TESTŪDO (χελώνη), a tortoise, was the name given to several other
objects.--(1) To the Lyra, because it was sometimes made of a
tortoise-shell.--(2) To an arched or vaulted roof.--(3) To a military
machine moving upon wheels and roofed over, used in besieging
cities, under which the soldiers worked in undermining the walls
or otherwise destroying them. It was usually covered with raw
hides, or other materials which could not easily be set on fire.
The battering-ram [ARIES] was frequently placed under a testudo of
this kind, which was then called _Testudo Arietaria_.--(4) The name
of testudo was also applied to the covering made by a close body
of soldiers who placed their shields over their heads to secure
themselves against the darts of the enemy. The shields fitted so
closely together as to present one unbroken surface without any
interstices between them, and were also so firm that men could walk
upon them, and even horses and chariots be driven over them. A
testudo was formed (_testudinem facere_) either in battle to ward
off the arrows and other missiles of the enemy, or, which was more
frequently the case, to form a protection to the soldiers when they
advanced to the walls or gates of a town for the purpose of attacking
them. Sometimes the shields were disposed in such a way as to make
the testudo slope. The soldiers in the first line stood upright,
those in the second stooped a little, and each line successively
was a little lower than the preceding down to the last, where the
soldiers rested on one knee. Such a disposition of the shields was
called _fastigata testudo_, on account of their sloping like the roof
of a building. The advantages of this plan were obvious: the stones
and missiles thrown upon the shields rolled off them like water from
a roof; besides which, other soldiers frequently advanced upon them
to attack the enemy upon the walls. The Romans were accustomed to
form this kind of testudo, as an exercise, in the games of the circus.
[Illustration: Testudo. (From the Antonine Column.)]
TĔTRARCHĒS or TĔTRARCHA (τετράρχης). This word was originally used,
according to its etymological meaning, to signify the governor of
the fourth part of a country (τετραρχία or τετραδαρχία). We have an
example in the ancient division of Thessaly into four tetrarchies,
which was revived by Philip. Each of the three Gallic tribes which
settled in Galatia was divided into four tetrarchies, each ruled by
a tetrarch. Some of the tribes of Syria were ruled by tetrarchs, and
several of the princes of the house of Herod ruled in Palestine with
this title. In the later period of the republic and under the empire,
the Romans seem to have used the title (as also those of _ethnarch_
and _phylarch_) to designate those tributary princes who were not of
sufficient importance to be called kings.
TETTĂRĂKONTA, HOI (οἱ τετταράκοντα), _the Forty_, were certain
officers chosen by lot, who made regular circuits through the demi of
Attica, whence they are called δικασταὶ κατὰ δήμους, to decide all
cases of αἰκία and τὰ περὶ τῶν βιαίων, and also all other private
causes, where the matter in dispute was not above the value of ten
drachmae. Their number was originally thirty, but was increased to
forty after the expulsion of the thirty tyrants, and the restoration
of the democracy by Thrasybulus, in consequence, it is said, of the
hatred of the Athenians to the number of thirty.
THARGĒLĬA (θαργήλια), a festival celebrated at Athens on the 6th
and 7th of Thargelion, in honour of Apollo and Artemis. The real
festival, or the Thargelia in a narrower sense of the word, appears
to have taken place on the 7th; and on the preceding day, the city
of Athens or rather its inhabitants were purified. The manner in
which this purification was effected is very extraordinary, and is
certainly a remnant of very ancient rites, for two persons were
put to death on that day, and the one died on behalf of the men
and the other on behalf of the women of Athens. The name by which
these victims were designated was _pharmaci_ (φαρμακοί). It appears
probable, however, that this sacrifice did not take place annually,
but only in case of a heavy calamity having befallen the city,
such as the plague, a famine, &c. The victims appear to have been
criminals sentenced to death. The second day of the thargelia was
solemnized with a procession and an agon, which consisted of a cyclic
chorus, performed by men at the expense of a choragus. The prize of
the victor in this agon was a tripod, which he had to dedicate in
the temple of Apollo which had been built by Pisistratus. On this
day it was customary for persons who were adopted into a family to
be solemnly registered, and received into the genos and the phratria
of the adoptive parents. This solemnity was the same as that of
registering one’s own children at the Apaturia.
[Illustration: Plan of Greek Theatre.]
THĔĀTRUM (θέατρον), a theatre. The Athenians before the time of
Aeschylus had only a wooden scaffolding on which their dramas were
performed. Such a wooden theatre was only erected for the time of
the Dionysiac festivals, and was afterwards pulled down. The first
drama that Aeschylus brought upon the stage was performed upon such
a wooden scaffold, and it is recorded as a singular and ominous
coincidence that on that occasion (500 B.C.) the scaffolding broke
down. To prevent the recurrence of such an accident, the building
of a stone theatre was forthwith commenced on the south-eastern
descent of the Acropolis, in the Lenaea; for it should be observed,
that throughout Greece theatres were always built upon eminences, or
on the sloping side of a hill. The new Athenian theatre was built
on a very large scale, and appears to have been constructed with
great skill in regard to its acoustic and perspective arrangements.
