Nikon D7200, 12-24mm f/4G lens @24mm f/8, aperture priority. |
"The cavea is 387 feet in diameter and is sunk into a hillside. Unlike the theatre in Athens, the Theatre of Epidaurus had no obstructions with other buildings or cliffs, so the auditorium could be perfectly symmetrical (Lawrence 365). This symmetry is what helped create the Theatre's well-known acoustics. The rounded cavea has two seating sections that can hold a total of around 14,000 spectators; the lower section has 13 stairways with 34 rows of benches, while the upper section has 23 stairways with 21 rows of benches (Lenas 99). The wedge-shaped benches, made of local limestone, enveloped two-thirds of the orchestra (Izenour 11). The wedge-shape of the block benches, hollowed beneath the edge, gave the feet more room, which allowed people more comfortable seating positions and the ability to tuck their feet in to let people walk by (Izenour 11). Spectators near the end of the auditorium had a difficult view of the skene, but everyone could see the orchestra (Lawrence 365). The lowest seats had back supports and were the seats of honor, called proedria (Dinsmoor 244). When the two-story skene was developed, the proedria was moved to the second section to give the honored a better view. George Izenour, Professor of Theatre Design and Technology , measured the maximum sight line distances from the skene to the center of the orchestra to be 194 feet, and from the skene to the center of the two-story stage to be 232 feet (257)." — Joshua Polster, Ancient Theatre Archive |
