theatre of Bacchus at Athens, the most perfect theatre of antiquity, and the model upon which those in the other cities of Greece and Italy were generally formed, though with more or less of strict resemblance in detail.

I. In perusing the following pages the student, we repeat, must dismiss from his mind altogether the idea of a modern theatre. An open-air exhibition, attended by many thousands of spectators, and bearing the character of a great religious festival, is without any exact parallel in modern times. But as far as regards the general aspect of the building, and the whole assemblage, we may imagine them to have presented somewhat the same appearance as the crowded galleries rising round the circus of an Andalusian or Gallician bull-fight in the middle ages. The old wooden scaffolding erected within the Lenæon, or enclosure sacred to Bacchus, having fallen down in the year 500 B. C., the Athenians commenced building that magnificent theatre of stone which it took 120 years to complete, although at an earlier period the work had proceeded far enough to admit of the performance of the great Attic dramas. The Theatre of Bacchus was built into the south-eastern side of the hill on the summit of which stood the Acropolis. From the foot of this eminence rose tier above tier a semicircular range of benches, capable of accommodating some 50,000 people. The lowest of these tiers was twelve feet above the level of the ground; and this, with the one or two next above it, was appropriated to the use of the principal

people of the city, and for that reason was called the BOUλEUTIKÓV. The body of the citizens were arβουλευτικόν. ranged according to their tribes; and the young men had a space set apart for themselves, entitled the ἐφηβικόν.* The passages which separated the different tiers were denominated Statópaтa, and the compartments formed by these and the staircases, which would cut them at right angles, Kɛρкídεs. The shape of the large open space which intervened between the spectators and the stage with its appurtenances, and which was called the orchestra, will be readily understood, by conceiving the private boxes of an English theatre to be removed, and the ground which they now occupy, as well as the pit, with a single exception, to be left entirely vacant. This whole space was called the orchestra; the two wings or horns, on either side, were called Tápodo, while the space which lay exactly between these, in front of the semicircular portion, and which would correspond to the place occupied in our theatres by the stalls and orchestra, was styled the Spóμos. Just at the central point of the whole, halfway between either extremity of the amphitheatre, stood the thymele or representative of the old altar round which the chorus had danced, and where they now sat or stood during the progress of the drama: these were the only occupants of the orchestra. Immediately facing the thymele, and at the same height

* Aristoph. Aves, 794., Schol.

For the benefit of those to whom the interior of an English theatre may not be familiar, we have added the subjoined figure.

from the ground as the lowest tier of the benches. composing the amphitheatre, was the front portion of the stage, projecting a little from the rest, and called the λoysîov: this was where the principal part of the dialogue was carried on. The Xoyatov itself was built of wood; but the front and sides were adorned with columns and statues, which were called тà Vπо

*

σκήνια. Next behind the λογεῖον was the stage proper, οι προσκήνιον, so called from being in front of the σkηνý, and built of stone. At the back of this stood the σkηvý or scene, a stationary edifice of stonework representing a palace, with three entrances to the stage, of which the middle one, intended for the principal characters, was called Baolaios. The other two are called by Vitruvius hospitales, as supposed to lead to the apartments of the King's guests. If an actor entered the Xoysîov from the side near Athens, he was supposed to belong to the city in which the scene was laid; if from the other side, he was supposed to be a stranger. These contrivances were necessary to a people who knew nothing of playbills. The sides of the proscenium consisted, like the back, of stationary stone buildings, having passages communicating with the rest of the theatre, but not intended for the entrance of actors.† Behind

*If we remember the exact meaning of this word we shall appreciate the beauty of Virgil's expression —

"Tum silvis scena coruscis

Desuper."

En. i. line 164.

† There is a passage in the oration of Demosthenes against Midias which has given rise to much difficulty on this subject: τοὺς χορηγοὺς συνῆγεν ἐπ ̓ ἐμέ, βοῶν, ἀπειλῶν, ὀμνύουσι παρεστηκὼς τοῖς κριταῖς, τὰ παρασκήνια φράττων, προσηλῶν, ἰδιώτης ὤν, τὰ δημόσια κακὰ καὶ πράγματα ἀμύθητά μοι παρέχων διετέλεσεν. Wolfe, in his "Analecta Literaria" has a long dissertation on this subject, in which he endeavours to prove that Vitruvius was mistaken in supposing that the apaσkhvia were the sides of the proscenium. It appears to us sufficient to consider that there were two kinds of πaρаσкýνia and σKηval,- the permanent buildings of stone, and also the wooden

the σκηνή and παρασκήνια were the dressing-rooms of the actors, and what we should now call property rooms, containing the machinery, dresses, &c.* The entrances to the theatre (oodo) were at the sides of the Tápodot, and all round the outside was a space covered with turf, planted with trees, and encircled with a portico, where the chorus used to rehearse. There was a similar portico outside the top of the amphitheatre; in both of these the audience took shelter in case of a sudden storm, and they also served as places in which slaves waited for their masters during the performances.

We

II. The machinery of the Attic theatre consisted principally of the ecclyclema and periactæ. must remember that with them the chief object of scenery always was represented in the σŋvý or background, while the openings into the distance lay on each side. The machinery for changing these was such as we have mentioned. The periacta were triangular pieces of woodwork revolving upon a pivot, which were used for changes in the side scenery, and of course stood in front of and concealed the stone buildings of the parascenia. These must, in some

slides which were used when it was necessary to depart from the ordinary scene of the outside of a royal house. The meaning of the words opáτtwv and πрoσŋλŵv then becomes perfectly clear, and we see no necessity for plunging any farther into the perplexing though learned controversy which Wolfe has started.

* See Müller, Lit. of Greece, vol, i. p. 301. note. The account above given seems the most simple and intelligible; it is surely improbable that these rooms should have been situated between the parascenia and the stage, as Donaldson represents them.