Subsequently theatres were erected in all parts of Greece and Asia
Minor, although Athens was the centre of the Greek drama, and the
only place which produced great masterworks in this department
of literature. All the theatres, however, which were constructed
in Greece were probably built after the model of that of Athens,
and, with slight deviations and modifications, they all resembled
one another in the main points, as is seen in the numerous ruins
of theatres in various parts of Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily.
The Attic theatre was, like all the Greek theatres, placed in
such a manner that the place for the spectators formed the upper
or north-western, and the stage with all that belonged to it the
south-eastern part, and between these two parts lay the orchestra.
The annexed plan has been made from the remains of Greek theatres
still extant, and from a careful examination of the passages in
ancient writers which describe the whole or parts of a theatre.--1.
The place for the spectators was in a narrower sense of the word
called _theatrum_. The seats for the spectators, which were in
most cases cut out of the rock, consisted of rows of benches rising
one above another; the rows themselves (_a_) formed parts (nearly
three-fourths) of concentric circles, and were at intervals divided
into compartments by one or more broad passages (_b_) running
between them, and parallel with the benches. These passages were
called διαζώματα, or κατατομαί, Lat. _praecinctiones_, and when
the concourse of people was very great in a theatre, many persons
might stand in them. Across the rows of benches ran stairs, by which
persons might ascend from the lowest to the highest. But these stairs
ran in straight lines only from one praecinctio to another; and the
stairs in the next series of rows were just between the two stairs of
the lower series of benches. By this course of the stairs the seats
were divided into a number of compartments, resembling cones from
which the tops are cut off; hence they were termed κεοκίδες, and in
Latin _cunei_. The whole of the place for the spectators (θέατρον)
was sometimes designated by the name κοῖλον, Latin _cavea_, it being
in most cases a real excavation of the rock. Above the highest row
of benches there rose a covered portico (_c_), which of course far
exceeded in height the opposite buildings by which the stage was
surrounded, and appears to have also contributed to increase the
acoustic effect. The entrances to the seats of the spectators were
partly underground, and led to the lowest rows of benches, while the
upper rows must have been accessible from above.--2. The orchestra
(ὀρχήστρα) was a circular level space extending in front of the
spectators, and somewhat below the lowest row of benches. But it was
not a complete circle, one segment of it being appropriated to the
stage. The orchestra was the place for the chorus, where it performed
its evolutions and dances, for which purpose it was covered with
boards. As the chorus was the element out of which the drama arose,
so the orchestra was originally the most important part of a theatre:
it formed the centre around which all the other parts of the building
were grouped. In the centre of the circle of the orchestra was the
_thymele_ (θυμέλη), that is, the altar of Dionysus (_d_), which was
of coarse nearer to the stage than to the seats of the spectators,
the distance from which was precisely the length of a radius of the
circle. In a wider sense the orchestra also comprised the broad
passages (πάροδοι, _e_) on each side, between the projecting wings of
the stage and the seats of the spectators, through which the chorus
entered the orchestra. The chorus generally arranged itself in the
space between the thymele and the stage. The thymele itself was of
a square form, and was used for various purposes, according to the
nature of the different plays, such as a funeral monument, an altar,
&c. It was made of boards, and surrounded on all sides with steps.
It thus stood upon a raised platform, which was sometimes occupied
by the leader of the chorus, the flute-player, and the rhabdophori.
The orchestra as well as the _theatrum_ lay under the open sky; a
roof is nowhere mentioned.--3. The stage. Steps led from each side
of the orchestra to the stage, and by them the chorus probably
ascended the stage whenever it took a real part in the action itself.
The back side of the stage was closed by a wall called the _scena_
(σκηνή), from which on each side a wing projected which was called
the _parascenium_ (παρασκήνιον). The whole depth of the stage was
not very great, as it only comprised a segment of the circle of the
orchestra. The whole space from the scena to the orchestra was termed
the _proscenium_ (προσκήνιον), and was what we should call the real
stage. That part of it which was nearest to the orchestra, and where
the actors stood when they spoke, was the _logeium_ (λογείον), also
called _ocribas_ (ὀκρίβας), in Latin _pulpitum_, which was of course
raised above the orchestra, and probably on a level with the thymele.
The _scena_ was, as we have already stated, the wall which closed
the stage (_proscenium_ and _logeium_) from behind. It represented a
suitable background, or the locality in which the action was going
on. Before the play began it was covered with a curtain (παραπέτασμα,
προσκήνιον, αὐλαίαι), Latin _aulaea_ or _siparium_. When the play
began this curtain was let down, and was rolled up on a roller
underneath the stage. The proscenium and logeium were never concealed
from the spectators. As regards the scenery represented on the
_scena_, it was different for tragedy, comedy, and the satyric drama,
and for each of these kinds of poetry the scenery must have been
capable of various modifications, according to the character of each
individual play; at least that this was the case with the various
tragedies, is evident from the scenes described in the tragedies
still extant. In the latter however the back-ground (_scena_) in
most cases represented the front of a palace with a door in the
centre (_i_) which was called the _royal door_. This palace generally
consisted of two stories, and upon its flat roof there appears to
have been some elevated place from which persons might observe
what was going on at a distance. The palace presented on each side
a projecting wing, each of which had its separate entrance. These
wings generally represented the habitations of guests and visitors.
