The Greek theater and its drama

by Roy C. Flickinger

It will be observed that five theaters appear in both tables, and that for three of them the figures do not altogether agree. This is to be explained as due to differences in the manner of taking the measurements. Thus, for Termessus, Fiechter gives for the depth 4 m. (Dörpfeld’s figure) and 5.5 m. Similarly, for Ephesus he gives 6 m. and 9 m., and explains that the former does not include the socle projections. Evidently Fiechter still believes that the scaenae frons in Vitruvius’ description of the Greek theater ran behind the proscenium and did not include it (see [p. 76, n. 2], above). The same difference of interpretation probably accounts for 6 m. (Fiechter) and 3.50 m. (Dörpfeld) being reported as the depth of the stage at Patara.

A similar opportunity for variance of measurement occurs also in connection with the orchestra. In my opinion, Vitruvius used this term in its broadest sense, viz., as including all the space between the lowest tier of seats[172] ([Fig. 43]). Fiechter’s measurement of the Hellenistic orchestra at Priene is given on this basis. Sometimes, however, the term is used with reference to the space bounded by the gutter.[173] Fiechter states that this was his method in measuring the Hellenistic orchestras at Ephesus and Delos. The discrepancy in the reports concerning the orchestra at Termessus (9.90 m. and 11 m.) is also to be explained thus.

But whatever allowance may be made for variations of this sort, I think that whoever impartially examines these figures with the expectation of obtaining a clear answer to the problem involved will be doomed to disappointment. Vitruvius’ Greek stage should range between ten and twelve feet (Roman) in height, or 2.959 m. and 3.55 m., respectively. Only one Graeco-Roman stage and one Hellenistic proscenium in both tables fall within these limits.[174] On the other hand, though Dörpfeld is clearly right in maintaining that the proscenia at Eretria and Oropus are too shallow to accommodate the entire histrionic action of a play, Fiechter makes it appear that Vitruvius’ rule that the stage of the Greek theater should be about three-tenths of the orchestra radius in depth is satisfied more closely by the Hellenistic proscenium than by the Graeco-Roman stage. It should be emphasized, however, that he obtains this result only by shifting the value of the word “orchestra,” taking it now in the largest and now in a narrower sense.

Fiechter has tried to utilize Vitruvius’ diagram still further by pointing out that in Vitruvius’ Greek theater the distance from the center of the orchestra to the front wall of the stage (the hyposcenium) plus the depth of the stage, i.e., the distance from the center of the orchestra to the scaenae frons, ought to equal one radius ([Fig. 43]). The figures in the first two columns of his table apparently show that this condition is met by the Hellenistic theaters and is not met by the Graeco-Roman theaters. But here again we encounter a variable quantity caused by a dispute as to whether the proscenium is to be counted a part of the scaenae frons (see above). In the Patara theater the distance from the center of the orchestra to the hyposcenium is 8.50 m. (14.50 m. - 6.00 m., Fiechter’s figures), and the depth of the stage according to Dörpfeld, who measures from the proscenium, is 3.50 m. Therefore, the total distance is 12 m. as against a radius of 11.85 m. Again, in the Termessus theater the distance from the center of the orchestra to the hyposcenium is 7.10 m. (12.60 m. - 5.50 m., Fiechter’s figures), and the depth of the stage is 4 m. according to Dörpfeld, measuring as before. Therefore, the total distance is 11.10 m. as against a radius of 11 m. according to the largest (Vitruvian) measure of the orchestra. These correspondences are close enough so as not to be unworthy of comparison with those obtained by Fiechter.

In my opinion, the net result of the above must be the frank recognition that such data concerning the Greek theaters as are at present known to us do not afford convincing proof as to the type which Vitruvius was describing. Nor need this conclusion surprise us, if we accept Dörpfeld’s theory that Pompey’s theater was the first example of the Graeco-Roman type. We have no information concerning the Mitylene theater, upon which Pompey’s building was modeled, nor concerning the number or extent of its departures from that model. But any theater in Asia Minor at that time must have belonged to the Hellenistic type. Consequently, a certain resemblance between Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman theaters was inevitable. If Vitruvius was describing an old type, viz., the Hellenistic, its variations in regard to the particulars just discussed must have been too great for him to be able to find any single formula which would comprehend them all, and he had to content himself with recording a theoretical ideal. Or if he was describing a contemporaneous but developing type, viz., the Graeco-Roman, we must suppose that his authority was not sufficient to secure the adoption of his rules by later architects.

Are we, then, unable to determine which type of Greek theater was the subject of Vitruvius’ discussion? I think that we can, but that we must depend upon other arguments. I mention a few of the many which have been advanced: (a) In the Hellenistic and earlier Greek theaters the orchestra, in the narrowest sense (see [p. 83, n. 2], above), usually formed a complete circle, or at least, if its boundary was not actually continued into a complete circle, there was room for one without infringing upon the proscenium. Examples of this are found at Epidaurus ([Fig. 46]), Athens ([Fig. 38]), Eretria ([Fig. 53]), Oropus ([Fig. 56]), Magnesia, Piraeus, etc. Fiechter denies this (op. cit., p. 65), but only because he chooses to understand the word “orchestra” in a larger sense. Now though Vitruvius used the term in the largest sense (measured from the lowest seats, see [p. 83], above) he nowhere informs us what relative size the most restricted orchestra should or might have as compared with the largest space passing under that name.[175] But his directions require the stage to intrude so far upon his orchestra that it is apparent that, if the same proportions were to be observed as in the Hellenistic theaters, there could be no such full orchestra with a smaller diameter. This is also true of Graeco-Roman structures, and in this important respect they resemble Vitruvius’ Greek theater and the Hellenistic theaters do not.

b) The logium of Graeco-Roman theaters is never supported by columns along its front wall. The only exception to this statement is found at Priene (Figs. [63 f.]), where the columns of the Hellenistic proscenium were left standing when the theater was remodeled. The reason why columns were not set in this place is obvious—the floor of the Graeco-Roman stage naturally was thought of as representing earth or a street and it was manifestly improper for either to be supported on columns.[176] On the contrary, so fundamental an aesthetic principle would have been violated if the actors had regularly appeared upon the top of the Hellenistic proscenium. But there is no doubt that Vitruvius’ Greek theater had a stage for actors. It is, therefore, more likely that this corresponds to the Graeco-Roman logium than to the colonnade-like proscenium of the Hellenistic theaters. Moreover, the columns of the Hellenistic proscenia were in some cases unmistakably equipped to hold painted panels. But if the actors had stood on top of the Hellenistic proscenium, this scenery would have been beneath their feet and not behind them!

c) Vitruvius discussed the theatrum Latinum in chapter 6 of his fifth book and his theatrum Graecorum in chapter 7. The former chapter is longer than the latter by more than a half, and the latter begins with these words: “In the theaters of the Greeks not all things are to be done in the same way” (as in the Roman theaters). The implication is plain that some of the directions in chapter 6 are to be understood as applying also to the Greek theater of chapter 7, and of course the particulars involved would be those which are not modified by the discussion in chapter 7. One of these is the injunction that, for acoustic reasons, the roof of the portico at the top of the auditorium shall be of the same height as the scene-building (v. 6. 4). The scene-building is never built so high as this in Hellenistic theaters, but the rule is often observed in Graeco-Roman and purely Roman theaters.[177]