, 1796, p. 23. in which he d Lib. V. Cap. v.
was supported by Koehler in his Dissertation on the usages of c According to Mons. Lamarc, the celebrated French natu-
the ancients relative to the theatre ; but Schlegel in his work ralist, sound is conveyed by means of a matter much more subtle
Die Griechen und Roemer, p. 312. has combated this opinion, to and insinuating than air.—Memoire read before the French In-
which Boettiger published an answer in a number of the same stitute.
w°rk as before, for March, 1797, p. 224. The opinion of the f Vitruv. Lib. V. Cap. iii.
learned Augustus Boeckius, de Grrecfe Tragoedite Princip. is « Saunders'Treatise on Theatres, 4to. London, 1790.
games, was called (3ov\evnxos ; that for the youth lq>ri@ixog \ Independently of those occupied by
dignitaries and the youth, there were others, irgoedgiui, reserved for those persons who were entitled
to them by hereditary right, as descended from ancestors who had rendered distinguished services to
the state. The upper flight was occupied by the lowest orders, classed according to their tribes, and
by the women b. Above this upper flight was a covered portico (tectum porticus) which not only
protected the audience from the currents of air, but also confined the sound of the voices of the
actors within the circuit of the coilon ; under this portico were the entrances into the Ko7\ov, and the
entablature of the order ranged level with the upper member of the elevation of the scene. In many
of the theatres, but more especially in those of Asia Minor, there were two other lateral entrances by
doors in the extreme walls of the cavea, and which appear to have led by covered ways into the or-
chestra, as in the theatres of Syracuse, Miletusc, Ephesus, &c. In the theatre of /Esculapius above
mentioned, there does not appear to have been any such entrance ; in that near Joannina, broad
flights of stairs outside the extreme walls of the cavea afforded direct access to the first and second
diazomata.
Ere we quit the Ko7Xov we must not omit noticing the £%«* or modulating vases mentioned
by Vitruvius d ; for although it is a subject, at this time difficult of just appreciation, yet as
they occupy so important a portion of the Treatise of our classic author, to pass them by altogether
might appear an unpardonable inadvertency. It is now generally admitted that the communication of
sound is produced by the reverberation of the airc; for the sound of the voice issuing from the mouth
as a centre, vibrates through the air in circles, infinite as those produced on the surface of water by the
fall of a stonef, and like them the more remote they become, the more feeble their centrifugal power,
and the less effective their impression on the air, till lost in the distance. But whereas on the water the
circles are merely superficial, the vibration in the air expands in all directions, proceeding however to a
greater extent upwards and in front2, than it does laterally or behind the speaker. By the pro-
perties of acoustics, if two instruments in perfect harmony be placed within the sphere of each other's
power, and the cord of one be struck, the chord of the other will vibrate the note to a sensible degree.
This vibration of the second instrument, will, of course, extend the sound of the first to a greater dis-
tance. Acting upon this principle, which particularly suited the recitative in which the epic and
dramatic compositions were delivered, the ancients had echea of earth and metal, modulated to the
intervals of the different notes of the voice, placed in small cells under the seats in one, two, or three
rows, according to the extent of the theatre. Hence it resulted that the voice, parting from the
scene as the centre, expanded itself all round, and striking the cavity of those vases, produced a clear
and more distinct sound, by means of the consonance of these different modulated tones, and ex-
tended the powers of the speaker to the utmost limits of the coilon. The vases were in the shape of
a bell, placed in an inverted position, the side towards the audience resting on a pedestal not less
than half a foot high, in all other respects quite free from contact: and in order to allow the vibration
of the sound, a small aperture was left in the front of the seat, about two feet long, and half a foot
high. It is remarkable, that no writer has hitherto been able to adduce an existing example in con-
Genelli suggests that probably the upper ranges of seats that women were present. " Nam ct falso commentus est mu-
were given to the youth who had not yet attained the age at lieres Athenis tragcedias non spectasse, quod qui credere notet
which they were required to take the oath of allegiance to the adeat is Platonem nostrum, Gorg. p. 502. D, ubi tragcediam
state. vocat cr;Toci«i5f Tiva ttfo; oy[/.ov,TQiovTov oiov ircaSivv rs bfj.ov, y.a-i yvva.ix.uv,
i> Some authors however have been of opinion that at Athens x«) utfym, nm Sovhuv, xa) ixitffiifiw, ac proeterea Legg. II. quibus
females were not allowed to be present at the scenic games, nor locis omnis ista ratio exploditur."
indeed at any public assemblage of the people ; thus Boettiger, c Vide Ion. Antiquities, Vol. II.
Neuer Teutscher Mcrcur, January, 1796, p. 23. in which he d Lib. V. Cap. v.
was supported by Koehler in his Dissertation on the usages of c According to Mons. Lamarc, the celebrated French natu-
the ancients relative to the theatre ; but Schlegel in his work ralist, sound is conveyed by means of a matter much more subtle
Die Griechen und Roemer, p. 312. has combated this opinion, to and insinuating than air.—Memoire read before the French In-
which Boettiger published an answer in a number of the same stitute.
w°rk as before, for March, 1797, p. 224. The opinion of the f Vitruv. Lib. V. Cap. iii.
learned Augustus Boeckius, de Grrecfe Tragoedite Princip. is « Saunders'Treatise on Theatres, 4to. London, 1790.