DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0588
THEATRUM POMPEI
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(Pint. Pomp. 42), and within it he set up many wonderful statues (Plin.
cit. vii. 34 ; for the statues of the fourteen nations subdued by Pompeius
Plin. cit. xxxvi. 41 ; Suet. Nero 46 ; Serv. Aen. viii. 721 ; see Porticus
ad Nationes). To avoid censure for building a permanent theatre,
he constructed a temple of Venus Victrix (q.v.) at the top of the central
part of the cavea, so that the rows of seats might appear to be the steps
leading up to the temple, and dedicated the whole as a temple and not
as a theatre (Tert, de spect. IO ; Gell. x. I. 7 ; Plin. cit. viii. 20). Ter-
tullian speaks of the dedication of theatre and temple as taking place
at the same time, but Gellius (loc. cit.) states that Pompeius, when
about to dedicate the temple, was uncertain whether to put consul
tertium or tertio in the inscription, and on the advice of Cicero (quoted
from a letter of Tiro) compromised on consul tert. This would seem to
indicate that the temple was dedicated in 52, not 53 (which is also the
statement of Chron. Pasch. a. u. c. 702 ; Chron. min. ed. Mommsen, i. 215).
Gellius, however, goes on to say that the inscription in theatro did not
read so in his day, nam cum multis annis postea scaena, quae prociderat,
refecta esset, numerus tertii consulatus non uti initio primoribus litteris
sed tribus tantum liniolis incisis significatus est. Whatever may have
been true of the dedication, the inscription on the temple, or on the
temple and scaena both, was evidently put in place in 52 b.c. From
the notice in two calendars (Fast. Allif. Amit. ad pr. Id. Aug., CIL i2.
p. 217, 244, 324; cf. Suet. Claud. 21 : cum prius apud superiores aedes
supplicasset) it appears that there were shrines or altars to three other
deities, Honor Virtus and Felicitas, similarly placed in the theatre, and
perhaps a fourth (Fast. Allif. : V. . . . ?).
Augustus restored the theatre at great expense in 32 b.c. (Mon. Anc.
iv. 9 : sine ulla inscriptione nominis mei ; cf., however, CIL vi. 9404 :
in schola sub theatro Aug(usto) Pompeian(o) ), and removed the statue
of Pompeius, before which Caesar had been murdered, from the Curia
Pompei (q.v.) to the theatre itself (Suet. Aug. 31 : Pompei quoque
statuam contra theatri eius regiam (the middle door of the scaena, Jord.
FUR p. 23) marmoreo iano superposuit).1 It was burned in 21 a.d. (Hier.
a. Abr. 2037) and since there was no surviving member of the family
able to restore it, this was undertaken by Tiberius (Tac. Ann. iii. 72 ;
Veil. ii. 130 ; Sen. de cons, ad Marc. 22. 4), who set up a bronze statue
of Sejanus within the building (Cass. Dio lvii. 21. 3). Tiberius did
not complete the work of restoration (Suet. Tib. 47; Cal. 21), or, according
to another statement, did not dedicate it (Tac. Ann. vi. 45). The com-
pletion of the work is ascribed to Caligula (Suet. Cal. 21) or Claudius
(Suet. Claud. 21), and the dedication to the latter (Suet. Claud. 21 ;
Cass. Dio lx. 6. 8), who inscribed the name of Tiberius on the scaena and
built a marble arch in his honour (see Arcus Tiberii) near the theatre
(Suet. Claud. 11).
1 Cf. also CIL vi. 32323. 157 (acta lud. saec. Aug.).
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(Pint. Pomp. 42), and within it he set up many wonderful statues (Plin.
cit. vii. 34 ; for the statues of the fourteen nations subdued by Pompeius
Plin. cit. xxxvi. 41 ; Suet. Nero 46 ; Serv. Aen. viii. 721 ; see Porticus
ad Nationes). To avoid censure for building a permanent theatre,
he constructed a temple of Venus Victrix (q.v.) at the top of the central
part of the cavea, so that the rows of seats might appear to be the steps
leading up to the temple, and dedicated the whole as a temple and not
as a theatre (Tert, de spect. IO ; Gell. x. I. 7 ; Plin. cit. viii. 20). Ter-
tullian speaks of the dedication of theatre and temple as taking place
at the same time, but Gellius (loc. cit.) states that Pompeius, when
about to dedicate the temple, was uncertain whether to put consul
tertium or tertio in the inscription, and on the advice of Cicero (quoted
from a letter of Tiro) compromised on consul tert. This would seem to
indicate that the temple was dedicated in 52, not 53 (which is also the
statement of Chron. Pasch. a. u. c. 702 ; Chron. min. ed. Mommsen, i. 215).
Gellius, however, goes on to say that the inscription in theatro did not
read so in his day, nam cum multis annis postea scaena, quae prociderat,
refecta esset, numerus tertii consulatus non uti initio primoribus litteris
sed tribus tantum liniolis incisis significatus est. Whatever may have
been true of the dedication, the inscription on the temple, or on the
temple and scaena both, was evidently put in place in 52 b.c. From
the notice in two calendars (Fast. Allif. Amit. ad pr. Id. Aug., CIL i2.
p. 217, 244, 324; cf. Suet. Claud. 21 : cum prius apud superiores aedes
supplicasset) it appears that there were shrines or altars to three other
deities, Honor Virtus and Felicitas, similarly placed in the theatre, and
perhaps a fourth (Fast. Allif. : V. . . . ?).
Augustus restored the theatre at great expense in 32 b.c. (Mon. Anc.
iv. 9 : sine ulla inscriptione nominis mei ; cf., however, CIL vi. 9404 :
in schola sub theatro Aug(usto) Pompeian(o) ), and removed the statue
of Pompeius, before which Caesar had been murdered, from the Curia
Pompei (q.v.) to the theatre itself (Suet. Aug. 31 : Pompei quoque
statuam contra theatri eius regiam (the middle door of the scaena, Jord.
FUR p. 23) marmoreo iano superposuit).1 It was burned in 21 a.d. (Hier.
a. Abr. 2037) and since there was no surviving member of the family
able to restore it, this was undertaken by Tiberius (Tac. Ann. iii. 72 ;
Veil. ii. 130 ; Sen. de cons, ad Marc. 22. 4), who set up a bronze statue
of Sejanus within the building (Cass. Dio lvii. 21. 3). Tiberius did
not complete the work of restoration (Suet. Tib. 47; Cal. 21), or, according
to another statement, did not dedicate it (Tac. Ann. vi. 45). The com-
pletion of the work is ascribed to Caligula (Suet. Cal. 21) or Claudius
(Suet. Claud. 21), and the dedication to the latter (Suet. Claud. 21 ;
Cass. Dio lx. 6. 8), who inscribed the name of Tiberius on the scaena and
built a marble arch in his honour (see Arcus Tiberii) near the theatre
(Suet. Claud. 11).
1 Cf. also CIL vi. 32323. 157 (acta lud. saec. Aug.).