The Reliefs on the Theater of Dionysos in Athens

Abstract

Four stone reliefs decorate the late Roman stage front, or "Phaedrus bema," of the Theater of Dionysos in Athens. The reliefs depict scenes from the life of Dionysos: 1. The Birth of Dionysos; 2. Entrance of Dionysos into Attica; 3. Sacred Marriage of Dionysos and the Basilinna; 4. The Enthronement of Dionysos. The iconography of the reliefs, although related to Dionysiac sarcophagi and to the late Hellenistic Ikarios reliefs, possesses a high degree of originality and independence from established types. An artist well acquainted with the standard modes of depicting Dionysos here creatively adapts old myths to form compositions suitable to a new setting and with increased importance to Attica. The Hadrianic date of the reliefs indicates that they are reused material in their present position. It is here proposed that the original destination of the sculptures was the Hadrianic stage front, rather than an altar near the theater, as formerly supposed. The composition, height of relief, and frontality of the figures support this hypothesis, as do parallels among a number of Roman reliefs known to have been designed as theater decoration. Reliefs securely identified as altar decoration differ significantly in compositional features, such as clarity of outline, amount of decorative detail, and variety of pose. The Athens theater reliefs, although not the earliest example of this type of architectural sculpture, provide the first known instance in which narrative episodes from the life of Dionysos are created for the structure most closely associated with his cult. Their subsequent influence on the tradition of theater reliefs is reflected in the great theaters of Side, Perge, and Hierapolis in Asia Minor.