THEB AID THEBES. 



577 



a straight part. It had three principal parts : 1st, 

 the theatre, properly so called, that is, the place 

 for the spectators, in the semicircle; 2d, the scene, 

 or the place for the players, in the straight part ; 

 3d, the orchestra, the place extending from the 

 stage to the seats of the spectators. In these re- 

 spects the Greek and Roman theatres were essenti- 

 ally alike. But they differed considerably in other 

 particulars. (See Orchestra, and Proscenium.") 

 To the machinery, especially the Greek, belongs, 

 1st, the machine, particularly so called, at the left 

 entrance over the stage, in order to represent, in 

 tragedy, the gods and heroes hovering in the air ; 

 2d, the theologeion, over the stage, for representing 

 the gods in Olympus ; 3d, the crane, which was let 

 down in order to raise a person quickly from the 

 stage ; 4th, the hanging cords, to support the gods 

 and heroes hovering in the air. Other machines 

 were placed under the stage ; as, for instance one 

 to elevate it. 



Besides the theatres already named, the principal 

 ones of antiquity were those at Segestus, Syracuse 

 and Agyrium. The beautiful theatres at Corinth 

 and Sparta (of which there are still remains), and 

 at Epidaurus and Megalopolis, upon the island of 

 JEgina, were probably the most magnificent in 

 Greece. Of that at Epidaurus, extensive ruins are 

 still to be seen. Of the ancient theatres in the 

 Italian cities, we mention only those discovered in 

 modern times at Herculaneum and Pompeii, and 

 those at Iguvium in Umbria, at Antioch and Pola. 

 In Rome, the most remarkable, besides the theatre 

 of Pompey, were the theatre of Cornelius Balbus, 

 and that of Marcellus, which could contain 22,000 

 men. In the interior, as well as the exterior, the 

 theatres of the present day differ essentially from 

 the Greek and Roman. 



The term theatre is also given to buildings for 

 the deliverj' of anatomical lectures, accompanied 

 with dissections ; also to the body of pieces, in any 

 language, written for representation ; thus we say, 

 the French theatre, the English theatre, &c. 



THEBALD, OR THEBAIS. See Statius. 



THEBES ; an ancient city, and capital of Egypt, 

 in the Thebaid, or Upper Egypt, on both sides of 

 the Nile, about 260 miles south of Cairo. Thebes 

 is famous as " the city of a hundred gates," the 

 theme and admiration of ancient poets and histori- 

 ans, the wonder of travellers " that venerable 

 city," in the language of doctor Pocoek, "the date 

 of whose destruction is older than the foundation 

 of other cities, and the extent of whose ruins, and 

 the immensity of whose colossal fragments, still of- 

 fer so many astonishing objects, that one is riveted 

 to the spot, unable to decide whither to direct the 

 step or fix the attention." These ruins extend 

 about eight miles along the Nile, from each bank to 

 the sides of the enclosing mountains, and describe 

 a circuit of twenty-seven miles. The most remark- 

 able objects on the eastern side are the temples of 

 Carnac and Luxor ; and on the western side are the 

 Memnonium, or palace of Memnon, two colossal 

 statues, the sepulchres of the kings, and the temple 

 of Medinet Abu. The glory of Thebes belongs to 

 a period prior to the commencement of authentic 

 history. It is recorded only in the dim lights of 

 poetry and tradition, which might be suspected of 

 fable, did not such mighty witnesses remain to their 

 truth. At the time of the Persian invasion, Mem- 

 phis had supplanted Thebes ; and the Ptolemies af- 

 terwards removed the seat of empire to Alexandria. 

 Strabo and Diodorus described Thebes under the 



name of Diospolis, and gave such magnificent de- 

 scriptions of its monuments as caused the fidelity 

 of those writers to be called in question, till the ob- 

 servations of modern travellers proved their accounts 

 to have fallen short of the reality. At present, its 

 site presents only a few scattered villages, consist- 

 ing of miserable cottages, built in the courts of the 

 temples. The ancient structures, however, remain 

 in a state of wonderful preservation. Almost the 

 whole extent of eight miles along the river is 

 covered with magnificent portals, obelisks, deco- 

 rated with the most beautiful sculpture, forests of 

 columns, and long avenues of colossal statues. The 

 largest of these temples, and of any in Egypt, is 

 that at Carnac, on the site of the ancient Diospolis. 

 Diodorus describes it as thirteen stadia (about one 

 and a half mile) in circumference, which nearly 

 agrees with the observation of Denon. It has 

 twelve principal entrances ; and the body of the 

 temple, which is preceded by a large court, 

 consists of a prodigious hall or portico, the roof of 

 which is supported by 134 columns, some twenty- 

 six, others thirty -four feet in circumference; four 

 beautiful obelisks then mark the entrance to the 

 shrine, which consists of three apartments, built 

 entirely of granite. About one and a fourth mile 

 above Carnac is the village and temple of Luxor. 

 This temple, though not of such vast dimensions as 

 that of Carnac, is in a superior style of architecture, 

 and in more complete preservation. The entrance 

 is thought to surpass every thing else that Egypt 

 presents. In front are the two finest obelisks in 

 the world, formed of rose-coloured granite, and 

 rising, as Denon supposes, after allowing for the 

 portion buried in the ground, to the height of 100 

 feet. But the object which most attracts attention 

 consists in the sculptures which cover the east wing 

 of the northern front. They contain, on a great 

 scale, a representation of a victory, gained by one 

 of the ancient kings of Egypt over their Asiatic 

 enemies. The number of human figures introduced 

 amounts to 1500, 500 on foot and 1000 in chariots. 

 The Memnonium (see Memnon), and the temple of 

 Medinet Abu, are objects of great interest, both for 

 the grandeur of their architecture and the richness 

 and variety of their sculptures. The tomb of Osy- 

 mandyas, the temple of Isis, the labyrinth, and the 

 catacombs, also lie on the western side of the Nile. 

 In the interior of the mountains which rise behind 

 these monuments are found objects less magnificent 

 and imposing indeed, but not less interesting the 

 tombs of the kings of Thebes. Several of these 

 were opened by Belzoni, and were found in a state 

 of great preservation, with mummies in the sarco- 

 phagi, as well as dispersed through the chambers. 

 The colossal statues have excited great admiration. 

 The largest has been broken off at the waist, and 

 the upper part laid prostrate on the back. It mea- 

 sures six feet and ten inches over the front, and 

 sixty-two feet round the shoulders. Two other 

 colossal statues, about fifty feet high, are seated on 

 the plain. Champollion (Precis du Systeme Hiero- 

 glyphiqHe~) has deciphered many of the inscriptions 

 on these ruins. That the magnificent ruins of 

 Carnac, Luxor and Medinet Abu are the remains of 

 the hundred-gated Thebes, the earliest capital of 

 the world, cannot be doubted. According to the 

 measurement made by the French, the distance of 

 these ruins from the sea on the north amounts to 

 680,000 metres (850 miles), and from Elephantine 

 on the south to 180,000 metres (225 miles), cor- 

 responding exactly with the 6800 and 1800 stadii 

 2o 



