About 465 B.C., as the plays indicate,[139] a wooden scene-building was set up behind the orchestra, where the declivity had been.[140] The front of this was probably pierced by three doors, which might be conventionally thought of as leading to as many different buildings, and thus the number of entrances available for the actors’ use was more than doubled. This seemingly simple alteration produced profound changes in dramatic technique (see [pp. 228-31], below). The scene-building of this period must be thought of as quite unpretentious: its material was wood, it probably consisted of but a single story, and I think it had neither parascenia nor a columned proscenium ([Fig. 74]; see [p. 235], below). Its construction was flimsy enough for it to be capable of being easily rebuilt or remodeled to meet the scenic requirements of each drama, for of course it was not until long after the introduction of a scenic background that the plays were uniformly laid before a palace or temple. According to Aristotle, Sophocles was the inventor of scene-painting, and this is also said to have been invented during the lifetime of Aeschylus.[141] If these notices are correct, we must suppose that scene-painting was invented in the decade ending in 458 B.C. and so under theatrical conditions such as have just been described. This would mean that at first the scenery must have been attached directly to the scene-building itself and not inserted between the intercolumniations of the proscenium columns.
The next building in the precinct seems to have been the later temple, slightly south of the earlier one ([Fig. 32]). Its substructure was of breccia (conglomerate), and its erection must be assigned to about the last quarter of the fifth century B.C.[142] An image of Dionysus by Alcamenes found its home here.
Fig. 35.—Outline of the Oldest Walls of the Scene-Building in Athens
Of the same material are the foundations of the parascenia and of the front and back walls of the scene-building ([Fig. 35]),[143] and perhaps they are to be assigned to the same period as the temple which has just been mentioned.[144] The superstructure was still of wood, since the wide variation of scenic setting called for a background which could readily be adapted to changing needs. It is likely that the ten square holes in the rear foundation wall ([Fig. 38]) were intended to receive the supporting beams of such an adjustable structure.[145] Probably the scene-building now rose to a second story, a supposition which is confirmed by the use of the crane or μηχανή (“machine”) in the extant plays of this period (see [pp. 289] and [292 f.], below). At about the same time a proscenium (also of wood) was erected before the parascenia and the intermediate front of the scene-building (see [pp. 235 f.], below), and painted panels of scenery could be fastened between its intercolumniations. In my opinion, we must suppose that such a proscenium stood far enough removed from the front of the scene-building[146] so that, when there was no occasion to fill the intercolumniations with panels, a porch or portico was automatically produced (its floor probably raised a step or two above the orchestra level), in which semi-interior scenes might be enacted (see [pp. 238 f.], below). It has even been maintained that a projecting vestibule was sometimes built out from the center of the proscenium in order to provide additional space of a semi-private sort (see [pp. 236 f.], below and [Fig. 73]). Of course, no foundations for such a structure are found either at this period or subsequently, for the reason that permanent foundations for something which was only occasionally employed would have been unsightly and in the way for the greater part of the time. No fragments belonging to the orchestra of this period have been discovered (see next paragraph and [p. 73]). Moreover, the seating arrangements belong to the Lycurgus theater of the next century. Fortunately, however, there can be no doubt as to the relative position of these parts: it is apparent that the whole theater has been pushed some fifty feet farther north ([Fig. 32]), and the causes of this alteration are not hard to guess. In the first place, room was thus secured for the scene-building without occupying the space immediately in front of the earlier temple of Dionysus. In the second place, the slope of the Acropolis could now be employed more extensively as a support for the seats of the spectators. There are no means of determining whether this slight change in site was made at this period or about 465 B.C., when the first scene-building was erected.
Fig. 36