The Attic theatre : $b a description of the stage and theatre of the Athenians, and of the dramatic performances at AthensHaigh, A. E. (Arthur Elam)
History
The Attic theatre : $b a description of the stage and theatre of the Athenians, and of the dramatic performances at Athens
Haigh, A. E. (Arthur Elam)
Athens (Greece) -- Intellectual life; Greek drama -- History and criticism; Theater -- Greece -- Athens -- History -- To 500
Since the publication of his book Dörpfeld has shifted his ground on
this question.[463] He now suggests a new method of explaining away
the testimony of Vitruvius. He supposes that Vitruvius, when speaking
of the stage in the Greek theatre, was referring, not to the ordinary
Greek theatre, but to the peculiar type of Graeco-Roman theatre found in
various cities of Asia Minor, such as Termessos and Sagalassos. These
theatres, as we have shown, exhibited a sort of transition between the
Greek and the Roman model. While their general design was Greek, their
stages were partially lowered and deepened, so as to come nearer to the
Roman practice.[464] In theatres of this kind Dörpfeld admits that the
actors performed upon the stage; and he contends that it is to them
that Vitruvius refers, and not to the regular Greek theatres, in which
the actors always appeared in the orchestra. But in the first place it
is difficult to believe that Vitruvius, when he speaks of the ‘Greek’
theatre, should mean something quite different. Why should he describe
as ‘Greek’ a type of building which was not found in Greece proper, and
which was essentially a combination of Greek and Roman attributes? In
the second place, the evidence of the existing remains is inconsistent
with the new hypothesis. Vitruvius says that the proscenium in the Greek
theatre should be from ten to twelve feet high, and in ordinary cases
about ten feet deep. Now what do we find in the remains of the regular
Greek theatres? We find that in the great majority of cases the height
and depth answer exactly to this description. But when we turn to the
Asia Minor theatres what do we find? The average height is from eight
to nine feet, the average depth from twelve to eighteen. In the face of
these measurements it is useless to contend that Vitruvius is alluding
to the Asia Minor theatres. The type which he describes is the ordinary
Hellenistic type.[465]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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