Ξενοκλῆς ὁ Καρκίνου δοκεῖ μηχανὰς καὶ τερατείας εἰσάγειν ν τοῖς δράμασι. Πλάτων Σοφισταῖς· Ξενοκλῆς ὁ δωδεκαμήχανος ὁ Καρκίνου παῖς τοῦ θαλαττίου· μηχανοδίφας δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοὺς, ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις ὡς τραγῳδοὶ μηχανὰς προσέφερον, ἡνίκα Θεοὺς ἐμιμοῦντο ἀνερχομένους ἢ κατερχομένους ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἢ ἄλλοτι τοιοῦτον. Schol. Aristoph. Pac. 769. Footnote 899: Poll. iv. 129. Etym. Mag. 465. 56. 534. 39. Footnote 900: Aristoph. Av. 1161, et Schol. Cf. Herod. ap. Const. in v. φρυκτώριον. Poll. iv. 127. Footnote 901: Phæn. 688, cum not. et Schol. Bekk. Poll. iv. 127, 129. ----- The Keraunoskopeion[902] was a lofty triangular column, which appears to have been hollow, and furnished with narrow fissures, extending in right lines from top to bottom. Within seem to have been a number of lamps, on stationary bases, from which, as the periactos whirled round, sheets of mimic lightning flashed upon the stage from behind the scenes. ----- Footnote 902: Poll. iv. 127, 130. ----- The construction of the Bronteion,[903] or thunder magazine, I imagine to have been nearly as follows:—a number of brazen plates, arranged one below another, like stairs, descended through a steep, vaulted passage behind the scene, into the bottom of a tower, terminating in a vast brazen caldron. From the edge of this, a series of metallic apertures,[904] probably spiral, pierced the tower wall, and opened without in funnels, like the mouths of trumpets. ----- Footnote 903: Idem, Ibid. Footnote 904: These were called ἠχεῖα. Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 292. ----- When some deity was required to descend to earth in the midst of lightning and sudden thunder, the Keraunoskopeion was instantaneously put in motion, and showers of pebbles from the sea-shore were hurled down the mouth of the Bronteion, and, rolling over the brazen receptacles, produced a terrific crash, which, with innumerable reverberations, was poured forth by the Echeia upon the theatre.[905] ----- Footnote 905: Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 292, 294. ----- In a lofty gallery called the Theologeion, extending over the marble skreen at the back of the stage, appeared the gods, when the drama required their presence; and hence, I imagine, the Hebrew colony which makes its appearance nightly near the roof of our own theatres have obtained the name of gods. Here Zeus, and the other deities of Olympos, were assembled in that very extraordinary drama of Æschylus, the Psychostasia, or weighing in the balance the souls of Achilles and Hector. They employed in the theatre the machine called a Crane,[906] the point of which being lowered, snatched up whatever it was designed to bear aloft into the air. By means of this contrivance, Eos, goddess of the dawn, descended and bore away the body of Memnon, slain by Achilles before Troy. At other times strong cords, so disposed as to resemble swings, were let down from the roof, to support the gods or heroes who seemed to be borne through the air. -----