A contrivance called the exostra is occasionally referred to by the grammarians, and is mentioned in a Delian inscription of the third century B.C. The name implies that it was something which was ‘pushed out’ upon the stage. The metaphorical use of the word in Polybius and Cicero proves it to have been a platform on which objects were exhibited in a conspicuous manner. It is probable, therefore, that the statement of the ancient writers is correct, and that the exostra was merely the ekkyklema under another name.[636] § 7. _The Mechane and Theologeion._ Another appliance of even greater importance than the ekkyklema, and one very frequently employed upon the Greek stage, was the ‘mechane’ or Machine.[637] It consisted of a sort of crane with a pulley attached, by which weights could be raised or lowered. It was placed in the left or western corner of the stage, at the very top of the back-scene. It was used when the characters of a play had to appear or disappear in a supernatural manner. By its means a god or hero could be lowered from heaven down to earth, or raised up from earth to heaven, or exhibited motionless in mid-air. Sometimes the god was represented as sitting in a chariot, or on a winged steed; but in most cases he was simply suspended from the rope by means of a hook and bands fastened round his body. The strength of the mechane must have been considerable, since it was powerful enough to support two or three people at the same time. As to the way in which it was worked, and the manner in which the actors were made to disappear from view at the top of the stage, there is no information. Unfortunately the construction of the upper part of the stage-buildings is a subject about which we are entirely ignorant. It is useless therefore to hazard conjectures concerning the exact nature of the arrangements adopted. The grammarians also speak of two other contrivances, the Crane and the Fig-branch, as used for moving people through the air. But whether they were really distinct from the mechane is far from certain. The Fig-branch is said to have been designed specially for comedy. It appears, however, from the description to have been much the same as the mechane, and was probably only a comic name for it.[638] The Crane is described as an instrument for conveying the bodies of dead heroes up into the sky. Possibly the Crane also was merely another name for the mechane; or it may have been a separate contrivance, placed at the other end of the back-scene, and used exclusively for the removal of dead bodies. In any case it cannot have differed very much from the mechane in structure.[639] There are one or two passages in the ancient writers where the mechane is described as a ‘kind of ekkyklema’, and persons are said to have been rolled out by means of it.[640] It is uncertain in these cases whether the grammarians are confusing the two machines; or whether they are thinking of the theologeion, which, as we