XXVII. [5] In the Epidaurian sanctuary there is a theatre (1) which in my opinion is most especially worth seeing. It is true that in size the theatre of Megalopolis in Arcadia surpasses it, and that in splendour the Roman theatres far transcend all the theatres in the world ; but for symmetry and beauty what architect could vie with Polyclitus ? For it was Polyclitus who made this theatre and the round building also.

Translated with a commentary by J.G. Frazer - Macmillan and co, London (1913)

(1) This, the best preserved and most beautiful Greek theatre which survives, lies at the foot of a mountain (supposed to be Mount Cynortium, see § 7), about a quarter of a mile to the south-east of the sanctuary of Aesculapius. It was excavated by the Greek Archaeological Society in 1881-1882.

The auditorium or part reserved for the spectators is built on the slope of the hill and looks to the north-west. It includes fifty-five tiers of seats made of white limestone. A broad horizontal passage (diazoma) divides the auditorium into two sections, an upper and a lower ; there are twenty-one tiers of seats in the upper section and thirty-four tiers in the lower. The lower part is divided into twelve wedge-shaped sections (kerkides) by thirteen staircases, each 2 feet wide. In the upper part, above the diazoma, the number of staircases is doubled, so that each wedge-shaped section in the lower part corresponds to two such sections in the upper part. The seats consist, as usual, of mere benches without backs, except in three of the rows, where they are provided with backs. One of these three rows is the lowest row of all, at the edge of the orchestra ; the other two are respectively above and below the diazoma. But even in these better rows the seats are not separated from each other by arms, like the chairs in the front row of the theatre at Athens ; nor do they bear inscriptions, since they were not, like the chairs at Athens, reserved for official personages. The highest row of seats is 193 feet from the orchestra, and 74 feet above it. Behind it a passage, 7 feet wide, ran along the outside wall of the building. Of this outside wall, about 2 feet thick, only the foundations remain. The two retaining walls which supported the auditorium at its two ends are built of common («poros») stone ; on the side of the orchestra each of them ended in a plinth which served as the pedestal of a statue. On the top of each of the retaining walls there ran a balustrade of limestone. The auditorium is separated from the orchestra by a passage or rather a paved channel, into which the water from the upper part of the theatre drained. At each end of this channel there are two holes, through which the water passed into a subterranean aqueduct.

The orchestra has the shape of a complete circle. It is surrounded by a ring flagged with stones, which does not, however, rise above the surface. Within this ring the orchestra proper, a circular space of 24,32 metres (79 feet 9 inches) in diameter, was not paved but merely covered with beaten earth. Exactly in the middle of the orchestra a round stone, 2 feet 4 inches in diameter, is fixed into the earth. In its upper surface, which is flush with the floor of the orchestra, there is a deep round hole, in which the altar of Dionysus may have been fastened. The circular shape of the orchestra is particularly interesting, as this was perhaps the original form of all Greek orchestras, but in no other existing Greek theatre has it been preserved entire. There are, however, traces of a circular orchestra in the Dionysiac theatre at Athens.

Of the stage enough remains to allow us to reconstruct its plan with tolerable certainty. Close to the circle of the orchestra extends a row of stones sunk in the ground, which served to support the hyposkenion or front wall of the stage. This front wall of the stage was adorned with eighteen half columns of the Ionic order, each with a diameter of .33 metre. None of the columns is standing, but the places where they stood can still be seen, and fragments of them have been found. The height of the wall was 3.55 metres or 12 Greek feet exactly. It thus agrees with the statement of Vitruvius (VIII. 8) that the height of the Greek stage was not less than 10 feet and not more than 12 feet. The front wall of the stage was perhaps adorned with sculpture as well as with half columns ; for Mr. Cavvadias found two statues in the space between the orchestra and the base of the wall. One was a statue of Aesculapius, the other an archaistic statue of a woman, perhaps the goddess Health. Pollux tells us (IV. 124) that the hyposkenion or front wall of the stage was commonly decorated with columns and statuary. In the middle of the front wall of the stage there was a door, exactly opposite the centre of the orchestra. The depth of the stage-buildings from front to back is about 9 metres (30 feet), but of this only perhaps the front portion (2.41 metres deep) was the actual stage. At each end of the stage there are two small projecting wings, of quadrangular shape, in each of which there is a door. In Roman times these doors were apparently disused, and in their place statues were set up, the pedestals of which may still be seen. An inscription on the eastern of the two pedestals proves that it supported a statue of Livia. A ramp or inclined plane led up to the stage at elther end. In the front wall of each of these ramps, close to the Projecting wing of the stage, there is a door. On each side of the theatre, a broad passage called the parodos led into the orchestra, being bounded on the one side by the retaining wall of the auditorium, and on the other by the front wall of the ramp which gave access to the stage. At the outer end of each of these passages (parodoi) there was a door. Spectators entered by these doors, passed on into the orchestra, and from it ascended by one or other of the staircases to their seats.

