projection of the rock, eleven feet broad, rising from a graduated basis. The summit is broken; its present height is about twenty feet. On the right and left of the orator there was an access to the summit of the bema by a flight of steps, and from behind by two or three steps from an inclosure, in which are several chambers cut in the rock, which served doubtless for purposes connected with that of the Pnyx itself. The rocky height out of which they were formed, and which is higher than any part of the Pnyx, was embraced by a great salient angle of the Astic inclosure, to the eastward of which a retiring angle approached to within sixty yards of that extremity of the Pnyx. The area of the platform was capable of containing between seven and eight thousand persons, allowing a square yard to each; from five to seven thousand appears from the ancient authors to have been the greatest number ever assembled'. It would otherwise be difficult to conceive how the theatre, which was generally the place of meeting for large assemblies in later times, was not sooner preferred to the Pnyx, in which the more distant auditors were much less advantageously placed for hearing the speaker than in the theatre. To be heard by them from the pulpit of the Pnyx must indeed have required the utmost exertion of the orator; we cannot wonder, therefore, that Demosthenes found it necessary to strengthen his voice, in order to qualify himself for speaking in the Pnyx. Cicero, in an interesting prelude to one of his philosophical discourses, in which he shows his knowledge of the topography of Athens, alludes to the Pnyx, though without naming it, as one of the Athenian monuments rendered most worthy of attention by its ancient associations. "Tum Piso quid Lucius noster (inquit) an eum locum libenter invisit, ubi Demosthenes et schines inter se decertare soliti sunt. . . . Et ille, quum erubuisset, Noli (inquit) ex me quærere, qui in Phalericum etiam descenderim, quo in loco ad fluctum aiunt declamare solitum Demosthe 1 Thucyd. 8, 72. Demosth. c. Timocrat. p. 715, Reiske. C. Neær. p. nem, ut fremitum assuesceret voce vincere id quidem infinitum est in hac urbe: quacunque enim ingredimur, in aliquam historiam vestigium ponimus '." Various explanations have been given of the derivation of the word Pnyx, from the multitude of counsellors, or of persons assembled, or of seats (παρὰ τὸ πυκνοῦσθαι ἐκεῖ τοὺς βουλευτὰς—παρὰ τὸ πεπυκνῶσθαι τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἐκκλινόντων ἐκεῖσε ἀνθρώπων—ἀπὸ πυκνοῦσθαι τὸν ὄχλον—ἀπὸ τοῦ πεπυκνῶσθαι ταῖς καθέδραις), or from the compactness and strength of the stones with which the Pnyx was constructed (τῆς τῶν λίθων πυκνότητος), or from the earth of the platform being consolidated and condensed (TVкvovμévn) by the upward pressure of the massive stones below, or from the numerous habitations around it (ὅτι πυκνά ἐστι περὶ αὐτὴν οἰκήματα *). The Pnyx appears to have been sacred to or under the protection of Jupiter. In the artificial wall of rock on either side of the bema are niches; below which an excavation brought to light a variety of votive offerings to Jupiter the supreme (A Yior), which are now in the British Museum, Nos. 209 seq. 1 Cicero de fin. 5, 2. 2 Schol. in Aristoph. Eccles. 665. Eq. 42. p. 244. Cleidemus ap. Harpocr. in ПIvvкí. Schol. in Demosth. de Cor. Etym. Mag., Phot. Lex. in IIvv. Bekker Anecd. Gr. I. p. 292. APPENDIX XII. Page 189. ON THE CAPACITY OF THE DIONYSIAC THEATRE. THE original termination of this great construction at the summit is evident; but to what extent it descended into the valley cannot now be traced. If, as we generally find in great theatres, resting on the side of rocky heights, the middle of the cavea was hollowed in the rock, an excavation would probably bring a part of it to light, which might afford some means of judging of the magnitude of the theatre, and enable us to understand, whether we are to interpret literally a passage in the Banquet of Plato, where he seems to show that the theatre was capable of containing more than thirty thousand spectators. Socrates ironically comparing his own shadowy pursuits' with the splendid result of those of the youthful Agathon, whose tragedy had obtained the prize, and had given him the honour of sacrificing as Choregus, adds, your wisdom, Agathon, was manifested in the presence of more than three myriads of Greeks "." It appears, however, that the word трioμúρioι was not uncommonly used at Athens, to mean the body of Attic citizens. Thus Herodotus (5, 97) says that Aristagoras deceived thirty thousand Athenians (τρισμυρίους Αθηναίους), and Aristophanes employs the Η σοφία .... 