The early builders built with ear as well as eye. The exceptional acoustics of the Greek amphitheaters, of which the Asclepius theater at Epidaurus is perhaps the best example, do not prove that acoustics had been totally mastered in ancient Greece, but they do show that a general philosophy of building existed in which acoustic considerations helped determine the form and siting of the structure. In the empty amphitheater at Epidaurus the sound of a pin dropping can be heard distinctly in each of the 14,000 seats—an assertion I have put to the test.

Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic E…, loc. 721