The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1901-01-19
The Interesting Old Theatre Of
DiODlsOS
Many Objects of Inter
est at Acropolis.
The Immensity of the Old Greek
Ruins.

Basic, Switzerland, January i, toVi'
Ne found the hotels in Athens the
best in the world. They support corps
OF trained servants unsurpassed In any
locality; and the comforts and convent
ences are unequallsd anywhere with the
xcsptlon of there being no lift; but they
say there Is not an elevator in Greece.
AS result Of the ease and Subtraction
experienced, one would gladly settle
down In Athens indsii n itely, especially
since the opportunities for study are un-
surpassed. There are American, Eng
fish and German colleges founded for
the purpose Of Greek learning and inves-
tigation, and the American colony there
soon puts you at ease with your sur
roundings and makes application enjoy
able ana not difficult.
The very first morning after our ar
rival we had an early cup OF coffee and
set out for the Acropolis by the way OF
Byron's new monument through the
Arch of Hadrian which was built to
mark the boundary of ancient Athens,
called the City of Theseus, the new city
being Indianapolis. On one side Of tho
arch there is this inscription. "This Is
the Athens of Theseus. the first city;'
and on the other side, ''rhis Is the city
of Hadrian, not OF Tbeseus." We The n
went past the Temple OF Olympus, also
OF Roman tImea and approached the
Acropolis on the side OF the Theatre OF
Dionysos and the Odeon OF Herodes At
items, where we stopDed to examine the
immense structures and study their ar
rangement We were particularly fas-
cInated with the former and sat down
in the big marble orchestra chairs, form
erly reserved for the priests, where we
could imagine the great auditorium filled
with thirty thousand spectators witness
ing the presentation OF the masterpieces
OF Aeschylus, Sophocles, Eu ripides ana
Arlstophanes which were first introduced
here and excited the ad miration and de-
light OF the Athenian populace.
The 1hsatre OF Dionysos Is one OF the
most Interesting objects In Athens. It
was an open-air theatre with no roof
and the stage was separated from the
large semi.c,rcular mar le-paved orches.
ira by reliefs connected with the scenery
of early Grecian times. The former lie
comparatively small since the Greek the
aires were very different from those Of
the modsTns, the stage being merely q
players booth usually on level with the
ground where one or two OF the principal
actors SPOKE, while the chorus filed the
front OF the orchestra called the pros
cenium; in a word their orchestra was q
most Identical with the stage in the thea
tres OF today. The Theatre of DioDysos
itself was hewn out of the solid rock In
cut from stone while the orchestra chairs
Ore OF Pentelio marble, the centre enc
being an object OF envy to any housew life
or lover OF old furniture. This was re.
served for the priest OF Dionysos as is
seen from the inscription; and beside It
there are those for the other priests,
scarcely inferior. The other orchestra
chairs which occupy the whole of tins
front row all around are not to be de-
spised, for all OF them, though of marble.
are easy chairs in every sense of the
word. Above the priest chairs there are
thrones for sovereigns instead OF Royal
Boxes. Dispersed throughout the theatre
were statues Of tragic and comic poets,
those of Aeschlyus, Solohcles, etc, etc
their bases being still preserved with the
names of the persons they represented.
Aeschylus who, had fought in the Battle
of Salamis and wrote the play. "The