The theatre area of Pompeii is located in the southwest region of the city. There are three main buildings that make up this area: the Large Theatre, the Odeon (small theatre), and the Quadriporticum. These served as an entertainment and meeting centre of the city. [1] Pompeii had two stone theatres of its own nearly two decades before the first permanent stone theatre was erected in Rome in the 50s BC.
The Large Theatre was built into a natural hill in the second century BC and was one of the first permanent stone theatres in the Roman empire. It sat roughly 5,000 spectators. In the Greek style, the tiered seating extends from the orchestra carved out of the hillside. Around 2 BC, the theatre was renovated and presented to the city of Pompeii as a gift by two relatives, M. Holconius Rufus and M. Holconius Celer, according to an inscription in the theatre. Both of these men were wealthy politicians, and acting as benefactors for the renovation would have helped advance their political ambitions in the city. Additionally, both men had experience in political roles pertaining to the relationship between the colony and the emperor, thus it is also possible the Roman-style renovation of the theatre was in-part done as a tribute to the emperor or to further assimilate Pompeii into the greater Roman Empire. [2] The Roman influence is seen above this gallery where four tiers rested upon an arched corridor. [3] The cavae , audience seating area, was divided into three sections: the lowermost section, the ima, was reserved for senators, magistrates, and other noble people; the middle section, the media, sat the middle class; the top, the summa, was reserved for the plebeians. The tiers on the "ima" were wider and not as steep as the "media" or the "summa" to make it more spacious and comfortable for the higher class. The upper class was also separated from the other seating by a short wall, this was to show the class system, and the divide within the social standings of the classes in Rome.
Following the earthquake of 62 AD, renovations were made to the theatre. The colonnade leading to the theatre was converted into barracks for gladiator residence. [4]
The theatre has been used for concerts, operas, and theatre in the modern era. In the 1950s, in an effort to preserve the original steps, iron frames were installed that allowed for wooden boards to be rested upon them to provide seating.
The Odeon was a smaller roofed theatre, theatrum tectum, that sat 1500 spectators and was built in 80 BC. [5] The theatre follows the plan of other Roman theatres and odeon structures. Where the Large Theatre was used primarily for staging drama, the Odeon was intended for council meetings as well as entertainment.
The thin walls and rectangular plan lead to the conclusion that the roof would have been wood rather than vaulted stone. There are two raised tribunalia, platforms, above the seating that were reserved for important visitors. These platforms are cut off from the general seating completely with entrances from narrow staircases near the stage.
Additionally, modern computer reconstructions have demonstrated optimal acoustic quality in the roofed theatre, specifically citing the setting as ideal for "song and music from weaker instruments like the lyre." [6]
The stage featured five entrances on the back wall. A large palatial double door was at the centre with two smaller double doors on either side. Two small single doors were located at either end. There is a large doorway that opens to a colonnade leading to the Large Theatre at the west end of the stage. Opposite this is a similar doorway opening up to the street. Behind the stage is a long dressing room or postscaenium. Following ancient theatre tradition, a machine used for suspending the gods and heroes was located at the left side of the stage. [7] The orchestra, the semicircle structure below the stage, has been noted for its decor. Excavations have uncovered vividly colored marble and stone opus sectile in the orchestra area of the Odeon. [5]
The Quadriporticum served as a passage, porticos post scans, behind the scene of the theatre. It was a covered walkway used by spectators to either travel between events, or just gain cover from the rain. The Quadriporticus was a classic feature of most Hellenic Theatres codified by Vitruvius in De architectura . [8] The interior area of this courtyard was transformed into gladiatorial housing and gyms.
An amphitheatre or amphitheater is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ἀμφιθέατρον, from ἀμφί, meaning "on both sides" or "around" and θέατρον, meaning "place for viewing".
The cavea are the seating sections of Greek and Roman theatres and amphitheatres. In Roman theatres, the cavea is traditionally organised in three horizontal sections, corresponding to the social class of the spectators:
The Theatre of Dionysus is an ancient Greek theatre in Athens. It is built on the south slope of the Acropolis hill, originally part of the sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus. The first orchestra terrace was constructed on the site around the mid- to late-sixth century BC, where it hosted the City Dionysia. The theatre reached its fullest extent in the fourth century BC under the epistates of Lycurgus when it would have had a capacity of up to 25,000, and was in continuous use down to the Roman period. The theatre then fell into decay in the Byzantine era and was not identified, excavated and restored to its current condition until the nineteenth century.
The Theatre of Pompey, also known by other names, was a structure in Ancient Rome built during the latter part of the Roman Republican era by Pompey the Great. Completed in 55 BC, it was the first permanent theatre to be built in Rome. Its ruins are located at Largo di Torre Argentina.
Pessinus was an Ancient city and archbishopric in Asia Minor, a geographical area roughly covering modern Anatolia. The site of the city is now the modern Turkish village of Ballıhisar, in a tributary valley of the Sakarya River on the high Anatolian plateau at ca. 950 m above sea level, 13 km from the small town of Sivrihisar. Pessinus remains a Catholic titular see.
The Arènes de Lutèce are among the most important ancient Roman remains in Paris, together with the Thermes de Cluny. Constructed in the 1st century AD, this theatre could once seat 15,000 people and was used also as an amphitheatre to show gladiatorial combats.
