The result of the earlier of these remodelments is commonly known as Nero’s theater, for the reason that its façade originally bore an inscription of dedication to Dionysus and Nero. The motive for the alteration and dedication is doubtless to be found in the Emperor’s visit to Greece and “artistic” triumphs there in 67 A.D. Under the circumstances it is not surprising that two features of Roman theaters were now for the first time introduced into Athens: a stage was built before the scene-building, and the hitherto full orb of the orchestral circle was thereby infringed upon. At the back of the stage rose a new proscenium, probably no longer in the form of a straight and simple colonnade but an elaborate façade with projecting and receding members, such as was common in the Roman and Graeco-Roman theaters (Figs. 40 and 59). The depth of the stage cannot be exactly determined,[153] but its front wall is usually thought to have coincided with that of the stage now standing, which belongs to the next period. But we shall presently find reasons for believing that, though the Nero stage was deeper than the Hellenistic proscenium, it was shallower than the later (Phaedrus) stage (see pp. 75 and 99, below). Space would thus be left for the parodi still to lead directly into the orchestra. Dörpfeld first estimated the height of the Neronian stage at about four feet nine and a half inches (see next paragraph), but is now inclined to think that it belonged to the high Graeco-Roman type.[154] In my judgment, however, his earlier position is to be preferred. I consider it probable that stone steps led from the orchestra to the center of the stage, as in the Phaedrus theater (Fig. 40). Just outside the gutter of the Lycurgus theater was erected a marble balustrade (Fig. 39),[155] which stood about three and a half feet above the orchestra level and protected the spectators from accident when gladiatorial combats (another Roman institution) or the like were being exhibited in the orchestra. In order to compensate for the curtailment of the orchestra by the stage, the gutter, which had been left open except opposite the vertical aisles of the auditorium, was covered over, except for occasional rosette-shaped openings. Up to this time the orchestra seems to have had no covering but hard-pressed earth, but it was now paved with marble slabs. In the middle of the pavement is a rhomboid design (Fig. 40), and in its central block is a depression about twenty inches in diameter, by means of which an altar of Dionysus (the thymele) was doubtless held in place. [Illustration: FIG. 39.—Nero Balustrade and Pavement, and Phaedrus Stage of the Theater in Athens. See p. 72, n. 3] [Illustration: FIG. 41.—Frieze of the Phaedrus Stage in Athens. See p. 74, n. 2] [Illustration: FIG. 40.—Plan of the Romanized Theater in Athens According to Dörpfeld See p. 74, n. 1]