At the extremity of the orchestra a pier of masonry called the Hyposcenion, adorned with columns and statues, rose to the level of the stage, where a most intricate system of machinery and decoration represented all that was tangible to sense in the creations of the poet. The stage was divided into two parts; first, the Ocribas or Logeion,[883] floored with boards, and hollow beneath, for the purpose of reverberating the voice; second, the Proscenion,[884] a broader parallelogram of solid stonework, necessary to support the vast apparatus of machinery and decoration required by the character of the Grecian drama. The descent from the stage[885] into the orchestra was by two flights of steps situated at either extremity of the Logeion, at the point where the Parodoi touched upon the Dromos. Beyond the Proscenion arose the Scene,[886] properly so called, the aspect of which was constantly varied, to suit the requirements of each successive piece. In most cases, however, it represented the front of three different edifices, of which the central one, communicating with the stage by a broad and lofty portal, was generally a palace. Sometimes, as in the Philoctetes, this portal was converted into the mouth of a cavern,[887] opening upon the view, amid the rocks and solitudes of Lemnos, while in other plays it formed the entrance to the mansion of some private person of distinction, but was always appropriated to the principal actor. The building on the right assumed in comedy the appearance of an inn, through the door of which the second actor issued upon the stage, while the portal on the left led into a ruined temple, or uninhabited house. In tragedy the right hand entrance was appropriated to strangers, while on the left was that of the female apartments, or of a prison.[888] ----- Footnote 883: Plat. Conviv. t. iv. 411. Tim. Lex. v. ὀκρίβας, p. 102. Etym. Mag. 620. 52. Poll. iv. 123. Footnote 884: Poll. iv. 123. Footnote 885: It is impossible to adopt Genelli’s idea on these flights of steps, by the injudicious position of which in his plan, he entirely breaks up and destroys the beauty of the Hyposcenion, especially as the Scholiast on Aristophanes positively states, that they led from the Parodoi to the Logeion.—Sch. Aristoph. Eq. 149. Footnote 886: On the stage and scenery, see Casalius.—De Trag. et Com. c. i. ap. Gronov. Thesaur. t. viii. p. 1603. Footnote 887: Cf. Sch. Aristoph. Av. i. Footnote 888: Vid. Scalig. de Art. Poet. i. 21. ----- Upon the stage, in front of the doors, stood an altar of Apollo Aguieus, and a table covered with cakes and confectionary,[889] which appears sometimes to have been regarded as the representative of that ancient table, on which, in the simplicity of Prothespian times, the solitary actor mounted when engaged in dialogue with the chorus. ----- Footnote 889: Poll. iv. 123. Vid. Spanh. ad Callim. t. ii. p. 228, seq. -----