Note 496 — Chapter III · THE THEATRE (continued 2)

Fougères, Mantinée et l’Arcadie, pp. 165 ff. According to Dörpfeld’s theory that the proscenium was the back-scene, these lowest seats would be on a level with the roof of the back-scene, which is absurd. His argument that in cases where a removal of the lower rows or steps of seats is certain (as at Assos, Pergamon, and Delphi), we may assume that the theatre was converted from the supposed stageless Hellenistic type to the Asiatic, is most unconvincing. Why were the rows not similarly removed at Priene and Magnesia, though the high stage was erected there? If he can suppose that in these cases seats were allowed to remain which were bad for dramatic performances, why not in other cases?