Daughters of Mnemosyne: Architecture, Distributed Cognition, and the Helleno-Roman Theater

The Hellenistic theater and its Italian republican cognates were active participants in the dramatic experience. Audiences relied on the architecture of the stage in particular not only to set the scene of the action but to function as an apparatus of simple cognitive cues that either facilitated the audience’s retention and recovery of memory during performances or activated related mental processes. Both principal aspects of the scenery participated in this phenomenon: the changing painted background scenes served as visual cues to reinforce the action and setting; and the doorways and other entrances functioned as mnemonic “bookmarks” to organize cognitive processes during performances.