Fig. 58.—Ground Plan of the Graeco-Roman Theater at Termessus
Beginning with the first century B.C. the only kind of Greek theater which was newly built was what Dörpfeld calls the Graeco-Roman type, cf. the theaters at Termessus ([Fig. 58])[216] and Aspendus in Asia Minor. During this period several Hellenistic theaters (e.g., those at Priene, Magnesia, Tralles, Pergamum [[Fig. 28]], Athens [?], Syracuse, Pompeii, etc.) were remodeled to the Graeco-Roman type. That this is a Greek and not a Roman form of theater is proved by the fact that its orchestra, though no longer a complete circle, yet exceeded a semicircumference (see [p. 77], above). These theaters had a stage varying from eight to ten feet in height and from eleven and a half to twenty in depth. The scene-buildings were of three stories—hyposcenium, logium, and theologium ([Fig. 24]). The first presented to the spectator an undecorated wall with doors leading into the orchestra; the second was terminated by a proscenium with columns and statues. The proscenium was seldom so simple as in the earlier theaters but was an ornamental façade with projections and recesses ([Fig. 59]), which added materially to the area of the stage.
Fig. 59.—The Proscenium of the Graeco-Roman Theater at Ephesus
Fig. 64.—The Theater at Priene as Seen from the Southeast
Hellenistic theaters could be remodeled either (a) by building a new (undecorated) wall in front of the old proscenium and roofing the two over to form a stage or (b) by moving back the front wall of the scene-building slightly and constructing a stage between this and the old proscenium.[217] In either case, a new (decorated) proscenium would be erected at the back of the stage. In the latter case, the columns of the old proscenium would either be removed and a blank surface built in their stead or they would be walled up. As already explained (see [p. 86], above) this was done because the floor of the stage was thought of as representing earth or a street. At Priene ([Fig. 64]) the Hellenistic columns were left standing, but this is the sole instance of a Graeco-Roman hyposcenium having columns.