Paraskenion
Parasekenia
Projecting portions of the skene. Description: These side wings may be one story, although some literary evidence suggests that the paraskenia may have had a second story. These buildings were decorated with doors that let onto the proskenion, and sometimes the facade was ornamented by the addition of columns or pillars supporting a frieze. It is thought that plays in the fourth century B.C. were not acted on the proskenion, but in front of the skene between the paraskenia on the ground floor of the orchestra. The raised stage was not common until the Hellenistic period. Sometimes the proskenion extends farther forward than the paraskenia and has sloping ramps for side entrances.
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