DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0586
514
THEATRUM MARCELLI
but of this nothing more is known. Martial mentions this theatre with
that of Pompeius as one of the notable structures of the city (x. 51. n) ·
and parts of the ludi saeculares of Severus were celebrated in it, as in
the games of Augustus (CIL vi. 32328, 33 ; EE viii. 271, 285). It is
found on sundry inscriptions as an indication of location (Fast. Allif.
Vail. a. d. xvi Kai. Sept., CIL i2. 217, 240, Amit. a. d. xv Kai. Nov.,
i2. p. 245 : Iano ad theatrum Marcelli ; LTrb. CIL i2. 252, 339 ; vi. 9868 :
sagarius a theatro Marcelli ; 10028 ; 33838 a : coactor a theatro Marcel-
liano) ; in Servius incidentally (Aen. vii. 607, cf. Jord. i. 2, 347) ; and in
Reg. (Reg. IX).
Some of the travertine blocks used in the restoration of the pons
Cestius in 370 a.d. were taken from this theatre (NS 1886, 159), which
may perhaps indicate that the destruction of the building had begun
by that time, although Petronius Maximus, prefect of the city, set up
statues within it in 421, and one inscribed pedestal was found in situ in
the eighth century by the compiler of the Einsiedeln Itinerary (CIL vi.
l65o). Hulsen has shown (RPA i. 169-174; HCh 226 (S. Caeciliae
de Monte Faffo, cf. 337 x) that the name templum Marcelli still clung to
the ruins in 998, that the Fabii or Faffi were in possession of them as
early as the middle of the twelfth century, and held them until the end
of the thirteenth, when they were succeeded by the Savelli. It is very
doubtful, on the other hand, whether the Pierleoni had any connection
with the theatre. In 1368 it came into the possession of the Savelli family,
and in 1712 into that of the Orsini. The present Palazzo was built
by Baldassare Peruzzi for the Savelli in the early part of the sixteenth
century, and stands upon the scaena and a large part of the cavea of the
theatre (BC 1901, 52-70; 1914, 109; Lovatelli, Passeggiate nella Roma
antica, Rome 1909, 53-88 ; LS iii. 7-8 ; for drawings of the ruins from the
fifteenth century on, see literature just quoted; PBS ii., index to plates,
p. 90 ; vi. 200 ; DuP 134-136 ; and see Ill. 48 ; and HJ 517, n. 29, 30 ;
for a reconstruction, Canina, Ed. iv. pls. 159-163 ; for a reliable plan,
that of Peruzzi, Uffizi 478, 631,2 ap. Bartoli, Mon. di Roma ii. pl. 185).
The theatre is represented on fragments (28, 112) of the Marble Plan,
and stands near the Tiber, on the north-west side of the forum Holi-
torium. The stage is toward the river, and the main axis runs north-
north-east and south-south-west. It was built of travertine for the
most part, with opus reticulatum in the foundations and inner walls
(AJA 1912, 393), covered on the inside—and perhaps partly on the
outside—wTith stucco and marble. A little less than one-third of the
semi-circular exterior is still standing in the Via del Teatro di Marcello.
It was built with three series of open arcades, one above the other.
1 Cf. also BC 1925, 64.
2 This drawing is cited by Hulsen (loc. cit.), but, as a fact, there is very little of the plan
on it. The plan was reproduced by Serlio (Architettura, iii. 57), from an apparently lost
drawing; while the sections by Peruzzi are still extant (Uffizi, 603, 6o4=Bartoli, cit.
171, 170). Cf. Addenda.
THEATRUM MARCELLI
but of this nothing more is known. Martial mentions this theatre with
that of Pompeius as one of the notable structures of the city (x. 51. n) ·
and parts of the ludi saeculares of Severus were celebrated in it, as in
the games of Augustus (CIL vi. 32328, 33 ; EE viii. 271, 285). It is
found on sundry inscriptions as an indication of location (Fast. Allif.
Vail. a. d. xvi Kai. Sept., CIL i2. 217, 240, Amit. a. d. xv Kai. Nov.,
i2. p. 245 : Iano ad theatrum Marcelli ; LTrb. CIL i2. 252, 339 ; vi. 9868 :
sagarius a theatro Marcelli ; 10028 ; 33838 a : coactor a theatro Marcel-
liano) ; in Servius incidentally (Aen. vii. 607, cf. Jord. i. 2, 347) ; and in
Reg. (Reg. IX).
Some of the travertine blocks used in the restoration of the pons
Cestius in 370 a.d. were taken from this theatre (NS 1886, 159), which
may perhaps indicate that the destruction of the building had begun
by that time, although Petronius Maximus, prefect of the city, set up
statues within it in 421, and one inscribed pedestal was found in situ in
the eighth century by the compiler of the Einsiedeln Itinerary (CIL vi.
l65o). Hulsen has shown (RPA i. 169-174; HCh 226 (S. Caeciliae
de Monte Faffo, cf. 337 x) that the name templum Marcelli still clung to
the ruins in 998, that the Fabii or Faffi were in possession of them as
early as the middle of the twelfth century, and held them until the end
of the thirteenth, when they were succeeded by the Savelli. It is very
doubtful, on the other hand, whether the Pierleoni had any connection
with the theatre. In 1368 it came into the possession of the Savelli family,
and in 1712 into that of the Orsini. The present Palazzo was built
by Baldassare Peruzzi for the Savelli in the early part of the sixteenth
century, and stands upon the scaena and a large part of the cavea of the
theatre (BC 1901, 52-70; 1914, 109; Lovatelli, Passeggiate nella Roma
antica, Rome 1909, 53-88 ; LS iii. 7-8 ; for drawings of the ruins from the
fifteenth century on, see literature just quoted; PBS ii., index to plates,
p. 90 ; vi. 200 ; DuP 134-136 ; and see Ill. 48 ; and HJ 517, n. 29, 30 ;
for a reconstruction, Canina, Ed. iv. pls. 159-163 ; for a reliable plan,
that of Peruzzi, Uffizi 478, 631,2 ap. Bartoli, Mon. di Roma ii. pl. 185).
The theatre is represented on fragments (28, 112) of the Marble Plan,
and stands near the Tiber, on the north-west side of the forum Holi-
torium. The stage is toward the river, and the main axis runs north-
north-east and south-south-west. It was built of travertine for the
most part, with opus reticulatum in the foundations and inner walls
(AJA 1912, 393), covered on the inside—and perhaps partly on the
outside—wTith stucco and marble. A little less than one-third of the
semi-circular exterior is still standing in the Via del Teatro di Marcello.
It was built with three series of open arcades, one above the other.
1 Cf. also BC 1925, 64.
2 This drawing is cited by Hulsen (loc. cit.), but, as a fact, there is very little of the plan
on it. The plan was reproduced by Serlio (Architettura, iii. 57), from an apparently lost
drawing; while the sections by Peruzzi are still extant (Uffizi, 603, 6o4=Bartoli, cit.
171, 170). Cf. Addenda.