PLATE XVI—Theatre
[Plate XVII] represents the view taken from the top row of seats. Note the circular chorus space, the remains of the “four quadrangle building,” and glimpses of the Hieron beyond. While witnessing here the sublime tragedies of Æschylus or Sophocles, or such a comedy as the Plutus of Aristophanes (in which, as you will remember, great fun is made at the expense of Asklepios and his priests), the contrast afforded by glancing from the stage to the blues and purples of the mountains, the verdancy of the grove, and the beautiful forms and colours of the group of temples would be most pleasing. The Greeks were acute in perceiving and taking advantage of subtle sources of pleasure like this, and I believe that the sites of many of their theatres were chosen so as to secure for the audience this double pleasure. The Theatre of Delphi is a conspicuous example of this provision, as also is that of Tauromena. This theatre has been said to seat 12,000 spectators; according to my own rough computation, it unquestionably will hold over 9,000 without crowding.
PLATE XVII—View of Theatre from top row of seats, ruins of the “four quadrangle building” in the distance
Before quitting this theatre it may be remarked that Dr. Dörpfeld’s interesting and attractive theory of the occupancy of orchestra and stage equally by the players in a Greek drama, is difficult of application in this individual case, in consequence of the great difference in level—eleven or twelve feet—between the two. So great a disparity of surface would, as most people think, seriously interfere with the unity of the representation, even if flights of steps connected orchestra and stage.
X in [Plate I] represents part of the Stadium, which is about six hundred feet long. Here are remains of at least fifteen rows of marble seats. Probably foot races took place here as well as other forms of athletic exercise. All the maps of the Hieron represent the eastern end of the Stadium as semicircular, but so far as one can judge, the latest excavations indicate that it was square, and therefore I have so represented it.
PLATE XVIII—East end of Stadium
Assuming that the fifteen rows of seats extended from end to end on each side, and allowing a foot and a half for each person, the Stadium would seat twelve thousand spectators on its two sides, without computing the seats at the ends.