258 ATHENS. 
CHAP, raillery at Pericles, who had the care of it '. In 
IV 
their open theatres, the Greeks, being exposed to 
the injuries of weather, commonly made their 
appearance in large cloaks; they also made use 
of the sciadion, answering to our umbrella, as a 
screen from the sun. The plays were per- 
formed always by day-light. When a storm 
arose, the theatre was deserted, and the audi- 
ence dispersed themselves in the outer galleries 
and adjoining porticoes 2 . During their most 
magnificent spectacles, odoriferous liquors were 
showered upon the heads of the people ; and 
the custom of scattering similar offerings upon 
the heads of the people was often practised at 
Venice during the Carnival. 
By the word Theatre, the Antients intended 
tion of En 
antient the whole body of the edifice where the people 
Theatre, assembled to see their public representations 3 . 
The parts designed for the spectators were 
called the Conistra, or pit; the rows of benches; 
(1) 'O B-wxfaX; Zii/s Si 
IllixXfn;, ralSsJo* l-rt T3V 
Vid. Plut. in Pericl. torn. I. p. 353. Land. 1733. 
(2) yitruv. lib. v. c. 9. p. 92. 
(3) Plutarch considers IT; to be derived from * ; because, 
before theatres were built, the Cliorus sang the praises of their Gods, 
and the commendation of illustrious men. 
