The Theatre of DionysusTravlos, 1971, p. 537 (or Theatre of Dionysos, ) is an ancient Greek theatre in Athens. It is built on the south slope of the Acropolis hill, originally part of the sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus (Dionysus the LiberatorC. Calame, Aetiological Performance and Consecration in Taplin and Wyles, The Pronomos Vase and Its Context Oxford, 2010, p. 70, "As a simple aetiological hypothesis, one can imagine a threefold etymological pun on the epiklesis of the god to whom the satyric drama is dedicated: Dionysos Eleuthereus, Liberator of men who are free, coming from Eleutherai."). The first orchestra terrace was constructed on the site around the mid- to late-sixth century BC, where it hosted the City Dionysia. The theatre reached its fullest extent in the fourth century BC under the epistates of Lycurgus, when it would have had a capacity of up to 25,000,Plato, Symposium 175e, if taken as a reference to the theatre suggests it could seat 30,000. Pickard-Cambridge, 1988, p. 263 dismisses this and states "[a]s reconstructed by Lycurgus, the theatre can have held 14,000-17,000 spectators." and was in continuous use down to the Roman period. The theatre then fell into decay in the Byzantine era and was not identified,First correctly located by R. Chandler in Travels in Greece Oxford, 1776. Identified as the Theatre of Bacchus. excavatedChristina Papastamati-von Moock, The Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus in Athens: New Data and Observations on its 'Lycurgan' Phase in Csapo et al, 2014, summarizes the archaeological literature p. 16 n.2 and restored to its current condition until the nineteenth century.Archaeology began in earnest at the site with A. Rousopoulos in 1861. Arch. Ephm. 1862, pp.94-102
Sanctuary and first theatre
The cult of Dionysus was introduced to Attica in the Archaic period with the earliest representation of the God dating to c. 580 BC.A Dinos by the Sophilos Painter, BM 1971.1101.1, C. Isler-Kerényi, Dionysos in Archaic Greece: An Understanding Through Images, 2007, p. 6 The City Dionysia (or Great Dionysia) began sometime in the Peisistratid era.Pickard-Cambridge, 1988, p. 58 Thespis' first recorded performance was in 534 BC, see Simon, 1982, p. 3 and was reorganised during the Kleisthenic reforms of the 520s BC.C. Sourvinou-Inwood, Tragedy and Athenian Religion, Lexington, 2003. p. 103. However, W. R. Connor, City Dionysia and Athenian Democracy 1990 argues the Dionysia was created during the Kleisthenic reform. The first dramatic performances likely took place in the Agora where it is recorded that the wooden bleachers set up for the plays (ikria) collapsed.Schol. ad Ar. Thesm. 395-6, Suda s.v. ikria. J. Scullion, Three Studies in Athenian Dramaturgy, 1994, p. 54-65 This disaster perhaps prompted the removal of dramatic production to the Sanctuary of Dionysus on the Akropolis, which took place by the time of the 70th Olympiad in 499/496 BC.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 14?It is a point of contention whether the irkia that collapsed were at the Agora or the Akropolis. At the temenos the earliest structures were the Older Temple, which housed the xoanon of Dionysus, a retaining wall to the northDesignated H-H in the archaeological literature. It was perhaps both a retaining wall for the orchestra and peribolos for the sanctuary. Travlos, 1971, p. 537 and slightly further up the hill a circularDorpfeld conjectured a circular orchestra of 24-27m from the arc of masonry discovered. However, Carlo Anti posited a quadrilateral shape to the choral space and a polygonal auditorium. See Powers, 2014, p. 13 ff for discussion of the competing views. terrace that would have been the first orchestra of the theatre. The excavations by Wilhelm Dörpfeld identified the foundations of this terrace as a section of polygonal masonry,Designated SM1 in the archaeological literature, see Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 6 indicating an archaic date. It is probable there was an altar, or thymele, in the centre of the orchestra.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 9 No formally constructed stone seating existed at this point; only ikria and the natural amphitheatre of the hill served as a theatron.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 11-14. Recent excavation has revealed post-holes for ikria, see R. Frederiksen et al, The Architecture of the Ancient Greek Theatre, 2015, pp.52-55.
