Ancient art and ritual / by Jane Ellen Harrison.

  • Harrison, Jane Ellen, 1850-1928.
Date:
[1913], ©1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Ancient art and ritual / by Jane Ellen Harrison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    seat himself in the front row. In the front row, and that only, the seats have backs, .and the central seat of this row is an arm- chair ; the whole of the front row is perma- nently reserved, not for individual rich men who can afford to hire “ boxes,” but for certain State officials, and these officials are ; all priests. On each seat the name of the owner is inscribed; the central seat is of the priest of Dionysos Eleuthereus,” the god of the precinct. Near him is the seat “ of the priest of Apollo the Laurel-Bearer,” and again “ of the priest of Asklepios,” and “ of the priest of Olympian Zeus,” and so on round the whole front semicircle. It is as though at His Majesty’s the front row of stalls was occupied by the whole bench of bishops, with the Archbishop of Canterbury enthroned in the central stall. The theatre at Athens is not open night by night, nor even day by day. Dramatic performances take place only at certain high festivals of Dionysos in winter and spring. It is, again, as though the modern theatre was open only at the festivals of the Epiphany and of Easter. Our modern, at least our Protestant, custom is in direct contrast. We