Theater at Epidauros

The seating (cavea), view looking up aisles, from the circular orchestra; The most important surviving structure at Epidauros is without doubt the great theatre. Its auditorium, still virtually intact, was built in the second half of the 4th century BCE. The seating, of local limestone, is divided into lower and upper sections, the lower extending beyond the upper, perhaps as a result of later work. The stage building is ruined, though its essential arrangement, with side ramps leading to the stage, is clear enough. Pausanias (Guide to Greece II.xxvii.5) attributed the theatre (and the thymele) to Polykleitos. This cannot be the 5th-century bc Argive sculptor but may be his grandson. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 12/10/2007