despite its height and narrowness, was converted into a stage, to which, according to Roman practice, the comic and tragic actors were now elevated. However this may be, the fact remains that from about this time theaters of this type were so extensively built or created by a remodeling of Hellenistic theaters that they became the only rivals of purely Roman structures. Such theaters are found in the Nero theater at Athens (according to Dörpfeld’s present but questionable view), Pompeii, Segesta, Syracuse, Taormina, and extensively in Asia Minor. Early in the nineteenth century Schönborn and Wieseler correctly recognized buildings of this type as representing Vitruvius’ Greek theater.[169] But later on, when the earlier Greek theaters were revealed by new excavations at Athens and elsewhere, an attempt was made to identify these with Vitruvius’ Greek type. Dörpfeld himself fell into this error and in _Das griechische Theater_ maintained that Vitruvius had misunderstood the function of the Hellenistic proscenium, interpreting as a stage what in fact was only a background. But though Dörpfeld thus incurred a large share of blame for confusing the situation, he soon came to recognize his error and frankly recanted.[170] Unhappily the pro-stage writers still persist in it. It might be supposed that Vitruvius’ Greek theater could readily be identified by comparing his directions for the height and depth of the stage with the actual measurements of various Greek theaters. Dörpfeld and Fiechter have both attempted this but without any great success.[171] For the sake of convenience and clearness I have drawn up their figures in the form of tables. Dörpfeld cited six Graeco-Roman structures as affirmative arguments and two Hellenistic buildings as negative arguments. Of course, the figures for the Hellenistic theaters refer to the proscenium, in which some would recognize a stage. The problem, therefore, is not merely as to what type of Greek theater Vitruvius was describing, but the function of the proscenium in Hellenistic theaters is also involved. On the other hand, Fiechter, whose object is diametrically opposed to Dörpfeld’s, cites four Hellenistic and six Graeco-Roman theaters as positive and negative arguments respectively. TABLE I (Dörpfeld)