The height of the Graeco-Roman stage as compared with the low Roman stage was partly due to convenience in remodeling when it was kept at the same figure as the earlier proscenium, but mostly to the conditions of exhibition.[220] The Greeks did not, like the Romans, sit in their orchestras. Choral and musical competitions still were held there, as well as such Roman sports as gladiatorial and animal combats. It was necessary, therefore, that the orchestra should be accessible from the hyposcenium, and the doors could scarcely be lower than six and a half or seven feet. Accordingly, the stage could hardly be less than eight feet high. [Illustration: FIG. 63.—Ground Plan and Cross-Section of the Theater at Priene See p. 113, n. 1] But the seats of honor in Greek theaters had always been in the lowest tier (nearest the orchestra), and from there the view of dramatic performances, when presented upon an eight- or ten-foot stage, would be seriously obstructed.[221] Usually when such theaters were remodeled, as at Ephesus, Assus, Pergamum, and Delphi, enough tiers were removed so that the lowest seats would be only about five feet below the stage level. The orchestra thus became like a pit and was inclosed with vertical walls (Fig. 24). At Side the space from which seats had been removed was built over with a six-foot wall, which was especially suitable in view of the gladiatorial and animal fights of Roman times. Where the auditorium was not altered, as at Priene and Magnesia, it is supposed that the lowest seats were unoccupied at dramatic performances, but were put to use, as the best places, at orchestral sports and contests.