DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61277#0078
54
ANCIENT THEATRE.
This theatre must have been, in former times,
very considerable: it had eighteen rows of seats
in front of the orchestra, with three other rows
rising above them, which, being covered with a
portico, seemed to have been appropriated to the
more delicate part of the audience, to screen them
from the rays of the sun. From its dimensions,
we judged it capable of containing three or four
hundred persons. Nearly the whole of its sur-
face, as well as the arched walks which led to
the seats, was cased with white marble; and parts
of the walls are still incrusted with the same
material. The area, or pit, was paved with thick
squares of giallo antico, a beautiful marble of a
yellowish hue. On the top stood a group of four
bronze horses, drawing a car, with a charioteer,
all of exquisite workmanship. The pedestal, of
white marble, is still to be seen in its place; but
the group itself had been long ago crushed and
broken in pieces by the immense weight of lava
which fell on it. The fragments having been
collected, might easily have been joined to-
gether again; but, having been carelessly thrown
into a corner, a part of them were stolen, and
another portion fused and converted into busts
of their Neapolitan majesties. At length, it
was determined to make the best use of the
ANCIENT THEATRE.
This theatre must have been, in former times,
very considerable: it had eighteen rows of seats
in front of the orchestra, with three other rows
rising above them, which, being covered with a
portico, seemed to have been appropriated to the
more delicate part of the audience, to screen them
from the rays of the sun. From its dimensions,
we judged it capable of containing three or four
hundred persons. Nearly the whole of its sur-
face, as well as the arched walks which led to
the seats, was cased with white marble; and parts
of the walls are still incrusted with the same
material. The area, or pit, was paved with thick
squares of giallo antico, a beautiful marble of a
yellowish hue. On the top stood a group of four
bronze horses, drawing a car, with a charioteer,
all of exquisite workmanship. The pedestal, of
white marble, is still to be seen in its place; but
the group itself had been long ago crushed and
broken in pieces by the immense weight of lava
which fell on it. The fragments having been
collected, might easily have been joined to-
gether again; but, having been carelessly thrown
into a corner, a part of them were stolen, and
another portion fused and converted into busts
of their Neapolitan majesties. At length, it
was determined to make the best use of the