300 to 400 feet distant, on ground | Curtius, Botticher, and Strach deserve comparatively elevated. The build- especial notice) which visited Athens ing dated from the time of Solon, and for the purpose of exploring its archiserved for the deposit of the written tectural and artistic remains, comlaws of the state. Here, according to menced the excavations which have Pausanias, were images of Peace and laid bare the ruins now visible. Vesta, and statues of Miltiades and Themistocles, of which the names had been changed into those of a Thracian and a Roman. The Prytaneum was one of the ten courts of Justice of Athens. Here instruments which had been the cause of death were judged, and condemned to be ejected from the soil of Attica. A little westward of the monument of Lysicrates was the Lenæum, or inclosure sacred to Bacchus, which contained the Dionysiac Theatre and the Odeum of Pericles, and extended to some distance into the low ground. The Odeum was one of the earliest of the works of Pericles, used, as the name imports, for recitation of song, on it was to the E. of the theatre and adjacent to it, and was remarkable for the numerous columns which supported its gallery and roof. The roof was formed of masts and spars taken from the Persian galleys, and is described as a high-peaked structure resembling the tent of Xerxes. It was destroyed by Aristion when defending the Acropolis against Sylla, lest the timbers should be used for works against the citadel. No vestiges remain of the Odeum nor of the Stoa of Eumenes, mentioned by Vitruvius, which was probably on the western side of the Lenæum. But the remains of 15. The Dionysiac Theatre form one of the most interesting points in the topography of Athens. Down to a very recent period the site, though well ascertained by the researches of Leake and others, was so completely covered up by an accumulation of soil that no idea of the plan of the theatre could be formed, and all that was known was derived from a representation of it on an Athenian coin of the Roman period, of which an engraving is annexed, and which now exists in the British Museum. In 1862, the Society of German Antiquaries (of which MM. The E. corner of the S. slope of the Acropolis under the Cimonian wall, affording, as it does, a natural position, admirably adapted both for spectator and actor, may very probably have been the earliest scene of the rude representations of the Thespian drama in honour of Dionysus, to whom the whole neighbourhood was in some sense sacred. But it was in the year 500 B.C., at the exhibition of the first tragedy of Æschylus, that the fall of the wooden scaffolding, which had hitherto served for a stage, led to the commencement of a stone theatre. The edifice, however, was not completed till the period of the orator Lycurgus, B.C. 340, when the great masters of the Athenian drama had all passed away, and its glories had waned into the period of Menander, and the new comedy-a strange illustration of the aphorism that "art is the bloom of decay." Still, it is more than probable that the general distribution of the theatre on which the dramas of Eschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes, and Aristophanes were exhibited was substantially the same as that of the completed structure of Lycurgus; and it is said to have formed the model of the numerous other theatres which sprung up throughout the Hellenic world, in the interval between Eschylus and Menander. The coin, of which an engraving is annexed, probably represents the theatre of Lycurgus. Of what befel it during the next four centuries we know nothing. Like the rest of the city, it no doubt suffered from the violence of Sulla; but it appears to have been restored, as well as altered and adorned, by the munificence of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), and the remains we now see belong, in all probability, mainly to the late period of the second founder of Athens. This is concluded, not only from the character of the inscriptions and the remains of several altars bearing the name earlier structure; up to this led stone steps bearing the following inscription: of that Emperor, but from the divi- | evidently taken from other parts of the sion of the seats into 13 compartments (kepxides), answering to the number of the tribes into which the Athenians were divided when his desire of identifying himself with the city which he boasted of having rebuilt induced him to add to the original 12 another bearing his own name. “Σοὶ τόδε καλὸν ἔτευξε, φιλόργιε, βῆμα θεήτρου Φαῖδρος Ζωΐου βιοδώτερος 'Ατθίδος ἀρχός.” The excavations in 1862, however, It has been conjectured, from the showed that this was not the last character of the masonry and the inchange or restoration which the Diony-scription, that this Phædrus must have siac theatre underwent. Within the limits of the orchestra proper, was disclosed the front of a stage built up in a very unworkmanlike style from marbles lived about the 3rd century, and he may have been one of those who, in the time of Diocletian or even later, attempted to stem the advancing tide of Christianity by a restoration of the already doomed rites of paganism. The same excavations laid bare