Ekkyklema

The Ekkyklema (from Greek ἐκκυκλεἶν - rolling out; reveal ) is an ancient theater technical device from which is known that it existed, but not how it was designed exactly. It was first mentioned in a piece of the Greeks Aristophanes, what the time of origin in the 5th century BC moves. Really saved but this presumption is not.

Construction

Even Layout and appearance of Ekkyklema remain contentious, as we remained no contemporary drawings.

• Some researchers believe it is a movable device by means of rollers, but it is unclear how this ' car' now might have looked like: a rotating platform, which was integrated into the Skene, a wheeled small stage or a rollable Kline
• A second theory wants to know Ekkyklema understood as a static image, which was hidden behind a curtain or the like to ' revealed ' in due course to become.

Use

With the help of this device, it was possible (eg the interior of a house) closer to the audience outside the stage Geschehenes. The actor, who used the Ekkyklema, remained motionless and mute most likely in place, as long as they were visible to the audience, almost an early form of the Tableau Vivant. The images as shown contained a high informative nature and were easy to decipher, so that the audience was able to open himself what had to have happened backstage.

Examples

In Agamemnon of Aeschylus the audience sees suddenly the interior of the palace from the middle door of the main building with the silver bath of the king in two places (v. 967 and 1349 ). In the Electra of Sophocles Aegisthus orders to open the palace gates before a veiled corpse is pushed onto the stage of the Ekkyklemas (v. 1450 ).