DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0127
ON THE FORM, ETC. OF THE GREEK THEATRE.
(curtain) to the awning or roof, which was over the stage, and thus hid from the audience the changes
taking place on the scene and stage between the acts, during which interval the dancers engaged the
attention of the spectators on the thymele.
The restricted diameter of the orchestra in the theatre of the Grove of ^Esculapius, near
Epidaurus, in the one near .Toannina, and in that of Syracuse, gives the logcion a very slight depth,
but this is to be accounted for by the general feelings of the Greeks, who, unacquainted with the
magical powers of deception possessed by the art of perspective, seldom employed other than the
simple effects which pervade all their productions in the imitative arts; and indeed the very circum-
stance of their having only two or at most three or four actors on the stage at once, did away with
the necessity of greater depth to the logcion, which it acquired under the Romans, when they had
introduced the thymelic chorus upon the pulpitum of the scene. The principal feature of the Greek
drama is recitation, rather than action, very seldom do the performers cross each other on the stage,
and it appears probable that they hardly quitted the spot they occupied at the commencement of
their declamation ; and thus the stage offered to the spectators the appearance of a species of bas-relief.
The scene was a wall, the elevation of which rose to the level of the tectum porticus, and in
width equalling double the diameter of the orchestra. The spaces between the ends of the scene and the
bounding-wall, and flanking the logeion or proscenium, appear to have been occupied by low walls having
lateral entrances, sUodoi, on to the stage, which were supposed to lead from the city and the country.
The o-^ig or decoration* of the scene was divided into three distinct classes: the tragic, comic, and satiric.
The first was the fixed decoration; and as the action was always supposed to take place in peristyliab
or outside the palace in the open air, it was enriched with three orders of columns, if we are to con-
clude from the silence of Vitruvius, who does not notify any difference, that the Romans had
adopted the Greek arrangement of the scene. Co.iLected with those orders, whose relative propor-
tions and enrichments varied according to the size of the theatre or the means allowed the architect,
were three doors0, the centre one, called by the Greeks (3a.<riXuov, and by the Romans valvar regiae,
was often situated in an hemicycle and decoratedd with a magnificence suitable to the palace, to
which it afforded access; and attached to this was a circular altar sacred to Apollo Agyicus c, having
a table with the consecrated cakes and sweetmeats thereon. Through the middle door the principal
personage only, called the KgaruyavHrrtis f, was allowed to enter on the stage. The doors to the right
and left, called the hospitalia, presented the elevation of a private dwelling. Through the one to the
right, the ^iurs^a,ytuin<rrrjg, or second actor, entered on the stage, while that to the left was appropriated
to the humbler personages of the piece, called rgirwyui/itrrcu i, and represented a ruined temple or
prison, or a mere opening.
Painted scenes were introduced as decorations to the comic or satiric dramatic pieces, and in
order to heighten the illusion, and to assist the descriptions of the poet, triangular slips, or nig tux.™},
a Theatre of tlie Greeks, p. 112.
b It appears that the ancients deemed it unbecoming to expose
to public view on the stage the interior of the dwelling, which
with the Greeks was not open to all promiscuously, but only to
relations and most intimate friends. It would consequently have
been quite contrary to the usages of the times to represent the
gynaeceum, or apartments for the women, where no other man
than the master was allowed to enter. Alceste is not represented
by the poet as dying in her chamber, but in the atrium of the
palace, as it was impossible to expose the interior of the prin-
cess's apartment: and Admetus by the mere recital of her death
would not have produced an equal impression.
c The theatre of Telmessus had five, according to Monsieur
Choiseul Goutfier, as also the theatre of Hierapolis, according to
Mr. C. R. Cockerell.
In the Cyclops of Euripides, where the scene represented a
spot on the declivity 0f ^tna, the centre opening was decorated
as a cavern inhabited by Polyphemus, and in the Philoctctes of
Sophocles was decorated in like manner.
e Thus called from presiding over the streets and ways ; the
altar, called 'Ayuisu;, was in the shape of a column, with the
summit pointed. Vide Eustath. Hesych. et Scapul. Lex. This
altar is alluded to in the Qidipus of Sophocles and the Phcenissoe
of Euripides. It appears to have been also sacred to Bacchus;
a.yvtsv<; oe \urvv y.iwv elt; o£u "Kvyuiv, ov iaTcitTi irgo tui\i Qupcjv, Idiovc; d£ fJvat
<pa,(7iii aiirof 'A.<7toKhmoc, ol Js Aiotio-ov, o\ Si a^o'ir, Harpoc. Vide
Hesych.
f The term uyonara.) may have been applied to the actors,
because they contended for the prize in the tragic contests as well
as the poet. They were also termed Aicnwia>co< tj^mt*». Vide
Mus. Crit. p. 74.
s Pollux (Lib. IV. 109.) says, that when a fourth actor
did say any thing, it was called irxfcc^ogriyri^a., and observes that
this occurs in the Agamemnon of iEschylus: and in the Andro-
mache of Euripides (verse 546), Peleus enters and interrupts a
conversation between Andromache, Molossus and Menclaus.
