Now it is in the relation between the orchestra or dancing-place of the chorus, and the theatre or place of the spectators, a relation that shifted as time went on, that we see mirrored the whole development from ritual to art—­from dromenon to drama.

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The orchestra on which the Dithyramb was danced was just a circular dancing-place beaten flat for the convenience of the dancers, and sometimes edged by a stone basement to mark the circle.  This circular orchestra is very well seen in the theatre of Epidaurus, of which a sketch is given in Fig. 1.  The orchestra here is surrounded by a splendid theatron, or spectator place, with seats rising tier above tier.  If we want to realize the primitive Greek orchestra or dancing-place, we must think these stone seats away.  Threshing-floors are used in Greece to-day as convenient dancing-places.  The dance tends to be circular because it is round some sacred thing, at first a maypole, or the reaped corn, later the figure of a god or his altar.  On this dancing-place the whole body of worshippers would gather, just as now-a-days the whole community will assemble on a village green.  There is no division at first between actors and spectators; all are actors, all are doing the thing done, dancing the dance danced.  Thus at initiation ceremonies the whole tribe assembles, the only spectators are the uninitiated, the women and children.  No one at this early stage thinks of building a theatre, a spectator place.  It is in the common act, the common or collective emotion, that ritual starts.  This must never be forgotten.

[Illustration:  Fig. 1.  Theatre of Epidaurus Showing Circular Orchestra.]

The most convenient spot for a mere dancing-place is some flat place.  But any one who travels through Greece will notice instantly that all the Greek theatres that remain at Athens, at Epidaurus, at Delos, Syracuse, and elsewhere, are built against the side of hills.  None of these are very early; the earliest ancient orchestra we have is at Athens.  It is a simple stone ring, but it is built against the steep south side of the Acropolis.  The oldest festival of Dionysos was, as will presently be seen, held in quite another spot, in the agora, or market-place.  The reason for moving the dance was that the wooden seats that used to be set up on a sort of “grand stand” in the market-place fell down, and it was seen how safely and comfortably the spectators could be seated on the side of a steep hill.

The spectators are a new and different element, the dance is not only danced, but it is watched from a distance, it is a spectacle; whereas in old days all or nearly all were worshippers acting, now many, indeed most, are spectators, watching, feeling, thinking, not doing.  It is in this new attitude of the spectator that we touch on the difference between ritual and art; the dromenon, the thing actually done by yourself has become a drama, a thing also done, but abstracted from your doing.  Let us look for a moment at the psychology of the spectator, at his behaviour.