also a wall of the Roman period in front of the first row of seats, which served, in all probability, to fence in the orchestra when it had been degraded into an arena for those contests of men and beasts which replaced the intellectual enjoyments of the drama. There were also found many still later remains of the Frank and Turkish ages, showing that the orchestra was then used as a reservoir of water, and even for a lime-kiln, fed by the marble relics of art so profusely scattered around. But the traveller will gladly pass over all these vicissitudes to go back in imagination to better times. On these seats, under the canopy of an Athenian sky, looking over the plain towards the sea, embraced by the heights of Salamis, Egina, and Hymettus, he will not fail to realize the powerful local influences whose effect on poet, actor, and spectator, combined to produce the unparalleled spectacle of an Athenian drama. "Then what golden hours were for us Curled like vapour over shrines ! How he drove the bolted breath Who was born to monarch's place, With his droppings of warm tears, E. B. Browning 'Wine of Cyprus.' Though the labours of 1862 have done much to discover the theatre, there is still great obscurity enveloping the many ruins around it. For the plan annexed, as well as for the general theory and explanations contained in this article, the reader is indebted to the papers which appeared from the learned pen of Professor Rousopoulos, of the University of Athens, published in the Archæological Journal' of that city, in 1862.* Every Greek theatre consisted of three chief parts: 1, the orchestra, where the chorus made its evolutions; 2, the body of the theatre (koλov, cavea), occupied by the spectators; 13, the stage (on). In the Athenian theatre the orchestra is in the form of a semicircle, of which the circumference at each end of the diameter is produced in two straight lines into an apsidal form. In the centre of the semicircle we may see the spot where stood the altar of Dionysus (Ouμéλn) round which the chorus moved, but which in Roman times was superseded by a marble pillar. The middle of the floor of the orchestra is paved with small pieces of grey marble, arranged in the shape of a parallelogram and sloping slightly towards the Ovuéλn, so as to carry off the rain, and the blood which flowed from the sacrificial altar. The thick wall which fences in the front row of seats from the orchestra, was probably erected after the Greek chorus had been supplanted by the combatants of the arena. The whole stage of Phædrus (as marked in the plan) was found behind the proscenium which now remains within the orchestra, or, more properly speaking, within the area of its two open side-entrances (Tápodo) for the chorus and spectators, which were ornamented with statues of poets and other appropriate personages. The greater part of these encroachments has, however, been removed, and the front wall or proscenium of the stage of Phædrus alone remains as it was found, the other fragments behind being those of the stages of the earlier theatres. 2. The theatre proper, where the audience sat (Kôiλov, cavea), consists of concentric tiers of seats radiating in the shape of a fan from the diameter of the orchestra up to a road nearly parallel to the line of the pro These have been embodied in this paper by Mr. Charles Cookson, to whom the thai of the editor of this work are due. scenium which shut them in on the N. nearly at the foot of the cavea, below the S. wall of the Acropolis. It is divided by 13 flights of steps cut in the rock into as many compartments, answering to the 13 tribes in the time of Hadrian, of the form of truncated cones (called Keрkides, from their resemblance to the web stretched in the loom), the lowest tier of these compartments being occupied by thrones of Pentelic marble (67 in all, five in front of each compartment except at the two extreme wings, where there are six to each), forming the places of honour (poedpía) for religious and other official dignitaries. In the centre of the middle compartment (assigned to the tribe of Hadrian) is the beautifully carved throne of the priest of Dionysus, the giver of freedom (Atovú σov Elevbepéws). Behind these are the seats of Peiraic marble for the rest of the people of Athens. The present arrangement of these compartments, as well as the inscriptions on the seats, belong, as has been observed before, to the period of the supposed restoration by Hadrian, whose statue is conjectured to have been placed in each compartment. Those skilled in such matters will have no difficulty in recognizing the difference in the character of the writing on the seats, on some of which the ancient inscriptions have been effaced to make way for others of the Roman period. It was usual in great theatres for the compartments of the cavea to be divided laterally by semicircular zones (diaguara); but if any such divisions existed in this theatre, the traces of them are not now visible. | the stage constructed by Phædrus, and in front of the stage runs the proscenium, supporting the stage from which the actors spoke (λoyeîov, oкpißás, pulpitum). This proscenium is faced with 4 slabs of marble containing basreliefs, on