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1 16 Travelling around Greece June 2022
A Ad do op pt ti io on n o of f t th he e A An nc ci ie en nt t T Th he ea at tr re e
Some information about
the ancient theatre
The theatre in ancient Greece
originates from the worshipping of
Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility,
one of the Olympian gods honoured in performed.
the Greek world. The parodoi: aisles on the right and
People’s need to express left sides of the skene leading to the The Ancient Theatre of Mieza
themselves, to imitate and interpret orchestra. They were usually covered The Theatre is located in the
the world around them gave birth to by arches. archeological site of Mieza, at the foot
the theatre. Theatrical plays included • The orchestra: The half round (or of Vermion, in the Municipality of
comedies or dramas which narrated round e.g. Epidaurus) pit at the centre Anthemioi, Prefecture of Imathia.
the events of that time. of the theatre. Usually it was paved. According to myth, the city owes its
In Ancient Greece, the theatre was The chorus acted there. name to the king Verita’s daughter,
originally thought to be the audience The thymele: the altar of Dionysus whose brothers were the river god
and its name was later established to at the centre of the orchestra. Olganos, running through Vermion and
mean the place of performances and The euripus: a rainwater channel at Veroia.
the total of its edifices. The oldest form the periphery of the orchestra on the The city of Mieza expanded greatly
of the Greek koilon [cavea] (6th side of the koilon. during the Hellenistic times of
century BC), where spectators used to • The koilon: the entire Alexander the Great and there was the
sit, was a row of wooden seats placed amphitheatre (with the rows of seats, school of Aristotle in the area where
around the flat round space, the the stairs and the horizontal corridors) Alexander the Great was a student
orchestra, where the drama took around the orchestra where the himself.
place. spectators used to sit. The ancient theatre of Mieza holds
The main parts of the ancient theatre The stairs: aisles of staircases 1.500 people and has a view to the
were the skene, the orchestra and the helping spectators access their seats. plains. The structure of Mieza and the
cavea with their subparts as follows: The kerkides [wedge-shaped parascenia had two floors.
• The skene [scene building]: a sections]: groups of seats created after The Theatre of Mieza used to and
rectangular, lengthy construction, dividing the zones with staircases. still runs as a monument open to
which was added to the periphery of The rows of seats: the places for the visitors of the archeological site.
the orchestra opposite the cavea in the spectators to sit.
5th century BC. Initially, it was at
ground level and was used only as
dressing rooms, like today’s
backstage. The proscenion: a stoa
supported by columns in front of the
skene. Between the spaces of
columns there were doorways and
paintings (the sets). The doorways in
the proscenion would give way to three
gates, out of which came the actors.
The proscenion was originally folding,
probably wooden. The parascenia:
the two ends of the skene which
protrude, hence forming a π shape at
the top view.
The logeion [podium]: a raised
platform, initially wooden and later
stone or marble, where the actors