Note 512 — Chapter III · THE THEATRE (continued 2)

[It is also argued (Noack, Philologus, 1899, 1; Robert, Gött. Gel. Anz. 1902, 418; Dörpfeld, Ath. Mitth. 1903, p. 403) that, because in all the Roman and Graeco-Roman theatres, where the actors stood on the logeion, the back-scene which formed their background was decorated with columns, while the proscenium was not so decorated, it follows that when the proscenium was so decorated, i.e. in the earlier periods, it and not the wall above and behind the logeion must have been the actors’ background, and the actors must have played in front of the proscenium. But this is no proof at all, unless it is assumed that decorations were only employed to make backgrounds for actors, and only disused because not wanted for this purpose. This is neither likely in itself, nor is it confirmed by anything in the evidence.

Dörpfeld also argues (Ath. Mitth. 1903, p. 396) that the grooves for wheels, of which traces are found leading out of the door in the back-scene on to the logeion at Eretria, prove that the logeion was used by gods only, as ordinary personages in chariots came only through the side entrances into the orchestra. But all that can be argued from these grooves is that the logeion was used for something on wheels, whether chariots or the ekkyklema, which Dörpfeld rejects. There is nothing to show who used the vehicle, whatever it may have been. If an actor could do so when representing a god, he could do so when representing a mortal. Cp. Fossum, Amer. J. Arch. 1898, p. 187; cp. P. Gardner, J. Hell. Stud. 1899, p. 252.]