Theater Singing

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  Epidaurus, Greece
Sunday, October 16, 2005

Epidaurus at one time held the sanctuary of Asklepios. Asklepios was the great Greek healer of myth and many would come here to be healed. He was the most humanitarian of all the gods and would accept anyone and everyone that came to him. Archeologists are planning to restore much of this site, so there is a different feel to it all as old is intertwined with new. One of the structures being restored is the tholos (round building) where many believe the sacred snakes of Asklepios were kept. Another building being worked on is the Stoa of Incubation where patients would have rested after they were healed.

The museum contained a few interesting finds (to me anyway). One was an almost perfect Corinthian style capital that had been buried. The original sculptors had used it as a prototype and then buried it when they were done. We found it and it's in stellar condition. It was also interesting to see the lists of ancient remedies and inscriptions for ancient doctors (although I couldn't read any of it). Apparently, Hippocrates, the first to try to discover real causes of diseases, came to Epidaurus to study medicine.

The highlight of the stop at Epidaurus was the infamous theater where thousands of people can all here perfectly well, as though everyone was sitting on the front row. Theater in the ancient days was one of the most complex forms of art because it involved architecture, drama, painting, music, dance, and song. Drama can be traced back to the religious worship of Dionysus and you can see where an altar once stood in the orchestra. Of course being in this great theater required us to sing - for an audience this time, who did give us quite an applause (amplified of course). We also ran some of our own acoustics tests to make sure this theater was all it was worked up to be. We climbed to the top row of seating and our guide stood in the middle of the orchestra. We could hear her exhale, crumple and tear paper, and whisper as if we were standing right next to her. She clapped her hands and as she moved to the outside of the orchestra the clapping became less audible, but picked up once again as she moved back to the center. It's hard to believe that thousands can hear everything so well (probably why they still use it today). And to think, we spend millions researching acoustics for auditoriums today.

Epidaurus in general was not one of my favorite sites. There wasn't anything overly impressive to me, and I don't like how they are rebuilding everything. However, the site is in a beautiful location, and it played an important role to the ancient Greeks. The theater was amazing though. Quite incredible!

I also added to my life philosophy today something that our guide said: "I don't know if we're allowed to do this, but there is no rope. So let's go."

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