Читать книгу Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology - Charles K. Dillaway - Страница 18

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Theatres, so called from the Greek θεαομαι, to see, owe their origin to Bacchus.

That the theatres and amphitheatres were two different sorts of edifices, was never questioned, the former being built in the shape of a semicircle; the other generally oval, so as to make the same figure as if two theatres should be joined together. Yet the same place is often called by these names in several authors. They seem, too, to have been designed for quite different ends: the theatres for stage plays, the amphitheatres for the greater shows of gladiators, wild beasts, &c. The following are the most important parts of both.

Scena was a partition reaching quite across the theatre, being made either to turn round or draw up, to present a new prospect to the spectators.

Proscenium was the space of ground just before the scene, where the pulpitum stood, into which the actors came from behind the scenes to perform.

The middle part, or area of the amphitheatre, was called cavæ, because it was considerably lower than the other parts, whence perhaps, the name of pit in our play houses was borrowed; and arena, because it used to be strown with sand, to hinder the performers from slipping.

Pl. 2