Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/717

 THEATRE heard about 90 ft. in front of the speaker, and 75 ft. each side. In an opera house the dimen- sions may be vastly increased, as singing can be heard at a greater distance than speaking, and it is not requisite to bring the audience near enough to see the facial expression of the performers. The theatres of New York are among the best in the world, and the seating arrangements of American theatres generally are more convenient than in foreign theatres. The opera houses and leading theatres in the United States are described in the articles de- voted to the different cities. The best form for the auditorium is either three fourths of a circle, or a semicircle with divergent ends. The latter affords the best opportunities for seeing, but involves either a disproportionate and inconvenient width of stage, or a consid- erable useless space on each side of the pro- scenium. Most American theatres differ from those of Europe in having no private boxes, except a few on and adjoining the proscenium, by which means a vast gain is effected in the capacity of the house ; they are also generally better lighted. The largest and finest theatre in the world is the new Grand Opera of Paris. It was begun in 1860, and opened to the public for the first time on Jan. 5, 1875. It was built at the expense of the government, and cost $5,600,000, exclusive of the land which it oc- cupies. Notwithstanding the vast size of the building, the auditorium contains only 2,194 seats, or about the same as the academies of music in New York and Brooklyn. By far the greater part of the building is occupied by a vast number of rooms, halls, staircases, shops, &c., appurtenances designed for the convenience and pleasure of the spectators and of those connected with the theatre. The stage is about 100 ft. in width by 220 ft. in depth, and 700 singers can be grouped upon it. In its facili- ties for ingress and egress, in the completeness of its machinery and appliances, and in the magnificence and costliness of its decorations, it far surpasses any theatre^ of modern times. The following are some of the largest theatres in the world, with the number of spectators they are capable of accommodating : THEBES 687 London, New Pavilion, Whitechapel " Drury Lane " Her Majesty's, Haymarket " Italian opera, Covent Garden Milan, La Scala Naples, San Carlo Boston theatre Venice, La Fenice St. Petersburg, Bolshoi theatre Philadelphia, academy of music Turin, theatre royal Florence, La Pergola Munich, royal theatre Brooklyn, academy of music New York, academy of music (burned in 1866, and re- built smaller) Paris, Grand Opera " Ambigu comique " Porte St.Martin " Theatre Italien " Theatre Lyrique 1 Odeon " Op6ra comique 784 VOL. xv. 44 8.700 8,500 2,500 2,000 8.400 8,000 3,000 2,850 2.500 2.500 2,500 2,243 2,160 2,194 1,900 1,800 1,700 1.700 1.650 1,500 In China every little village has its theatre, and each great town has several. They have no scenery and no auditorium, the spectators remaining in the open air. The expenses are defrayed sometimes by mandarins or other rich persons, but more frequently by associations formed for the purpose among the inhabitants of the neighborhood. The actors are generally strollers, and the female parts are played by young men or boys. In Japan the stage has scenery, the audience are furnished with seats, and women are allowed to perform. THEBAIS, the ancient name of southern or Upper Egypt, from its capital Thebes. This division of the country extended from the isl- ands of Elephantine and Philse, near Syene (lat. 24 N.), to Thebaica Phylace, S. of Her- mopolis Magna (about 27 40' N.). THEBES (called No or No-Ammon by the Hebrews, and Diospolis the Great by the later Greeks and the Romans), anciently the capital of Upper Egypt, and for a long time, known as the period of the middle empire, of the whole country. Its Egyptian name was Ap, or Ape, and with the feminine article Tape, the head, which, being pronounced Thaba in the Mem- phitic dialect, was easily converted by the Greeks into Qf/pai (Thebse). Pliny and Juvenal, desiring to render its real name more closely, call it Thebe. From the fact that the names of the oldest kings appear only about Memphis, it is generally inferred that Thebes was not founded as early as the capital of Lower Egypt, though in antiquity it was reputed to be the oldest city in the world. It stood near the centre of the Thebaid, extending on both sides of the Nile to the mountain chains which en- close the valley. Strabo speaks of the vestiges of the city as extending 80 stadia (10 m.) in length. Diodorus estimated its circuit at 140 stadia or about 17 m., and Sir Gardner Wilkin- son infers from its ruins that its length-was 5 m. and its breadth 3 m. Its most flourishing period was that of the 18th dynasty ; it began to decline about 800 B. C. (See EGYPT, vol. vi., p. 460.) Asshur-bani-pal pillaged it in the 7th century, and Cambyses in the 6th. After its destruction by Ptolemy Lathyrus (86 B. C.), it lost all its political and commercial impor- tance, though it remained the sacerdotal capi- tal of the worshippers of Ammon. The trade which had contributed to its prosperity had found new channels after the foundation of Alexandria ; and as the capital of a Macedonian and Roman prefecture it took little part in the affairs of Egypt. It was desolated successively by Christians of the Thebaid, in their zeal against idolatrous monuments, by barbarians from Ara- bia and Nubia, and by the Saracens ; after whose invasion its name scarcely occurs for many cen- turies. The ruins of Thebes, which are among the most magnificent in the world, are found at the modern villages of Luxor and Karnak on the E. bank of the Nile, and Gurna and Medinet-Abu on the western. The eastern 1 quarter of the ancient city contained the mass