2 · ἡ ἐμὴ . . . . ἀμφισβητήσιμος ὥσπερ ὄναρ οὖσα. § 4. 2 ἐξέλαμπε καὶ ἐκφανὴς ἐγένετο πρώην ἐν μάρτυσι τῶν ̔Ελλήνων πλέον ἢ τρισμυρίοις. words πλέον ἢ τρισμυρίων exactly in the same sense ; so that Plato may on this occasion have put a familiar expression into the mouth of Socrates, without any intention of defining the number of spectators actually present in the theatre. On the other hand, it is not impossible that the theatre at Athens may have been intended to contain occasionally the entire body of Attic citizens, and may have been constructed accordingly; and this appears the more likely on considering that the Athenian theatre was probably at least as large as any in Greece, and on calculating the capacity of some of those still extant. Of these the theatre of the Hierum of Epidauria, and that at Dhramisiús in Epirus, are the only two in Greece sufficiently preserved to enable us to form a correct estimate of their capacity. The Epidaurian Theatre was about four hundred feet in diameter when perfect, and contained fifty-eight rows of seats in two divisions, separated by a diákwua, præcinctio, or corridor of twelve feet; thirty-seven rows in the lower, and twenty in the upper division. There appears to have been a second corridor behind the topmost benches, as usual in Greek theatres. In the lower division the diameter of the lowest seat was sixty-six feet, that of the upper two hundred and fifty. Allowing a breadth of fifteen inches to each spectator3, this division would contain seven thousand three hundred and twenty66+250 2 six spectators, thus x 1.57 1.25 x 37 = 7326. The upper division, the lower seat of which had a diameter of two hundred and seventy-six feet, and the upper of three hundred and seventy-two, would by a similar process of 1 Eccles. 1131. 2 These are the numbers in Mr. Donaldson's Plan in the Supplement to the Antiquities of Athens, p. 51. In the "Expédition de la Morée," II. pl. 79, there are thirty-nine rows of seats in the lower, and twenty in the upper division. 3 Fourteen inches is the breadth generally allowed by modern architects. In one of the theatres of Pompeii, a breadth of fifteen inches and a half is marked. calculation have contained eight thousand one hundred and sixty; and the whole theatre about fifteen thousand five hundred. But this computation supposes the cavea to have been exactly a half circle, whereas it was evidently prolonged at either end beyond the semicircle, and the two præcinctions would in standing room have a capacity equal to that of two or three of the highest seats. This would be much more than sufficient to cover the deduction to be made for the space occupied by eleven scale in the lower division, and twentythree in the upper: we may conclude, therefore, that on pressing occasions, the theatre was capable of holding between seventeen and eighteen thousand persons. The theatre at Dhramisiús in Epirus being more complete than other in Greece, would afford a still more exact computation, if the component blocks of the several ranges of seats were not so much displaced in many parts, that it is extremely difficult to ascertain the exact number of ranges. Repeated trials induced me to reckon them at about sixtyfive. Supposing the theatre to have been an exact semicircle, which it cannot much exceed, it will appear to have been capable of containing about twenty-one thousand, its lower seat being eighty feet in diameter, and the upper about four hundred and thirty. 430+80 x 1.571.25 x 65 20,800. any 2 An uppermost range of four hundred feet in diameter being capable of containing five hundred spectators, and every additional range an increasing number, it would require not more than sixteen ranges more than in the Epirote theatre, to obtain a complement of thirty thousand, and not so many, if the arch of the theatre were greater than a semicircle. That a prolonged semicircle was customary, numerous examples prove; and as the Epirote theatre belonged to a place, of which not even the ancient name is known, we may presume that the theatres of some of the leading states of Greece had a greater number of ranges. Of the latter fact, indeed, the remains of the theatre of Argos afford sufficient testimony. Two feet |