ATHENS. 259 
the Diazomaia, or corridors ; the little stairs ; CHAP. 
IV. 
the Cercys ; and the Echea. The other principal 
parts of the theatre, belonging to the actors, 
were called the Orchestra ; the Proscenion ; and 
the Scene, that is to say, the front or face of the 
decorations ; for, properly, the word Scene has 
no other signification. The interior structure 
extended like the arc of a circle, reaching to 
the two corners of the Proscenion : above that 
portion of the circumference were raised four 
and twenty rows of benches, surrounding the 
Conistra, or pit, for the spectators. These 
benches, in their whole height, were divided 
into three sets by the Diazomata or corridors, 
consisting of eight rows in each division. The 
Diazomaia ran parallel to the rows of seats, and 
were of the same form ; they were contrived as 
passages for the spectators from one part of the 
theatre to another, without incommoding those 
who were seated : for the same convenience, 
there were little steps 4 that crossed the several 
rows, and reached from one corridor to another, 
from the top to the bottom, so that persons 
(4) Each of those little steps was exactly half the height of one of 
the benches. They formed diverging radii from the Cqnistra. Such 
staircases remain very entire in the theatres of Asia Mister, as at 
Telmessux; in Epidaurla : at Sieyon; Cheeronaa; &c. 
S 2 
