Aeschylus, the Master of Spectacle

Scope: In this lecture, we consider Aeschylus’s stagecraft in The Oresteia. We discuss the use of the skene building,
especially in Agamemnon; the entrance of Agamemnon and Cassandra on chariots; the famous “tapestry” scene in
which Agamemnon walks into his palace on crimson cloth; the probable use of the ekkyklema to display the bodies
of the dead in Agamemnon and Libation Bearers; and the appearance of the Furies in Eumenides.
Outline
I. Aeschylus was renowned in antiquity for his use of spectacular visual effects. As our only extant trilogy, The Oresteia
is valuable to theatre historians not only for its literary and dramatic merit but also for what we can learn from it
about Aeschylus’s stagecraft.
A. First and foremost, The Oresteia draws our attention to the skene building.
1. From the earliest age of tragedy, some sort of structure probably existed in which the actors changed masks and
costumes. Because skene means “tent,” the standard assumption is that at first it was just that.
2. At some point, however, a permanent wooden structure, still called a skene, was erected at the back of the orchestra.
3. None of Aeschylus’s earlier plays requires any kind of permanent skene at all.
4. In The Oresteia, however, our attention is drawn to the skene building and its presence throughout the trilogy.
5. It is tempting to presume that Aeschylus “invented” the wooden skene for this trilogy.
B. Agamemnon opens with the Watchman speaking from the roof of the skene.
1. If a permanent skene had not been used before, this opening in itself would have been a startling effect.
2. The Watchman’s speech calls attention to the “House” in several ways; not only is he physically present on the roof,
but he also says that if the House could speak, it would tell horrors.
C. Throughout Agamemnon, the House is increasingly important. This becomes especially obvious in
Cassandra’s great scene.
1. From Cassandra’s opening lines, she calls attention to the House, asking where she is and “to what House” she has
come.
2. The House is the focal point of her most terrifying visions; she “sees” Thyestes’s murdered children sitting on it and
the Furies hanging over it.
3. She describes the House as a charnel house, a place of butchery; it is so horrifying that she can scarcely force herself
to enter it.
4. The House itself finally speaks through Cassandra; Clytemnestra’s great speech of triumph, spoken from the doorway
over her victims’ bodies, repeats the same effect.
II. Aside from the skene building, Aeschylus also uses other remarkable visual elements. In Agamemnon, the most
noticeable is the tapestry scene.
A. We discussed its importance in the play’s plot earlier; here I want to consider its visual effect.
1. The word used to describe the color of the tapestries, porphyra, is often translated as “purple,” but is also used to
describe blood and can mean “crimson.”
2. If we assume that the tapestries here were crimson, not purple, then from the vantage point of most of the audience, it
would look as though Agamemnon were wading in blood.
3. Agamemnon’s walk into the house is thus a startling visual effect.
B. We do not know if the tapestries were left in place for the rest of the play or were removed after
Agamemnon’s entrance into the house.
1. If they were left in sight, the effect would be almost an illustration of Cassandra’s words about the house; it would
look as if the house itself were bleeding.

