Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/271

 GREEK PLAYS IN GENERAL. 245 life-time, or which had been given on occasion of his fimeraP. By the aid of these ancient authorities we can describe the attire of a Greek actor as accurately as if we were detailing the cos- tume of a performer on the modern stage. We shall first discuss (a) those peculiarities of the theatrical costume, which were designed to increase the stature of the actor and to give gTcater distinctness to his features when seen from a distance, and then (b) illustrate the festal attire in which he walked the stage. («) The thick-soled boot, worn by hunters, and others who had to walk over rough and tangled ground, was called the cotkur- 7UIS {KoOopvo^), and does not appear to have been different from the dpl3vrj or j^ero. At least Agamemnon, who enters the orchestra in a mule-car, has his ap^vXat taken off before he mounts the stage by the Tropcpvpoo-TpcoTo^; 7r6po<;, laid for him by Clytaem- nestra^, and Hippolytus is said to have stept into his chariot all booted as he was {avralcrcv dp^vXaicnv) 3. The adoption of this form of boot was not primarily occasioned by the necessity of giving the actor a more elevated stature. The incident mentioned by Hero- dotus^ shows that the cothurnus was an effeminate chaussure, and it is clear that it formed a part of the costume of the worshippers of Bacchus, who imitated the half-womanly character of their divinity. The upper leather was highly ornamented^ and laced Fig. 6. 1 See J. R. Pacho, Relation d'un Voyage dans la Marmorique, la Cyrenaique, &c. Paris, 1827, PI XLix. and l. cf. Miiller, Handbuch d. Arch. § 425, 2; Creuzer, Deutsch. Schrift. zur Archdol. Vol, ill. 499; Wieseler, Theatergeb. pp. 99 sqq. The figures are given with the colouring in the aocompanj'ing plate (4). '^ yEsch. Agam. 917: dXX' ei hoK€L ffoc ravd' viral Tis dp^vXas voL Tcixos TrpodovXou ^fx^acriv iroSos. 3 Eurip. Hixjpol. 1 188 : fidpiTTeL 5e xepcrtt' r/i'tas (Xtt' durvyoi, avraicTLV dp^vXaiacu app-oaas 7r65as. •"^ 8ee fig. 6 ; and compare fig. 15, p. 253.
 * I. 125. Hence Aristoph. Ran. 47; ri Kodopuos Kal powaXov ^vvrjXd^rrjv ;