conjecture and interpreted the structure rather as a representation of a proskenion of the more normal type. 229 But so far as I am aware this interpretation has not been received with favor. Certainly his suggestion that the original of this painting was a "Votivbild" dedicated in commemoration of the Niobe of Sophocles rests upon a series of unsubstantiated hypotheses.230

229Jetzt glaube ich richtiger zu urteilen, wenn ich die Säulenreihe als das Proskenion, die Wand dahinter aber als die Fassade der Skene betrachte. Wir haben also hier das älteste Säulenproskenion leibhaftig vor uns." Hallisches Winckelmannsprogramm, no. 24, p. 6.)

("Niobe,"

230 The relation of the Pompeian wall paintings to the Greek theater is problematic, but certainly these throw no light upon the architecture of the scenebuilding in the fifth century. Their bearing upon the problem of the later skene has been discussed most recently by Fiechter, op. cit., pp. 42 ff.

VIII

THE ORIGIN OF THE PROSKENION

The origin of the proskenion is a problem of basic importance. Although often waved lightly aside, it invariably rechallenges attention, for its solution is essential to a consistent and satisfactory account of the development of the scene-building. Consideration of this problem therefore will form a fitting conclusion to this brief study of the Greek theater of the fifth century. But we should remember that at the best any attempt to restore the scene-building and to trace its history during the pre-Lycurgean period must be based largely on conjecture. Fortunately, however, a few factors are known, while others may be assumed with a reasonable degree of assurance.

As was shown in chapter 3 (Fig. 20), the inner sides of the paraskenia of the fourth-century scene-building and the wall connecting them at the rear exactly fit the circle of the old terrace and the north-south diameter of the remaining portion of this terrace is the same as that of the fourth-century orchestra. From these facts the inferences were drawn that before the position of the theater was moved the scene-building had been erected both on and about the orchestra-terrace, and that further in its essential features it had served as the model for the building which later replaced it. This conclusion is supported by a study of the contemporary drama. For, as we saw in chapter 4, the skene, although doubtless at first a small and flimsy structure (cf. σkŋvý "hut," "booth") came to be, long before the close of the fifth century, a building of considerable substantialness and in part two stories in height. In this same chapter, moreover, it was pointed out that when the scene-building represented a house or

conjecture and interpreted the structure rather as a representation of a proskenion of the more normal type. 229 But so far as I am aware this interpretation has not been received with favor. Certainly his suggestion that the original of this painting was a "Votivbild" dedicated in commemoration of the Niobe of Sophocles rests upon a series of unsubstantiated hypotheses.230

229Jetzt glaube ich richtiger zu urteilen, wenn ich die Säulenreihe als das Proskenion, die Wand dahinter aber als die Fassade der Skene betrachte. Wir haben also hier das älteste Säulenproskenion leibhaftig vor uns." ("Niobe," Hallisches Winckelmannsprogramm, no. 24, p. 6.)

230 The relation of the Pompeian wall paintings to the Greek theater is problematic, but certainly these throw no light upon the architecture of the scenebuilding in the fifth century. Their bearing upon the problem of the later skene has been discussed most recently by Fiechter, op. cit., pp. 42 ff.

conjecture and interpreted the structure rather as a representation of a proskenion of the more normal type.229 But so far as I am aware this interpretation has not been received with favor. Certainly his suggestion that the original of this painting was a "Votivbild" dedicated in commemoration of the Niobe of Sophocles rests upon a series of unsubstantiated hypotheses.230

229Jetzt glaube ich richtiger zu urteilen, wenn ich die Säulenreihe als das Proskenion, die Wand dahinter aber als die Fassade der Skene betrachte. Wir haben also hier das älteste Säulenproskenion leibhaftig vor uns." ("Niobe," Hallisches Winckelmannsprogramm, no. 24, p. 6.)

230 The relation of the Pompeian wall paintings to the Greek theater is problematic, but certainly these throw no light upon the architecture of the scenebuilding in the fifth century. Their bearing upon the problem of the later skene has been discussed most recently by Fiechter, op. cit., pp. 42 ff.