Fig. 57.—The Scene-Building of the Theater at Oropus
Inscriptions in the island of Delos[213] show that contractors received payment for a scene-building and proscenium in 290 B.C. Panels (πίνακες) for the proscenium are mentioned in 282 B.C. Wood for the “logium of the scene-building” was paid for in 279 B.C. Extensive repairs and improvements seem to have been carried through in 274 B.C. Stone was provided for the parascenium in 269 B.C. Wood was used for “panels for the logium” in 180 B.C. These were probably used to close large openings in the episcenium (see the θυρώματα at Oropus on [p. 109], below). Most of these entries refer to wooden construction and antedate the extant remains in stone. There is no orchestra in the more restricted sense, but a gutter extends for about two-thirds of a circumference. If prolonged, this would just reach the front wall of the scene-building but would have a large segment subtended by the proscenium. The scene-building is an oblong with three doors in front and one in the rear. It is bounded on all four sides by a portico about nine and a third feet high. The front of this formed the proscenium, and it is clear that what was an ornament and certainly not a stage on the other three sides was primarily an ornament and certainly not a stage also on the fourth side. The oblong pillars, which were left plain on the other three sides of the building, on this side have their front surfaces rounded off into half-columns, and a vertical rim expedited the insertion of panels ([Fig. 72, 3]). There were no parascenia in the stone theater except as these were provided by the ends of the side porticos. The inscriptions, however, would seem to indicate that the situation had previously been different. From the front corners of the colonnade slanting doorways extended across the parodi. In the orchestra several bases stand in front of the proscenium, probably for the erection of statues or votive offerings.
There are theaters also at Delphi ([Fig. 26]), Megalopolis (Figs. [27] and [72, 1a]), and Sicyon, but it is not possible to discuss every theater on the Greek mainland. We must not, however, pass by the small theater at Oropus in northern Attica (Figs. [56 f.] and [72, 4]).[214] It stood in the precinct of Amphiaraus and dates from the first and second centuries B.C. The auditorium is almost completely destroyed; evidently the seats were always wooden bleachers. Five marble thrones, however, stand within the orchestra, an unusual arrangement which recurs at Priene (see [p. 113], below). Another peculiarity is that no orchestra, in the narrowest sense, is marked out, either in whole or in part. But if a circle is drawn through the seats of honor, as has been done in [Fig. 56], it falls just outside the proscenium. On the contrary, a circle as determined by the lowest row of seats cuts into the proscenium slightly. The parodi have been banked up so that their outer entrances are on a level with the top of the proscenium. The chief merit of this theater consists in the fact that the superior preservation of its scene-building and the presence of two inscriptions enable us to form a fairly clear picture of how a proscenium and an episcenium looked at this period. The front wall of the scene-building is pierced by one door; the side walls are continued so as to frame the proscenium but themselves turn sharply back along the parodi without forming projecting parascenia. The proscenium consisted of Doric half-columns and was eight and a quarter feet high. Its central intercolumniation was intended to be filled by a door, but the four on either side were so made as to be readily filled in with painted panels ([Fig. 72, 4]). Across the architrave ran an inscription: “... having been agonothete, dedicated the proscenium and the panels.” Another inscription ran along the top of the episcenium: “... having been priest, dedicated the scene-building and the doors.”[215] The last item refers to five (or three) large openings in the front wall of the episcenium. Similar doors are found at Ephesus, and they were doubtless used in connection with the crane (μηχανή, see [pp. 67 f.], above, and [p. 289], below). All in all, Oropus contributes very materially to our knowledge of the ancient theater.
Fig. 56.—Ground Plan of the Theater at Oropus in Attica
