The progress of landscape-painting in general among the later Greeks naturally produced its effect upon the work of the scenic artists. But it would be an anachronism to attribute efforts of this ambitious kind to the contemporaries of Sophocles and Euripides. The introduction of magnificent decorations appears to be always a later development in the history of the drama. On the Elizabethan stage the back-scene consisted of a bare wall, and anything in the way of spectacular effect was provided by the movements and groupings of the actors. To produce an impression by scenic means would have been alien to the taste of the Athenians of the fifth century. In the dramatic performances of that period the conspicuous feature was the chorus in the foreground, with its graceful arrangement and picturesque dresses. Above the chorus, on the narrow stage, stood the actors and mute figures, arranged in line, and dressed in brilliant colours. The long scene in the rear was so far decorated as to form a pleasing background, and show off the persons of the actors to advantage. But no attempt was made to produce a realistic landscape, or to convey the ideas of depth and distance. In its general effect the scene upon the stage resembled a long frieze or bas-relief, with the figures painted in brilliant colours, rather than a picture with a distant perspective. § 2. _Mechanical Arrangements for the Scenery._ The scenery consisted of painted curtains or boards, attached to the wall at the back of the stage.[583] As the mechanical arrangements for fixing them up have not been described by any of the ancient writers, a detailed account of the matter is impossible. But some facts can be deduced from the testimony of the existing dramas. In every Greek play the action was supposed to take place in the open air. The scene was generally laid before some building or tent, or in a country district with a rock or cavern in the background. The upper portion of the painted scene represented merely the sky, and was probably the same in all dramas. The lower portion delineated the building or landscape which the particular play required. It used to be commonly supposed that this lower portion projected two or three feet in front of the upper; that the back-scene was not a flat surface from top to bottom, but that a narrow ledge or platform ran across from wing to wing about half-way up.[584] The object of this hypothesis was to provide room for the ‘distegia’. The distegia was a contrivance which enabled actors to take their stand upon the roof of a palace or private house.[585] Eight or nine instances of its use are to be found in the existing Greek plays. Thus the Agamemnon of Aeschylus opens with the watchman sitting upon the roof of the palace at Argos, and waiting for the beacon’s signal. In the Phoenissae of Euripides Antigone and the attendant mount upon the roof to get a view of the army encamped outside the city. In the concluding scene of the Orestes Hermione,