All the three doors must have been visible to the spectators. The
protagonistes always entered the stage through the middle or royal
door, the deuteragonistes and tritagonistes through those on the
right and left wings. In tragedies like the Prometheus, the Persians,
Philoctetes, Oedipus in Colonus, and others, the back-ground did
not represent a palace. There are other pieces again in which the
scena must have been changed in the course of the performance, as in
the Eumenides of Aeschylus and the Ajax of Sophocles. The dramas of
Euripides required a great variety of scenery; and if in addition
to this we recollect that several pieces were played in one day,
it is manifest that the mechanical parts of stage performance, at
least in the days of Euripides, must have been brought to great
perfection. The scena in the satyric drama appears to have always
represented a woody district with hills and grottos; in comedy the
scena represented, at least in later times, the fronts of private
dwellings or the habitations of slaves. The art of scene-painting
must have been applied long before the time of Sophocles, although
Aristotle ascribes its introduction to him. The whole of the cavea
in the Attic theatre must have contained about 50,000 spectators.
The places for generals, the archons, priests, foreign ambassadors,
and other distinguished persons, were in the lowest rows of benches,
and nearest to the orchestra, and they appear to have been sometimes
covered with a sort of canopy. The rows of benches above these were
occupied by the senate of 500, those next in succession by the
ephebi, and the rest by the people of Athens. But it would seem that
they did not sit indiscriminately, but that the better places were
let at a higher price than the others, and that no one had a right to
take a place for which he had not paid. The usual fee for a place was
two obols, which was subsequently given to the poorer classes by a
law of Pericles. [THEORICA.] Women were allowed to be present during
the performance of tragedies, but not of comedies.--The Romans must
have become acquainted with the theatres of the Italian Greeks at
an early period, whence they erected their own theatres in similar
positions upon the sides of hills. This is still clear from the
ruins of very ancient theatres at Tusculum and Faesulae. The Romans
themselves, however, did not possess a regular stone theatre until
a very late period, and although dramatic representations were very
popular in earlier times, it appears that a wooden stage was erected
when necessary, and was afterwards pulled down again, and the plays
of Plautus and Terence were performed on such temporary scaffoldings.
In the mean while, many of the neighbouring towns of Rome had their
stone theatres, as the introduction of Greek customs and manners
was less strongly opposed in them than in the city of Rome itself.
Wooden theatres, adorned with the most profuse magnificence, were
erected at Rome even during the last period of the republic. In
B.C. 55 Cn. Pompey built the first stone theatre at Rome, near the
Campus Martius. It was of great beauty, and is said to have been
built after the model of that of Mytilene; it contained 40,000
spectators. The construction of a Roman theatre resembled, on the
whole, that of a Greek one. The principal differences are, that the
seats of the spectators, which rose in the form of an amphitheatre
around the orchestra, did not form more than a semicircle; and
that the whole of the orchestra likewise formed only a semicircle,
the diameter of which formed the front line of the stage. The Roman
orchestra contained no thymele, and was not destined for a chorus,
but contained the seats for senators and other distinguished persons,
such as foreign ambassadors, which are called _primus subselliorum
ordo_. In B.C. 68 the tribune L. Roscius Otho carried a law which
regulated the places in the theatre to be occupied by the different
classes of Roman citizens: it enacted that fourteen ordines of
benches were to be assigned as seats to the equites. Hence these
quatuordecim ordines are sometimes mentioned without any further
addition, as the honorary seats of the equites. They were undoubtedly
close behind the seats of the senators and magistrates, and thus
consisted of the rows of benches immediately behind the orchestra.
[Illustration: Plan of Roman Theatre.]
THENSAE or TENSAE, highly ornamented sacred vehicles, which, in the
solemn pomp of the Circensian games, conveyed the statues of certain
deities with all their decorations to the pulvinaria, and after the
sports were over bore them back to their shrines. We are ignorant
of their precise form. We know that they were drawn by horses, and
escorted (_deducere_) by the chief senators in robes of state,
who, along with pueri patrimi [PATRIMI], laid hold of the bridles
and traces, or perhaps assisted to drag the carriage by means of
thongs attached for the purpose (and hence the proposed derivation
from _tendo_). So sacred was this duty considered, that Augustus,
when labouring under sickness, deemed it necessary to accompany the
tensae in a litter. If one of the horses knocked up, or the driver
took the reins in his left hand, it was necessary to recommence the
procession, and for one of the attendant boys to let go the thong,
or to stumble, was profanation. The only gods distinctly named as
carried in tensae are Jupiter and Minerva, though others appear to
have had the same honour paid them.
THĔŎPHĂNĬA (θεοφάνια), a festival celebrated at Delphi, on the
occasion of which the Delphians filled the huge silver crater which
had been presented to the Delphic god by Croesus.