DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0587
THEATRUM POMPEI
515
Between the arches of the lowest arcade are half-columns of the Doric
order, and above them is a Doric entablature with triglyphs and an
attic, 1.20 metre high, with projections that form the bases of the half-
columns of the second Ionic arcade. The entablature above these
columns consists of an architrave of three projecting ledges, with a
plain frieze and cornice. The original third arcade with Corinthian
pilasters has been entirely destroyed and replaced with modern masonry.
Thirteen piers, 3 metres wide and 2 thick, with their engaged columns,
are still standing, and were till lately buried to about one-third of their
height beneath the ground. Immediately within these piers was an
ambulatory running round the cavea, from which spur walls were built
on radial lines to support the tiers of seats. The construction of the
walls, seats, etc., as well as of the exterior, seems to have been quite like
that of the theatre of Pompeius and that which was afterwards developed
in the Colosseum. The arcades, ambulatories, and chambers between
the open walls have now been cleared. The diameter of the theatre was
about 150 metres, the scaena was about 80-90 metres long and 20 deep ;
and at each end of the scaena was an apsidal hall, about 25 by 15 metres,
one of which may have been the regia (see above).
According to the Notitia, this theatre had 20500'loca, and if this is
interpreted to mean running feet of seats, as is usual at present, it would
accommodate from ten to fourteen thousand spectators (BC 1894, 320),
but much doubt attaches to these estimates of seating capacity (in
addition to literature cited see in general BC 1901, 65-70 ; HJ 515-519 ;
LR 493-495 ; D’Esp. Mon. i. 36-38; ASA 88 ; ZA 231-236; Capitolium
i· 529-534 ; π- 594-600).
Theatrum Pompei : * the first permanent theatre in Rome, built of stone
by Pompeius in his second consulship in 55 b.c., and dedicated in that
year according to the common version (Asc. in Pis. 1 ; Veil. ii. 48 ;
Chron. Pasch. a. u. c. 697 (foundations laid) ; Chronica Min. ed. Momms.
i. 215 ; Tac. Ann. xiv. 20 ; Cass. Dio xxxix. 38, whose story that a
freedman of Pompeius furnished the money is to be rejected), when
most elaborate games, contests of wild animals, and exhibitions of
marvels, were provided (Cic. in Pis. 65 ; Plin. NH vii. 158; viii. 20;
Plut. Pomp. 52). Besides the usual name, theatrum Pompei, it was
called theatrum Pompeianum (Plin. cit. xxxiv. 39; xxxvi. 115 ; Mon.
Anc. iv. 9 ; Suet. Tib. 47 ; Claud. 21 ; Tac. Ann. vi. 45 ; Mart. vi. 9 ;
x. 51. 11 ; xiv. 29. 1, 166. 1 ; in plural, Flor. 13. 8) ; theatrum mar-
moreum (Fast. Amit. ad pr. Id. Aug., CIL i2. p. 244) ; theatrum magnum
(Plin. cit. vii. 158) ; and sometimes simply theatrum (Cic. ad Att. iv. 1.6 ;
Hor. Carm. i. 20. 3 ; Suet. Nero 13 ; Flor. ii. 13. 91 ; Cass. Dio 1. 8. 3), as
it was the only stone theatre in Rome until that of Marcellus was built
and always the most important (cf. Tac. Ann. xiii. 54 ; Plin. cit. xxxiii. 54 ;
Cass. Dio lxii. 8).
The plan of this building Pompeius took from that of Mitylene
515
Between the arches of the lowest arcade are half-columns of the Doric
order, and above them is a Doric entablature with triglyphs and an
attic, 1.20 metre high, with projections that form the bases of the half-
columns of the second Ionic arcade. The entablature above these
columns consists of an architrave of three projecting ledges, with a
plain frieze and cornice. The original third arcade with Corinthian
pilasters has been entirely destroyed and replaced with modern masonry.
Thirteen piers, 3 metres wide and 2 thick, with their engaged columns,
are still standing, and were till lately buried to about one-third of their
height beneath the ground. Immediately within these piers was an
ambulatory running round the cavea, from which spur walls were built
on radial lines to support the tiers of seats. The construction of the
walls, seats, etc., as well as of the exterior, seems to have been quite like
that of the theatre of Pompeius and that which was afterwards developed
in the Colosseum. The arcades, ambulatories, and chambers between
the open walls have now been cleared. The diameter of the theatre was
about 150 metres, the scaena was about 80-90 metres long and 20 deep ;
and at each end of the scaena was an apsidal hall, about 25 by 15 metres,
one of which may have been the regia (see above).
According to the Notitia, this theatre had 20500'loca, and if this is
interpreted to mean running feet of seats, as is usual at present, it would
accommodate from ten to fourteen thousand spectators (BC 1894, 320),
but much doubt attaches to these estimates of seating capacity (in
addition to literature cited see in general BC 1901, 65-70 ; HJ 515-519 ;
LR 493-495 ; D’Esp. Mon. i. 36-38; ASA 88 ; ZA 231-236; Capitolium
i· 529-534 ; π- 594-600).
Theatrum Pompei : * the first permanent theatre in Rome, built of stone
by Pompeius in his second consulship in 55 b.c., and dedicated in that
year according to the common version (Asc. in Pis. 1 ; Veil. ii. 48 ;
Chron. Pasch. a. u. c. 697 (foundations laid) ; Chronica Min. ed. Momms.
i. 215 ; Tac. Ann. xiv. 20 ; Cass. Dio xxxix. 38, whose story that a
freedman of Pompeius furnished the money is to be rejected), when
most elaborate games, contests of wild animals, and exhibitions of
marvels, were provided (Cic. in Pis. 65 ; Plin. NH vii. 158; viii. 20;
Plut. Pomp. 52). Besides the usual name, theatrum Pompei, it was
called theatrum Pompeianum (Plin. cit. xxxiv. 39; xxxvi. 115 ; Mon.
Anc. iv. 9 ; Suet. Tib. 47 ; Claud. 21 ; Tac. Ann. vi. 45 ; Mart. vi. 9 ;
x. 51. 11 ; xiv. 29. 1, 166. 1 ; in plural, Flor. 13. 8) ; theatrum mar-
moreum (Fast. Amit. ad pr. Id. Aug., CIL i2. p. 244) ; theatrum magnum
(Plin. cit. vii. 158) ; and sometimes simply theatrum (Cic. ad Att. iv. 1.6 ;
Hor. Carm. i. 20. 3 ; Suet. Nero 13 ; Flor. ii. 13. 91 ; Cass. Dio 1. 8. 3), as
it was the only stone theatre in Rome until that of Marcellus was built
and always the most important (cf. Tac. Ann. xiii. 54 ; Plin. cit. xxxiii. 54 ;
Cass. Dio lxii. 8).
The plan of this building Pompeius took from that of Mitylene