Till the end of the sixth century the Athenians were contented with the rough temporary erections just described. But in 499, the year in which Aeschylus made his first appearance, there was an accident at one of their dramatic performances. The wooden benches on which the spectators were sitting collapsed. In consequence of this accident, as Suidas tells us, they resolved to build a more permanent theatre.[314] It was generally supposed, until quite recent times, that the theatre here mentioned was the great stone theatre still in existence. But Dörpfeld has made it certain that at least a great part of this building is not earlier than the middle of the fourth century; and though Puchstein is possibly right in seeing traces of a stone theatre dating from the end of the fifth century, this does not take us back to the time of Aeschylus.[315] What then was the building to which Suidas refers? The answer to this question has been supplied by a recent discovery of a very interesting kind. On digging down into the earth foundations of the present auditorium it has been ascertained that these foundations consist of two layers. The upper one belongs to the fourth century, as is shown by the fragments of pottery embedded in it; the lower one is proved by similar evidence to be not later than the fifth.[316] It follows, therefore, that the Athenians must have built earth embankments for the support of the auditorium as early as the fifth century, and it is doubtless to this work that Suidas alludes. The innovation adopted in 499, in consequence of the accident, was not the erection of a stone theatre, but the substitution of solid earth foundations for the ‘ikria’ or wooden supports on which the seats had previously rested. The new theatre still resembled the old one, in that the benches and the stage-buildings were made of wood; but greater security and permanence were afforded by the erection of the embankments. The site chosen for this new theatre was the enclosure of Eleuthereus, where the City Dionysia, the most important of the dramatic festivals, was held. From this time forward all theatrical performances were transferred to the same enclosure. The Lenaeum was abandoned as a place of dramatic entertainment. The contrary opinion, that the old wooden theatre at the Lenaeum continued to be used for the Lenaean festival until the erection of the stone theatre in the fourth century,[317] is most improbable. The need for a secure auditorium in place of the previous ‘ikria’ would be felt just as much at the Lenaea as at the City Dionysia. But there is no trace or record of a permanent theatre at the Lenaeum. The recurrence of the expression ‘contests at the Lenaeum’ down to the latter part of the fourth century proves nothing.[318] The phrase might easily have been retained, after its local significance was gone, by a kind of survival common in all languages. In just the same way the performances at the