THEATRE. 



THEATRE. 



130 



it, or by concentrating it on any particular part of the scenery. The 

 only thing in favour of the ancient stage in this respect, is that there 

 were no " foot-lights," and consequently the faces of the performers 

 were not lighted from beneath. Yet even this comparatively unim- 

 portant advantage was nullified by the use of masks, some of them so 

 extravagant as to bear scarcely any resemblance to the human counte- 

 nance, whilst in all a fixed expression of countenance was substituted 

 for what could properly be only a momentary one. This was however 

 of the less consequence, because, owing to the vast extent of the 

 theatres, the faces of the actors could hardly have been distinctly 

 seen, or even seen at all by the great majority of the spectators. The 

 whole space' was so great, that in regard to it the actors could have 

 been little more than as the figures put by a painter into a landscape. 

 On considering the audience part, and the accommodation provided 



for the spectators, although there the arrangement of an ancient theatr 

 was nearly perfect, and in some respects preferable to that of modern 

 ones, it was not free from many inconveniences. The most obvious 

 one is, that as there was no roof, there was no shelter from the weather, 

 on which account awnings were sometimes made use of to screen from 

 the heat of the sun, while in case of sudden and heavy rain the spec- 

 tators were obliged to take shelter in the corridors behind and beneath 

 the seats, where there were any, and in the porticos at the back of the 

 theatre. Besides interruption to the performance, this must have 

 occasioned considerable confusion in so numerous an assemblage of 

 persons. Beautiful too as the arrangement of all the seats in con- 

 centric rows is in itself, it is attended with some disadvantage, as will 

 be perceived on referring to the annexed plans, for instead of being 

 placed, as in the pit of a modern theatre, parallel to and immediately 



Greek Theatre. 



facing the stage, a considerable portion of the audience must have eat 

 sideways to it, with part of it behind them ; and those at the ends of 

 the further or upper benches could hardly have had any view of the 

 Bcena at all, at least not in the Greek theatre. 



The Greek and Roman theatres so very nearly resemble each other 

 in their general form and principal parts, that it is only by comparing 

 the plans, for the purpose of seeing wherein they vary, that the differ- 

 ence between them can be clearly understood. Such difference however 

 is exceedingly slight, the general arrangement and the essential parts 

 being the same in both, the Coelum (KoTAof), Orchettra ('O^x^o'Tpo), 

 and .SVm (27jH;') in the one, and the Cama, Orchestra, and Htcna in 

 the other. The cavea was the general term for the whole of the space 

 appropriated to the seats of the spectators, which were all concentric 

 with the orchestra, and which were intersected, in one direction, by 

 ascents or flights of steps (K\fyuMi) dividing the seats into go many 

 compartments, termed mpulSis, or Cunei, and separated into two or 

 more " flights" or " tiers" by broader spaces or landing-places, called 

 A/a(,"ti!uaTo, or Pr(rcinctione*. The number of the Ai'ua/!, or ascents, 

 and that of the Aia^u^ara, or Priecinctiona. and also the breadth of the 

 latter., appear to have been regulated entirely according to the extent 

 nf 'In- theatre and other circumstances. In general there seems to 

 have been only one Pnccinction between the seats, dividing them into 

 two " flights," not however BO as to give an equal number of rows of 

 seats to each. In the theatre near Epidaurus, for instance, there were 

 54 rows of seats, divided by a single Praccinction, and 34 of them 

 formed the firtl or lowest tier nearest the orchestra ; while in that at 

 Syr.icuae there were 62 rows, with only a single Prcecinction between 

 them, and 41 were given to the second or upper flight, furthest from 

 the orchestra. In the theatre at Dramysaus, again, there were two 

 at, dividing the entire number of rows, 54, into 18, Hi, and 

 ; actively, reckoning from the orchestra. As regards the distinct 

 " flights," or series of seats, there were two modes of disposing them : 

 the more usual one was to break into separate slopes, retiring from 

 each other, like the " flights " in an ascent of steps ; the other was to 

 place them in a continued slope from the lowest to the highest seats, 

 whereby at each pnecinction the next " flight " was considerably 

 elevated above the level of that landing, being raised upon a podium 

 or wall, which showed itself between the lower and upper " flight." 

 Besides the pirecinctions between the seats, there was another surround- 

 ing the wh' or auditory of the theatre, forming either an 

 tipper uncovered terrace as a standing-place for spectators, or a covered 

 gallery with columns, as is shown in the plan of the Roman theatre, 

 where such portico was assigned to females. 



Between the Grecian ami l:>n;in orchestra there was a very wide 

 I as regards the purpose to which that space was appropriated. 



Roman Theatre. 



In the Roman theatre it was merely a continuation of the rest of the 

 auditory, being occupied with seats and spectators, with no other 

 difference than that the spectators were senators and other persons of 

 dignity, and that benches or chairs must have been ranged parallel to 

 the stage. The Greek orchestra, on the contrary, was, as its name 

 imports, made use of for the dancers, musicians, and singers, whose 

 performances constituted so important a part of the entertainment; 

 and so far nothing could have been better planned than the Greek 

 theatre, for the orchestra was visible from every part, whereas the 

 scena could not have been distinctly seen, or hardly seen at all by 

 those on the upper seats at either extremity of the coelum. By 

 referring to the plans it will be seen that while the Roman orchestra 

 does not exceed half a circle, the Greek forms three-fiftlis of one, or an 

 arc of 216 degrees, its proportions and the depth of the stage being 

 ascertained by merely inscribing a square within a circle, taking one 

 side of that square as the boundary of the stage, and drawing parallel 

 to it a tangent to the circle, which tangent coincides with the sccna IT 

 back of the stage. Such plan therefore is simple enough, complex as 

 it may appear in the cut, where two other squares are also drawn 

 within the circle, and the points of the three squares determine how 

 far the seats extend, and the situation of the steps (/cAiVas) between 

 the seats, a fanciful operation, nothing more being required after tin 1 

 first one than to divide the arc or curved portion of the orchestra into 

 as many equal parts as would be requisite according to the number of 

 ascents. In fact this last appears to have been the mode practised, for 



! there are as many examples which differ from as agree with that esta- 

 blished by Vitruvius for the Greek theatre. According to that, the 

 divisions, the number of cunei and steps between them, would ! 

 uniformly the same, namely, seven of the former, and 'eight of the 

 latter, including those next the stage, as shown in the cut. This how- 

 ever is so far from being the case, that very material differences occur 

 in that respect. At Epidaurus, for instance, there are ten cunei in the 

 lower tier, and eleven ascents, consequently an even number of the 

 former and an odd one of the latter. At Drarnyssus again there :n-e 

 nine cunei and ten ascents ; and at Syracuse and Tauromenium the 

 same. The Roman orchestra and scena were also defined by a circle, 

 within which was inscribed an equilateral triangle, one of whose sides 



| D D formed the scena, while the diameter H i< of the circle, parallel to 

 the scena, formed the boundary between the pulpitum or stage and 

 the orchestra, the last being always a perfect semicircle. The other 

 three triangles are merely for the purpose of determining the points 



; where the scalse, or steps between the cunei, are to be, for which 

 nothing more is requisite than to divide the semicircle of the orchestra 

 into as many equal parts as there are to be cunei. whether the number 

 be six or any other ; and the diameter of the orchestra H u being given 



