Excerpt from The Classical Review, Vol. 12 For many years past Dorpfeld's book on the Greek theatre has been expected with the greatest curiosity. Before its publica tion his theory of the Greek stage had only been revealed in a partial and fragmentary manner, in the course of incidental papers and reviews. We were never sure Whether we had the whole theory before us, or whether we knew all the evidence which was to be brought forward in support of it. His book has now been published. The theory is clearly expounded, and carefully worked out in all its details. We are now therefore in possession Of all the facts which are necessary for the purpose of coming to a decision about it. Under these circumstances a fresh discussion of this question about the Greek stage may be interesting and pro fitable. My purpose in the present paper is to state briefly the main arguments which are to be brought forward on both sides of the question and to explain the grounds on which, as it seems to me, the new theory must be regarded as untenable. In dealing with this subject it will be convenient to divide the period covered by the Greek drama into two parts, and to consider first the later period, from about 300 rc. On wards; and then to return to the earlier period, that of the fourth and fifth centuries The evidence in the two cases is some what different, and will be more clearly understood if taken separately. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.