Besides the archaeological evidence, there is the literary testimonia of the contemporary plays from which there are clues as to the theatre's construction and scenography. For this earliest phase of the theatre there is the work of Aeschylus, who flourished in the 480–460s BC. The dramatic action of the plays does point to the presence of a skene or background scenery of some description, the strongest evidence of which is from the Oresteia that requires a number of entrances and exits from a palace door.O. Taplin, The Stagecraft of Aeschylus, Oxford, 1977, p. 459 Whether this was a temporary or permanent wooden structure or simply a tent remains unclear since there is no physical evidence for a skene building until the Periclean phase.C. Papastamati-von Moock, The Wooden Theatre of Dionysos Eleuthereus in Athens, in R. Frederiksen et al, The Architecture of the Ancient Greek Theatre, 2015. However, the hypothesis of a skene is not contradicted by the known archaeology of the site. The Oresteia also refers to a roof from which a watchman looks out, a step to the palace and an altar.O. Taplin, The Stagecraft of Aeschylus, Oxford, 1977, Appendix B, for a description of the stage resources. It is sometimes argued that an ekkyklema, a wheeled trolly, was used for the revelation of the bodies by Clytemnestra at line 1372 in Agamemnon, amongst other passages. If so it was an innovation of Aeschylus' stagecraft. However, Oliver Taplin questions the seemingly inconsistent use of the device for the dramatic passages claimed for it, and doubts whether the mechanism existed in Aeschylus' lifetime.O. Taplin, The Stagecraft of Aeschylus, Oxford, 1977, p. 443
Periclean theatre
The substantial changes to the theatre in the late fifth century BC are conventionally called Periclean since they coincide with the completion of the Odeon of Pericles immediately adjacent and the wider Periclean building programme. However, there is no strong evidence to say the theatre's reconstruction was of the same group as the other works or from Pericles' lifetime. The new plan of the theatre consisted of a slight displacement of the performance area northward, a banking up of the auditorium, the addition of retaining walls to the west, east and north, a long hall south of the skene and abutting the Older Temple and a New Temple which was said to have contained a chryselephantine sculpture of Dionysus by Alkamenes.Pausanias 1.20.3 The seating during this phase was probably still in the form of ikria but it may be the case that some stone seating had been installed. Inscribed blocks, displaced but preserved in the retaining walls, with fifth-century BC epigraphy on them might indicate dedicated or numbered stone seats.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 20. See also O. A. W. Dilke, The Greek Theatre Cavea, The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 43 (1948), pp. 125-192. The use of breccia in the foundations of the west wall and the long hall gives a terminus ante quem of the early fifth century BC, and a likely date of the last half of that century when its use was becoming common. Also the last recorded statue of Alkamenes was 404 BC, again placing the works in the late 400s.The dating of the New Temple is rather more problematic than that. See Kenneth D. S. Lapatin, Chryselephantine Statuary in the Ancient Mediterranean World, 2001, pp.98-105. Pickard-Cambridge argues that the reconstruction was piecemeal over the last half of the century into the period of Kleophon.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 17
From the evidence of the plays there is a larger corpus to draw upon during this most vital period of Greek drama. Sophocles, Aristophanes and Euripides were all performed at the Theatre of Dionysus. From these we can deduce that stock sets may have been in use to meet the requirements of the plays such that the Periclean reconstruction included post-holes built into the terrace wall to provide sockets for movable scenery.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 69 The skene itself was likely unchanged from the theatre's earlier phase, with a wooden structure of at most two floors and a roof.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 23 It is also possible that the stage building would have had three doors, with two in the projecting side-wings or paraskenia.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 24 Mechane or geranos were used for the introduction of divine beings or flights through the air as in Medea or Aristophanes' Birds.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 68
One point of contention has been the existence or otherwise of the prothyron or columned portico on a skene that represents the interior spaces of temples or palaces.K. Rees, The Function of the ΠΡΟθΥΡΟΝ in the Production of Greek Plays Classical Philology, April 1915, Vol. X N.2, pp.117-138 It is a supposition partly supported by the texts, but also from vase painting believed to be depictions of plays. Aeschylus Choēphóroi 966 and Aristophanes' Wasps 800-4 both refer directly to a prothyron, while the parodos-chant in Euripides' Ion makes indirect reference to one.Ion lines 184-236 The mourning Niobe loutrophoros in NaplesNaples H.3246 inv.82267. See A.D. Trendall, The Mourning Niobe, Revue Archéologique Nouvelle Série, Fasc. 2, Études de céramique et de peinture antiques offertes à Pierre Devambez, 2 (1972), pp. 309-316. Perhaps related to Aeschylus' Niobe. and the Boston volute krater,The Boston Thersites Krater. Boston 03.804, Trendall RVAp II, p. 472, no.17/75.Apulian, resembles the Varrese Painter, c.340 BC. Perhaps related to Chaeremon's Achilles, See A.D. Trendall, T.B.L. Webster, Illustrations of Greek Drama, Phaidon, 1971, III.4,2. for example, both depict a prothyron. Pickard-Cambridge questions if this was permanent structure since interior scenes were rare in tragedy.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 99 The evidence from the plays for the use of an ekkyklema in this period is ambiguous; passages such as Acharnians 407 ff or Hippolytus 170-1 suggest but don't require the device. The argument for its use depends largely on reference to the ekkyklema in later lexographers and scholiasts.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 100 ff
Lycurgan theatre
Lycurgus was a leading figure in Athenian politics in the mid- to late-fourth century prior to the Macedonian supremacy, and controller of the state's finances. In his role as epistate of the Theatre of Dionysus he was also instrumental in transforming the theatre into the stone-built structure seen today. There is a question of how far up the hill the stone theatron of this phase went; either all the way up to the rock of the Akropolis (the kataome) or only as far as the peripatos.Pickard-Cambridge, 1946, p. 138