Augusta Emerita, also called Emerita Augusta, was a Roman colonia founded in 25 BC in present day Mérida, Spain. The city was founded by Roman Emperor Augustus to resettle Emeriti soldiers from the veteran legions of the Cantabrian Wars, these being Legio V Alaudae, Legio X Gemina, and possibly Legio XX Valeria Victrix. The city, one of the largest in Hispania, was the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania, controlling an area of over 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi). It had three aqueducts and two fora.
Termessos was a Pisidian city built at an altitude of more than 1000 metres at the south-west side of the mountain Solymos in the Taurus Mountains. It lies 17 kilometres to the north-west of Antalya. It was founded on a natural platform on top of Güllük Dağı, soaring to a height of 1,665 metres from among the surrounding travertine mountains of Antalya.
Approximately 100 years after the destruction of Punic Carthage in 146 BC, a new city of the same name was built on the same land by the Romans in the period from 49 to 44 BC. By the 3rd century, Carthage had developed into one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire, with a population of several hundred thousand. It was the center of the Roman province of Africa, which was a major breadbasket of the empire. Carthage briefly became the capital of a usurper, Domitius Alexander, in 308–311. Conquered by the Vandals in 439, Carthage served as the capital of the Vandal Kingdom for a century. Re-conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire in 533–534, it continued to serve as an Eastern Roman regional center, as the seat of the praetorian prefecture of Africa. The city was sacked and destroyed by Umayyad Arab forces after the Battle of Carthage in 698 to prevent it from being reconquered by the Byzantine Empire. A fortress on the site was garrisoned by Muslim forces until the Hafsid period, when it was captured by Crusaders during the Eighth Crusade. After the withdrawal of the Crusaders, the Hafsids decided to destroy the fortress to prevent any future use by a hostile power. Roman Carthage was used as a source of building materials for Kairouan and Tunis in the 8th century.
The Roman theatre of Philippopolis is one of the world's best-preserved ancient Roman theatres, located in the city center of modern Plovdiv, Bulgaria, once the ancient city of Philippopolis. It was constructed in the 1st century AD, probably during the reign of Domitian. The theatre can host between 5,000 and 7,000 spectators and it is currently in use.
Prusias ad Hypium was a city in ancient Bithynia, and afterwards in the late Roman province of Honorias. In the 4th century it became a bishopric that was a suffragan of Claudiopolis in Honoriade. Before its conquest by King Prusias I of Bithynia, it was named Cierus or Kieros and belonged to the Heraclea Pontica. Photius writes that it was called Kieros, after the river which flows by it.
The Amphitheatre of Pompeii is one of the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatres. It is located in the ancient city of Pompeii, near Naples, and was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, that also buried the city of Pompeii and the neighbouring town of Herculaneum. Six bodies were found during the excavations.
Roman amphitheatres are theatres — large, circular or oval open-air venues with raised seating — built by the ancient Romans. They were used for events such as gladiator combats, venationes and executions. About 230 Roman amphitheatres have been found across the area of the Roman Empire. Early amphitheatres date from the Republican period, though they became more monumental during the Imperial era.
The Roman Theatre of Mérida is a construction promoted by the consul Vipsanius Agrippa in the Roman city of Emerita Augusta, capital of Lusitania. It was constructed in the years 16 to 15 BCE. One of the most famous and visited landmarks in Spain, the Roman Theatre of Mérida is regarded as a Spanish cultural icon and was chosen as one of the 12 Treasures of Spain.
The ancient theatre of Taormina is an ancient Greek theatre in Taormina, Sicily, built in the third century BC.
The Portico of Pompey, also known as the Great Walkway and Hall of a Hundred Pillars, was a large quadriporticus located directly behind the scaenae frons of the Theatre of Pompey. It enclosed a large and popular public garden in the ancient city of Rome. The porticus was dedicated in 55 BC. and has a history spanning hundreds of years. The colonnades contained arcades and galleries that displayed sculptures and paintings collected from years of war campaigns of its patron and builder, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Over time the site became rows of shops that occupied what were the galleries and arcades. As the ground level rose from constant flooding from the Tiber River, much of the original architectural elements were re-used by shop owners to adorn their structures at higher levels. Today, many of these shops still exist and fragments of the old theatre and porticus can be seen embedded in the ancient walls of many of the buildings.
The Greek theatre of Syracuse lies on the south slopes of the Temenite hill, overlooking the modern city of Syracuse in southeastern Sicily, Italy. It was first built in the 5th century BC, rebuilt in the 3rd century BC and renovated again in the Roman period. Today, it is a part of the Unesco World Heritage Site of "Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica".
The Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.
The Roman amphitheatre of Italica is a ruined Roman amphitheatre situated outside the ancient Roman settlement of Italica, around 300 metres from the city's northern entrance. The amphitheatre's location is in present-day Santiponce, Andalusia, Spain, close to the city of Seville.
The ancient theater of Sabratha is the Roman theater of the ancient city of Sabratha in Proconsular Africa, on the Mediterranean coast of northwestern Libya. The date and circumstances of its construction are undetermined, as are those of its abandonment. Archaeologists can only advance approximate hypotheses, and place its construction around the end of the first century or the beginning of the second. After centuries of abandonment, excavators rediscovered the city and its monument during the Italian occupation of Libya in the early 20th century. The excavation and restoration work carried out between 1927 and 1937 made the theater the most important monument on the Sabratha site, the largest theater in Roman Africa, and the most spectacular in the Roman world in two respects: the colonnade of its stage wall was almost completely reconstructed by a three-level anastylosis, and an exceptional series of bas-reliefs adorned the base of the stage. It could accommodate around 5,000 spectators and, in its restored state, still holds 1,500.