with images of the tragic and comic poets. Some ftone-work
remains at the two extremities,* but the area is ploughed, and
produces grain. T h e Athenians invented both the drama and
the theatre, the latter originally a temporary ftru&ure of wood j
but, while a play o f Æfchylus was a-éting, the fcaffolds fell ;
and it Was then refolved to provide a folid and durable fabric.
The dope of the hill, on which perhaps the fpedtators had been
-accuftomed to affemble, was chofen for the building; an T the
feats difpofed in rows rifing one above another, each refting on
the cock as its foundation.
W h i l e Athens continued independent, the ftage. was
ennobled by the glorious produce of Attic genius; by the
iolemn chorus ; by a Sophocles, and a Menander. When Rome
had prevailed, it was degraded and proftituted to the favagè
combats o f gladiators ; and in the time of Trajan, the Athenians
exceeded even the Corinthians in. their reliih o f that cruel
paftime. Thefe affembled without their city, in a torrent-bed,
capable of containing the multitude, and o f no account -, where;
it. is faid, no one would even bury a free perfon; but the
Athenians hired and armed mifcreants of all denominations^
•whom they encouraged to fight in the theatre facred 'to Bacchus ■
lb rthat ibme, it often happened, were flaini in the very chairs
belonging to the hierophant and' priefts. Apollonius vTyanæus,
when at Athens, was invited to the theatre -, but he refufed to
pp|çr .a place & .polluted with human gore ; and affirmed in a
letter, that the Athenians, unlefs they fpeedily defifted • from
this barbarous practice, would foon facrifice hecatombs of men,
inftead of heifers, to their goddefs. « He wondered that Minerva
had not .forfaken her temple y and that Bacchus had not removed,
as preferring the pjurer mountain of Githæron.
I n the rock above the theatre is a large cavern, perhaijps an
âfi£î|j&l the front ornamented with marble pijafters of
the Corinthian order, fuppprting an entablature, on .which,, are
three Mcriptions, Over that in the middle, is a female figure,
which
which had loft its head in. the year 1676, mounted^on two or
three* fteps, fedent. On one fide is a^iharble fun-aralj moved
awry Trom its proper pofition. It fsJ of a kind antiently very
commonas is evident from the great number fti-11 in ufe about
Athens, particularly in thé traCt ’called the gardens* where many
are fet oft the mud’-walls,1 often with very'y rude'‘gno’mdrts:
Above the cavern, are f wo columns, ftandingon "the fteep flope*
between the foot.of the caftle-wall and the fedent figure. They
are of unequal heights, and have triangular Capitals.. On eachf
o f thefe a tripod has been fixed; as is eyident frotn the marks
o f the feet, Which may be feen from the battlements o f the
fortref?.,. The Greeks have converted the caye^. into a chapel,
Wfiicfpis called Panagia Spiliotifta, The Virgin o f the Grotto* The
fides of. the .rock within are covered with holy portraits. The
door is rarely open, but I wasonce! prefen t at. the. celelTatibnof
mafs, when it was lighted up with wax-candle, and filled with
finoke o f iocenfe, with, .bearded priéfts, and a devout Croud ; the
fpeöacle'fiming tbe place, which' is. at once fol|rpii and ro-
mantic!^ The tripods, which decorated this monument, were
obtained by chorufes exhibited in the, theatre below, probably
at/the Dionyfia; and cohfecrated. .to Bacchus. The firft in-
feription informs.'us of the author and age, as well ai o f fKe
©ccafiop of the building. *« Thrafyllus, fón of Thrafyliyis o f
“ Deceleia, dedicated the tripod-, having, when he provided a.
•* chorus, conquered: with men., for the tribe Hippothoontisi
«•« Evius of Chalcis was mufician. Neaechmus Was JArcKónt-
^ Garcidamus £on of.Sotis was teacher.” This archbnfhip falls
,©n the firft yéar of the cxvth Olympiad, three hundred and
twenty years before Chrift. The other infcriptions;.are records
•of. a fimilar nature^ “ The people provided a chorus.,; ;Pytha--
«« ratus Was archon •, the prefident of the games wasThraficles;
« fon- o f Thafyllus; of Deceleia. The tribë' Pktfdionls cbttsf
** quered in the conteft. of mem Nicdclés., o f Adfbrac|ïyywas>
*• Lord Befborough has a fmall one in His ch’ok^ and'curious eolTeftion of anti»
quities at Roehampton.; See the form urPaciaudius«
**• muficiaae