2. On the other hand, if the tapestries had been removed, the audience would still have a strong visual image of them;
Cassandra’s visions, invisible to everyone else, would clearly recall what the audience had just seen.
III. Other elements of The Oresteia’s staging are more controversial. One of the most important of these is the revelation
of the dead bodies at the ends of both Agamemnon and Libation Bearers. How was this managed?
A. One theory is that The Oresteia used a device called the ekkyklema.
1. The word ekkyklema means, literally, “rolled-out thing.” It may simply have been a wheeled trolley, or it may have
been a more elaborate revolving platform of some sort.
2. In either case, it was rolled out through the skene door to display interior scenes.
3. Anything shown on the ekkyklema was accepted as being inside the house, palace, cave, or whatever the skene
building represented in a particular play.
4. Its use is well attested later in the fifth century, but not all scholars accept that it existed as early as 458.
B. If we accept that the ekkyklema existed at this early date, the display of bodies at the close of Agamemnon and
Libation Bearers can easily be visualized.
1. When Clytaemestra reveals the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra to the chorus, she says that she is standing
where she struck them down.
2. This statement seems to imply that the scene is meant to be visualized as still inside the palace.
3. In Libation Bearers, Orestes displays the bodies of Clytaemestra and Aegisthus to the chorus.
C. If these displays were not done by means of the ekkyklema, then we have to ask how they were done.
1. Modern translators usually put in some stage direction along the lines of “the palace doors open and reveal the
bodies.”
2. Such an effect would have been impossible in the ancient Greek theatre. Anything inside the skene building would
have been invisible to almost the entire audience.
3. The “bodies” could have simply been carried out by “extras,” but this staging would not explain Clytaemestra’s
statement that she stood on the spot where she killed them.
IV. One of the most problematic staging questions in The Oresteia is how the Furies’ entrance in Eumenides was
handled.
A. We know from ancient testimonia that their first appearance was electrifying to the audience, but it is hard to tell how
it was staged.
1. An ancient anecdote says that women fainted and pregnant women miscarried when the chorus of Furies first entered.
2. This story is undoubtedly an exaggeration, but it tells us that the Furies’ appearance was horrifying and in some way
unexpected.
B. The Eumenides opens with a speech of the Pythia, the oracular priestess of Apollo at Delphi.
1. The prologue, spoken by the Pythia, establishes that the skene building now represents Apollo’s temple.
2. After speaking the prologue, the Pythia enters the skene building but immediately comes back out, saying she’s seen
horrorsthe Furiesinside the temple.
3. The Pythia says that they are inside the temple, sleeping on chairs around Orestes, who is seated as a suppliant at the
omphalos, Apollo’s sacred stone.
C. At this point, the audience would almost certainly have expected the Furies to remain invisible.
1. Cassandra’s visions in Agamemnon established the idea of the Furies as invisible presences, when she described them
as hanging above the roof of the house.
2. Orestes’s vision of the Furies at the end of Libation Bearers reiterates the idea that they are present but visible only to
certain characters.
3. This idea is seemingly confirmed by Pythia’s report of what she has seen.
D. The actual appearance of the Furies, then, was a coup de theatre worthy of Aeschylus’s reputation for spectacular
effects. But when and how exactly did they appear?
1. They must appear sometime after the Pythia’s report of seeing them.
2. After the Pythia’s speech, Apollo and Orestes enter, speak to one another, then leave; Apollo refers to the Furies
in terms that imply that they are visible, but asleep, at this point.

3. The ghost of Clytaemestra then appears and starts to rouse the Furies.
4. The Furies mumble and mutter during her speech but seem mainly to be still asleep.
5. Once Clytaemestra’s ghost disappears, the Furies begin their parados.
V. The main problem of staging is, how can the Furies be visible but asleep? The text seems to indicate that they appear
at the same time as Apollo, Orestes, and Hermes.
A. Scholars often suggest that they first appear on the ekkyklema.
1. The ekkyklema would have to be remarkably large, however, to hold three actors and twelve sleeping Furies.
2. Apollo, Orestes, and Hermes could enter first, then the ekkyklema could be thrust out after them; but even so, it seems
unlikely that the ekkyklema would have room for twelve Furies.
B. Another possibility is that the Furies simply enter quietly and lie down and that the audience accepts this convention
and, in effect, agrees not to notice the entrance.
1. This staging would allow Apollo, Orestes, and Hermes to appear on the ekkyklema and establish that the scene is still
inside Apollo’s temple.
2. This “cancelled entry” of the Furies, however, does not match the testimony about how horrifying their first
appearance was; if the audience had already seen their masks and costumes, then much of the effect would be lost
when they stood up and began their parados.
C. My own theory is that two or three Furies appeared on the ekkyklema with Apollo, Orestes, and Hermes.
1. The few Furies on the ekkyklema could be lying down and “asleep,” which would keep the details of their costuming
from being visible.
2. These few could begin to move and stir during Clytaemestra’s speech.
3. The other Furies, still inside the skene building, could join in the muttered responses to Clytaemestra’s words.
4. Finally, after Clytaemestra’s exit, the Furies on the ekkyklema could stand up as the others came pouring out through
the skene door to begin the parodos.
5. This arrangement would be spectacular: what had at first appeared to be merely a pile of rags around Orestes would be
revealed as a terrifying chorus matching the Pythia’s description.
VI. All these elements of staging support the ancient view of Aeschylus as particularly skilled in visual spectacle. They
also perhaps point to a very generous choregos in 458 B.C.
A. In the fifth-century Theatre of Dionysus, the imaginative use of the skene building, the tapestries, and the horrifying
Eumenides would all have been startling and compelling effects.
B. The Oresteia also shows abundant evidence of lavish financing.
1. Agamemnon and Cassandra enter on a chariot, which would have to be pulled by horses.
2. Eumenides has at least two, and perhaps three, full choruses: the chorus of the Furies, the Athenian citizens who make
up the jury, and the women who lead the final procession.
3. It seems fairly clear that Aeschylus was fortunate enough to have a generous and enthusiastic choregos in 458.