§ 8 Other Mechanical Contrivances
Several other devices in use upon the Attic stage are briefly mentioned by Pollux, but his descriptions are so meagre and obscure that little can be inferred as to their exact character. Charon’s Steps was a contrivance for bringing ghosts and spectres up from the other world. It can hardly have been anything else than a flight of steps leading out upon the stage from underneath. The ‘anapiesma’ was used by river-gods, Furies, and other subterranean beings for the purpose of appearing above ground. The word ‘anapiesma’ seems to mean something which was pushed back. It is probable, therefore, that the contrivance was merely the ordinary trap-door of the modern theatre, through which the spectral being was raised on to the stage.662 Whether these two devices were used as early as the fifth century is somewhat doubtful. There are few occasions in the extant plays and fragments where they would have been serviceable, and none where they are absolutely necessary. The ghost of Darius in the Persae arises out of his tomb, and the ghost of Achilles in the lost Polyxena of Sophocles apparently revealed himself in the same way.663 In these two cases it is needless to suppose any special apparatus beyond the tomb itself. The ghost of Clytaemnestra in the Eumenides, and that of Polydorus in the Hecuba, may possibly have risen from underground. But there is nothing in the text of the plays to show that this was the case, and an entrance in the ordinary manner would have satisfied all requirements. Some critics suppose that in the Prometheus the punishment which had been threatened by Hermes was actually carried out before the eyes of the spectators, and that the tragedy ended with the disappearance of Prometheus beneath the stage. But a melodramatic conclusion of this kind seems far from probable, and out of keeping with the character of the ancient drama. It is more likely that when the play was over the actor simply walked off the stage, or was concealed from view by a curtain. Or he may have remained in position until the beginning of the next piece, the Prometheus Unbound, in which he was again represented as chained to a cliff. The ‘bronteion’ was a device for imitating the noise of thunder behind the scenes, and was of a very simple character. Pebbles were poured out of a jar into a large brazen vessel; bags were filled with stones and flung against a metal surface; or leaden balls were dropped upon a sheet of leather stretched tight.664 The ‘keraunoskopeion’ was obviously intended to imitate lightning, though the description in Pollux is unintelligible. But Heron, the mathematician, speaks of a device used in automaton theatres, by which a plank, with a flash of lightning painted on a dark background, was shot out of a box into a receptacle below. Possibly Pollux may be alluding to an arrangement of this kind.665 The ‘stropheion’ was some sort of revolving machinery, by which heroes were exhibited in heaven, or deaths at sea or in battle were represented. The ‘hemikyklion’ was semicircular in shape, and gave a distant view of a city, or of a person swimming in the sea. The ‘hemistrophion’ is merely mentioned by name, and no description of it is appended.666
The question whether a drop-scene was used in the Athenian theatre during the great period of the drama is one which has not yet been satisfactorily settled. In Roman theatres a drop-scene was invariably used between the different plays, the mechanism being exactly the reverse of that employed in modern times. When a play was going to begin, the curtain was let down into a narrow crevice in front of the stage, and at the end of the performance was drawn up again.667 There can be no doubt that similar curtains were used in Greek theatres at a later period; but the question is whether they were used at Athens during the fifth and fourth centuries. There are no references to anything of the kind in the extant Greek dramas, and there are no passages in ancient writers which can be held to prove the existence of a drop-scene in the early Athenian theatre.668 The question must therefore be discussed on general grounds. To our modern notions a drop-scene appears to be almost a necessity in the case of plays which commence with the actors already in position upon the stage. In the Greek drama such plays are not infrequent. For instance, in the opening scene of the Oedipus Tyrannus the Thebans are discovered kneeling at the altar before the palace of the king. In the Troades, when Poseidon comes forward to speak the prologue, he sees Hecuba stretched upon the ground in an attitude of despair. The Orestes of Euripides opens with Orestes stretched upon a bed in front of the palace, and his sister Electra watching beside him. Many other examples might be cited of plays which begin with the actors already in a fixed position. Unless, therefore, a drop-scene was used between the plays, it would have to be supposed that the actors came on the stage in full view of the people, took up the required position, and then began the dialogue. There would be a great sacrifice of illusion in such a mode of commencement. Besides this, the drop-scene would of course be a natural and obvious mode of concealing the stage from view while the scenery was being altered between the different plays. For these reasons it has been inferred that the Athenians cannot have done without one. But, on the other hand, it has already been pointed out that it is a great mistake to apply our modern notions of propriety to an ancient dramatic performance. The Greeks did not lay very much stress upon realism and illusion in their scenic arrangements. They were satisfied with simple and conventional methods of representing events upon the stage. Such devices as the ekkyklema and the periaktoi would never have been tolerated by them, if their aim had been to produce an illusion by the accurate imitation of real objects. Hence it is possible that in the dramas just referred to they were quite content for the actors to come forward and take up their position in full view of the audience, before the play actually commenced. That such a supposition is not inadmissible is proved by the custom of the early English drama. On the Elizabethan stage we know for a fact that there was no drop-scene, and that in many cases a tableau had to be arranged before the eyes of the spectators before the action could begin. Yet the audience of those days was not dissatisfied. The Athenians may have been equally indifferent in the matter of the drop-scene. At the same time there is no evidence to prove that such was the case. And the drop-scene is a very convenient device, and one that would naturally suggest itself. On the whole therefore it seems safest, until further evidence is forthcoming, to regard the question as an open one.669