(curtain) to the awning or roof, which was over the stage, and thus hid from the audience the changes
taking place on the scene and stage between the acts, during which interval the dancers engaged the
attention of the spectators on the thymele.
The restricted diameter of the orchestra in the theatre of the Grove of ^Esculapius, near
Epidaurus, in the one near .Toannina, and in that of Syracuse, gives the logcion a very slight depth,
but this is to be accounted for by the general feelings of the Greeks, who, unacquainted with the
magical powers of deception possessed by the art of perspective, seldom employed other than the
simple effects which pervade all their productions in the imitative arts; and indeed the very circum-
stance of their having only two or at most three or four actors on the stage at once, did away with
the necessity of greater depth to the logcion, which it acquired under the Romans, when they had
introduced the thymelic chorus upon the pulpitum of the scene. The principal feature of the Greek
drama is recitation, rather than action, very seldom do the performers cross each other on the stage,
and it appears probable that they hardly quitted the spot they occupied at the commencement of
their declamation ; and thus the stage offered to the spectators the appearance of a species of bas-relief.
The scene was a wall, the elevation of which rose to the level of the tectum porticus, and in
width equalling double the diameter of the orchestra. The spaces between the ends of the scene and the
bounding-wall, and flanking the logeion or proscenium, appear to have been occupied by low walls having
lateral entrances, sUodoi, on to the stage, which were supposed to lead from the city and the country.
The o-^ig or decoration* of the scene was divided into three distinct classes: the tragic, comic, and satiric.
The first was the fixed decoration; and as the action was always supposed to take place in peristyliab
or outside the palace in the open air, it was enriched with three orders of columns, if we are to con-
clude from the silence of Vitruvius, who does not notify any difference, that the Romans had
adopted the Greek arrangement of the scene. Co.iLected with those orders, whose relative propor-
tions and enrichments varied according to the size of the theatre or the means allowed the architect,
were three doors0, the centre one, called by the Greeks (3a.<riXuov, and by the Romans valvar regiae,
was often situated in an hemicycle and decoratedd with a magnificence suitable to the palace, to
which it afforded access; and attached to this was a circular altar sacred to Apollo Agyicus c, having
a table with the consecrated cakes and sweetmeats thereon. Through the middle door the principal
personage only, called the KgaruyavHrrtis f, was allowed to enter on the stage. The doors to the right
and left, called the hospitalia, presented the elevation of a private dwelling. Through the one to the
right, the ^iurs^a,ytuin<rrrjg, or second actor, entered on the stage, while that to the left was appropriated
to the humbler personages of the piece, called rgirwyui/itrrcu i, and represented a ruined temple or
prison, or a mere opening.
Painted scenes were introduced as decorations to the comic or satiric dramatic pieces, and in
order to heighten the illusion, and to assist the descriptions of the poet, triangular slips, or nig tux.™},
a Theatre of tlie Greeks, p. 112.
b It appears that the ancients deemed it unbecoming to expose
to public view on the stage the interior of the dwelling, which
with the Greeks was not open to all promiscuously, but only to
relations and most intimate friends. It would consequently have
been quite contrary to the usages of the times to represent the
gynaeceum, or apartments for the women, where no other man
than the master was allowed to enter. Alceste is not represented
by the poet as dying in her chamber, but in the atrium of the
palace, as it was impossible to expose the interior of the prin-
cess's apartment: and Admetus by the mere recital of her death
would not have produced an equal impression.
c The theatre of Telmessus had five, according to Monsieur
Choiseul Goutfier, as also the theatre of Hierapolis, according to
Mr. C. R. Cockerell.
In the Cyclops of Euripides, where the scene represented a
spot on the declivity 0f ^tna, the centre opening was decorated
as a cavern inhabited by Polyphemus, and in the Philoctctes of
Sophocles was decorated in like manner.
e Thus called from presiding over the streets and ways ; the
altar, called 'Ayuisu;, was in the shape of a column, with the
summit pointed. Vide Eustath. Hesych. et Scapul. Lex. This
altar is alluded to in the Qidipus of Sophocles and the Phcenissoe
of Euripides. It appears to have been also sacred to Bacchus;
a.yvtsv<; oe \urvv y.iwv elt; o£u "Kvyuiv, ov iaTcitTi irgo tui\i Qupcjv, Idiovc; d£ fJvat
<pa,(7iii aiirof 'A.<7toKhmoc, ol Js Aiotio-ov, o\ Si a^o'ir, Harpoc. Vide
Hesych.
f The term uyonara.) may have been applied to the actors,
because they contended for the prize in the tragic contests as well
as the poet. They were also termed Aicnwia>co< tj^mt*». Vide
Mus. Crit. p. 74.
s Pollux (Lib. IV. 109.) says, that when a fourth actor
did say any thing, it was called irxfcc^ogriyri^a., and observes that
this occurs in the Agamemnon of iEschylus: and in the Andro-
mache of Euripides (verse 546), Peleus enters and interrupts a
conversation between Andromache, Molossus and Menclaus.