All the stage-buildings are constructed of common («poros») stone. In the Roman period they were restored, but the original plan seems to have been retained unaltered. According to Mr. Cavvadias, the foundations of the stage-buildings, including the front wall of the stage, are clearly of the Greek period, and are entirely in harmony with the general plan of the theatre. In the middle ages the stage-buildings were rebuilt, probably to serve as dwelling-houses. At present they rise but little above the ancient level of the soil. Down the length of the central and largest of these buildings there is a row of five square stones sunk at regular intervals in the ground ; they served as bases for unfluted columns which supported the roof. At each end of this central building there are the remains of two chambers of which the purpose is not known.

In recent years Dr. Dörpfeld has propounded a theory that in Greek theatres the actors acted, not on a raised stage, but on the level of the orchestra, and that the stage-buildings in existing Greek theatres were not stages (logeia) on which the actors acted, but merely backgrounds in front of which they appeared. But this theory contradicts (1) the express testimony of Vitruvius (V. 7), of Pollux (who says, IV. 127, that the actors ascended the stage from the orchestra by ladders or staircases), and of other ancient writers who speak of actors ascending and descending (Aristophanes, Knights, 149, Wasps, 1342, 1514, Eccles. 1152 ; Schol. on Aristophanes, Knights, 149 ; Plato, Symposium, p. 194 b) ; (2) the evidence of Greek vases, on which the actors are plainly depicted acting on a raised stage adorned in front with columns like the stages at Epidaurus and Oropus (Baumeister's Denkmäler, p. 1751 sqq.) ; (3) the evidence of existing Greek theatres in which may be seen structures bearing all the outward appearance of having been stages and answering fairly to Vitruvius's description of the Greek stage ; (4) the evidence of a Delian inscription of the year 282 B.C. in which the stage-building is definitely called the .loyeîov or place where the actors spoke (Bull. de Corresp. Hellén. 18 (1894), pp. 162, 165 sqq. ; O. Navarre, Dionysos, p. 307 sqq.) ; and (5) the rules of probability, since it is very unlikely (a) that substantial structures, deep as well as long, such as we find in existing Greek theatres, should have been built merely as a background, when a simple wall would have answered the purpose ; (b) that the actors should have been concealed from many of the spectators, especially from those who occupied the best seats in the front row, by the interposition of the chorus, as they must have been if the chorus intervened between them and the audience, as Dr. Dôrpfeld supposes. On all these grounds Dr. Dôrpfeld's theory may be rejected, at least until he supports it by much stronger arguments than he has hitherto adduced.

We learn from Pausanias that the architect of the theatre was Polyclitus. This was no doubt the same Polyclitus who built the Rotunda ; and as the Polyclitus who built the Rotunda was the younger artist of that name (see above p. 248), it follows that the theatre was built about the middle of the fourth century B.C.

As to the Epidaurian theatre see Praktika tês Archaiol. Etairias, 1881, p. 15 sq., and Appendix, pp. 1-40 ; id., 1882, PP. 75-77 ; id., 1883, pp. 46-48 ; Cavvadias, Fouilles d'Epidaure, 1. pp. 10-13 ; Kawerau, in Baumeister's Denkmäler, p. 1738 sqq.; K. Dumon, Le théâtre de Polyclite. Reconstruction d'après un module (Paris, 1889) ; v. Christ, «Das Theater des Polyklet in Epidauros», Sitzungsberichte d. philosoph. philolog. u. histor. Classe d. k. b.Akad. d. Wissen. zu München, 1894, pp. 1-52 ; Baedeker,3 p. 252 ; Guide-Joanne, 2. p. 231 sq. Dr. Dörpfeld's theory of the absence of a stage in Greek theatres, though promulgated about ten years ago, has not yet been fully explained and defended by him, but he has incidentally expounded it on several occasions. See A. Müller, Die griechische Bühnenalterthümer, p. 109 note ; Bull. de Corr. Hellén. 18 (1894), p., 167 sq.; O. Navarre, Dionysos, p. 310 sq.; Berliner philologische Wochenschrift, 22 December, 1894, p. 1645 sqq. ; id., 12 January 1895, p. 65 sqq. ; id., 26 January 1895, p. 144 sqq. His theory has been combated by Mr. A. E. Haigh (The Attic Theatre, p. 141) ; Prof. v. Christ (in the dissertation cited above) ; K. Dumon (Etudes d'art Grec (Paris, 1894), p. 15 sqq.); and O. Navarre (Dionysos (Paris, 1895), pp. 87 sqq., 306 sqq.) On the other hand the existence of a stage in Greek theatres of the fifth century B.C. has been denied by Mr. J. Pickard («The relative position of actors and chorus in the Greek theatre of the fifth century B.C.», American Journal of Philology, 14 (1893), pp. 68-89, 198-215, 273-304) ; E. Bodensteiner («Skenische Fragen», Jahrbücher für classische Philologie, Supplementband 19 (Leipzig, 1893), pp. 639-808) ; and K. Weissmann (Die scenische Aufführung der griech. Dramen des 5. Jahrhunderts, München, 1893).

The excavations of 1893 laid baye a large square building opposite the theatre. It includes colonnades and chambers, and resembles both in size and internal arrangement the great gymnasium beside the stadium. See Praktika tês Archaiol. Etairias, 1893, p. 10.