[172] It is easy to see why he should do so. When Hellenistic theaters were made over into Graeco-Roman structures, several rows of seats were often removed, resulting in a drop of several feet between the auditorium and the orchestra (see [p. 116], below, and [Fig. 24]). So distinct a line of demarcation could scarcely be ignored in favor of any less clearly marked boundary. In fact, the orchestra in the narrowest sense (see next note) was sometimes not indicated at all in the Graeco-Roman theaters.
[173] The word is applied also to a still more restricted space which in some Graeco-Roman and most earlier theaters is marked off by a circular boundary.
[174] Of course, Dörpfeld and Fiechter cite only a fraction of the instances available (others are given in Puchstein’s table, op. cit., p. 7), but it is to be inferred that they bring forward those which are most favorable to their own position and most difficult for their opponents to explain. For example, the proscenium of the Hellenistic theater in Athens was about thirteen feet (English) high, which exceeds Vitruvius’ maximum. Consequently Fiechter says nothing about it. In general, the Hellenistic proscenia were higher than the Graeco-Roman stages.
[175] Doubtless for the reason that in the pitlike Graeco-Roman orchestra the smaller circle really was not needed and often was not indicated (see [p. 83, n. 1]).
[176] Cf. Dörpfeld, Athenische Mittheilungen, XXVIII (1903), 403 and 405.
[177] Cf. Bethe, Jahrbuch d. arch. Instituts, XV (1900), 71 f., and Dörpfeld, ibid., XVI (1901), 35 f.
[178] Cf. Athenische Mittheilungen, XXVIII (1903), 424 ff. The arguments advanced in this article are reaffirmed as still valid in Jahrbuch d. arch. Instituts, Anzeiger, XXX (1915), 99 ff.
[179] Cf. Hermes, XXI (1886), 603.
[180] Cf. “The Greek Stage According to the Extant Dramas,” Transactions of the American Philological Association, XXII (1891), 5 ff. Similar results were obtained by White, “The ‘Stage’ in Aristophanes,” Harvard Studies, II (1891), 159 ff.
[181] Fig. 45 is from a photograph belonging to the University of Chicago. The inscription beneath the seat reads: “Of the priest of Dionysus Eleuthereus.”