the centre of which is a collossal figure of Silenus in the position of an Atlas supporting the stage, and remarkable for the excellence of the workmanship of the beard and hair which covers the breast and the lower limbs, as well as for the general power and effectiveness of its outlines. This figure, probably of the Macedonian period, appears to have been transferred to its present position by Phadrus, and part of the stage to have been cut away to admit it. The other figures on each side are probably of different ages, as they certainly are of different degrees of excellence. For the explanation of the other remains behind the proscenium the reader is referred to the plan. On the E. and W. sides of the whole area of the theatre, from the extremities of the two side entrances, the exterior wall ran N. and S. up to the road which closed it in on the N. at the foot of the wall of the Acropolis. This wall may possibly have enclosed covered porticoes. The dimensions of the theatre, as taken from the scale in the plan of Mr. Rousopoulos, are as follow: drus to that of Lycurgus 4 90= 16 0 from proscenium of Ly curgus to back of stage Breadth from E. to W. external 7 50 24 6 88 0 = 288 8 11 0= 36 1 0 = 36 1 of diameter of orchestra Proscenium of Phædrus 11 " " Do. of Lycurgus 13 0 42 6 1 40= 4 7 3. Thus far the present condition of the remains leaves little doubt as to the general plan of the theatre. But when we come to the third division, the covered stage (σkný), it is impossible with certainty to distinguish Height of stage of Phadrus.. the age and nature of the ruins in front of the orchestra: though the theory indicated in the plan of Mr. Rousopoulos has generally been accepted as correct. From the level of the orchestra there was an ascent to The cave above the centre of the theatre is supposed to have been originally chiselled out in the Pelasgic ages. It was converted by Thrasyllus (B.c. 411) into an Ionic temple in com memoration of his choragic victory. It is described by Pausanias (Att. 21, 5), and existed in the time of Stuart (i. 4). The two columns above were also monuments of victories of the same character, and no doubt carried tripods. The cave is now a shrine of Our Lady of the Cavern ( Пavayía Σπηλιώτισσα). NUI cant portions. It is built partly of brick and partly of magnesian limestone, the interior having been faced with marble. The statue at the western entrance is conjectured to be that of Herodes, the father of Herodes Atticus. Of this personage the story is told, that having informed the emperor that he had found treasure, he received in reply an injunction to use it, and that on his then writing to say that it exceeded the measure of his wants, the Emperor replied, "Then abuse it." Behind the Odeum, i. e. between it and the Acropolis, is the supposed site of the temple of Esculapius, which, according to Pausanias, contained statues of Dionysus and his children, and pictures worthy of inspection. Leaving the Odeum and passing a little to westwards of the Acropolis, we come to Theatre of Dionysus, from a Coin now in the full of an interest not mainly derived 17. The Areopagus, a locality to us Westwards of the theatre is a wall supported on arches of very late and irregular construction, the sub-basement, probably, of a covered stoa, connecting the theatre with from the associations of ancient Athens. Not, however, that it is devoid of such interest. Pausanias thus describes it:-"Not far distant [from the cave of Apollo and Pan] is the Areopagus, so called because Mars was the first person here tried for the murder of Halirrhothius. Here is an altar of Minerva Areia dedicated by Orestes, on escaping punishment for the murder of his mother. Here also are 2 rude stones, upon one of which the accuser stands, and upon the other the defendant. Near this place is the sanctuary of the goddesses called Semnæ, but whom Hesiod in the Theogonia names Erinnyes. Eschylus was the first to represent them with snakes in their hair; but here the statues have nothing ferocious in their aspect, nor have those of the other subterranean deities here represented, namely, Pluto, Hermes, and the Earth." 16. The Odeum of Herodes or Regilla, situated beneath the southern wall of the Acropolis at the western extremity, which was built by Herodes Atticus in the time of the Antonines, in honour of his deceased wife Regilla. Pausanias, who did not mention it in his description of Athens, because it was not built at the time of his visit, subsequently remarks that it surpassed all other Odeia in Greece. The roofing of so large a building required great architectural skill, and excited the greater admiration as having been of cedar. The diameter within the walls was about 240 ft., and it seems to have been capable of holding 6000 persons. There are very Leake says, p. 165, "The identity considerable remains of the building; of the Areopagus with that rocky but as Mure remarks, it loses in ap- height which is separated only from pearance, owing to the rows of small the western end of the Acropolis by a and apparently useless arches which hollow, forming a communication bebreak up the masses into insignifi-tween the northern and southern div |
