ere able to attend performances. The lower level of seats was built at the same level as the orchestra, and the background of the orchestra became intricately decorated. The columns present throughout Hellenistic Theaters were done away with and replaced by a plain stage area. Most prominent, however, were the changes to the orchestra. The skene was moved forward, thus cutting into the circular orchestra and, for the first time in any theater created a semi-circular orchestra (Nicoll 20).These theaters also allowed for machines which were used to accomplish some of the special effects. It wasnt until the two-story skene was created that many of these machines could be successfully hidden from the audience. A few machines in particular were most impressive. One of these impressive machines was the mechane, invented around 430 B.C. The mechane was attached to the top of the skene toward the left side of the stage. It consisted of a hook and pulley used to float actors through the air. It was most commonly used to fly the actors portraying gods. The Clouds by Aristophanes was one of the first plays to have employed the mechane. As the mechane became more widely used by Aeschylus and Euripides, the Latin phrase dues ex machina arose. The phrase originally referred to the flying of the divinity but later came to signify a dramatic device introduced for the purpose of bringing a problem or an action to a swift, and often to an unsatisfactorily artificial, conclusion, (Nicoll 22). Playwrights began to rely on this device as an easy way to conclude a performance when they simply could not think of anything else.Another significant machine was the eccyclema (often spelled ekkuklema). The name was derived from the Latin word ekkuklein meaning, to roll out, (Nicoll 21) because the eccyclema was simply a platform rolled out of the skene. Its purpose was to reveal the aftermath of something that supposedly took place off stage. Usually...
