The penny drops: ancient theatre’s legendary acoustics are just another Greek myth

Scientists disprove the reputation of the 2,400-year-old Epidaurus theatre, where audiences in distant seats are said to be able to distinguish the sound of a coin falling or performers speaking in whispers on centre stage

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Greek actress Leda Tassopoulou, and other actors perform during a dress rehearsal of Hypsipyle at ancient Epidaurus in 2002. Photo: AP

Published: 1:22pm, 17 Oct 2017Updated: 7:30pm, 17 Oct 2017

It has been held up as a stunning example of ancient Greek sound engineering, but researchers say the acoustics of the theatre at Epidaurus are not as dazzling as they have been hailed.

Dating from the fourth century BC, and seating up to 14,000 spectators, the theatre has long been admired for its sound quality, with claims that audiences are able to hear a pin or a coin drop, or a match being struck, at any seat in the house. Even the British archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler raved about the theatre, declaring in clipped tones in a 1958 broadcast: “Even a stage whisper could be picked up by the furthest spectator with the cheapest ticket.”

But new research suggests such assertions are little more than Greek myth.

According to Constant Hak, assistant professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology, and co-author of the research, the research was inspired by his own experience of Epidaurus many years ago where he failed to discern the much-ballyhooed acoustics. “I was very curious about what was really happening,” he said.

The ancient theatre in Epidaurus dates from the fourth century BC. Photo: Wikipedia

We kind of revert back to that idea that they had this wonderful knowledge and they were somehow in touch with something magical that allowed them to do it in that way

Dr Bruno Fazenda, acoustics expert

In a series of conference papers, which also involved experiments at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the theatre of Argos, Hak and colleagues describe how they tested the claims. They used 20 microphones, placing each one at 12 different locations around the theatre of Epidaurus, together with two loudspeakers, one at the centre of the “stage” – or orchestra – and one to the side. Both speakers played, with a slight delay between them, a sound that swept from low to high frequency, with the speakers in five different orientations. In total, they made approximately 2,400 recordings.

The team then used the data to calculate sound strength at different points in the theatre.