DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0589
THEATRUM POMPEI
517
In 66 a.d. when Tiridates, king of Armenia, visited Rome, Nero is
said to have gilded the scaena and the exterior of the theatre for that
one occasion, and to have stretched purple awnings over the cavea (Plin.
cit. xxxiii. 54; Cass. Dio lxii. 6. 1-2). In 80 the scaena was burned
(Cass. Dio lxvi. 24. 2), but must have been repaired very soon. Under
Severus some restoration must have been carried out, for there are
two inscriptions of Q. Acilius Fuscus, who was procurator operis theatri
Pompeiani in 209-211 a.d. (Pros. i. 6. 47; CIL viii. 1439; *iv. 154;
cf. NS 1880, 471, and CIL vi. 1031). In 247 the theatre was burned
again (Hier. a. Abr. 2263), and probably under Carinus (Hist. Aug.
Car. 19), for it was restored by Diocletian and Maximian (Chron. 148).
Other restorations are recorded, by Arcadius and Honorius (CIL vi.
1191, cf. 1193 ; Mitt. 1899, 251-259), and finally by Symmachus at the
command of Theodoric between 507 and 511 (Cassiod. Var. iv. 51 ; cf.
Sym. Rel. 8. 3). Successive restorations probably increased its magni-
ficence, and it is mentioned among the notable monuments of the city
by Cassius Dio (xxxix. 38) and Ammianus Marcellinus (xvi. 10. 14 :
inter decora urbis). Immediately outside the south-east side of the
scaena was the Porticus Pompeii (q.v.) for the use of the spectators
in case of rain. Other references to the theatre in ancient literature
convey no additional information (Tac. Ann. xiii. 54; Mart. vi. 9 ;
x. 51. II ; xiv. 29. 1, 166. 1 ; App. BC ii. 115 ; v. 15 ; Fest. 178 ; Plin.
cit. xxxvii. 19).
The theatre was in the campus Martius (Not. Reg. IX), a little north-
east of the circus Flaminius, and is represented on the Marble Plan
(frg. 30 ; see Jord. FUR 22-23). Its exact site is determined by the
remains in opus reticulatum of the foundations of the cavea (the church
of S. Maria de Crypta pincta (HCh 328) takes its name from one of the
vaults), of the temple of Venus Victrix, discovered under the Palazzo Pio,
and of the scaena in the Piazza dei Satiri (which takes its name, not
from the two satyrs now in the Capitol (Cortile 5, 23), but from a local
name Satro, HCh 204-205) The Piazza di Grottapinta still preserves
the name and the form of part of the theatre. The fagade of the semi-
circular cavea consisted of three series of arcades, adorned with columns,
the lowest arcade being of the Doric order, the second Ionic, and the
third Corinthian. Of the lower arcade traces of twenty-four arches of
peperino have been found, in front of which were columns of red granite.
The diameter of the theatre was 150-160 metres (cf. LF 23), and the
length of the scaena about 95 metres. According to Pliny (NH xxxvi.
115) the cavea seated 40,000 persons, but this, like other statements of
seating capacity in ancient literature, is open to question, and the most
careful estimate reduces this number to 10,000 (BC 1894, 321 ; for the
theatre and its remains, see also HJ 524-530 ; Gilb. iii. 322-327 ; LS
ii. 50, 175, 244; iii. 123, 124, 234; DS v. 192-194; DAP 2. xv. 371 ;
RA 24 ; Mem. L. 5. xvii. 505 ; Capitolium ii. 531-544).
517
In 66 a.d. when Tiridates, king of Armenia, visited Rome, Nero is
said to have gilded the scaena and the exterior of the theatre for that
one occasion, and to have stretched purple awnings over the cavea (Plin.
cit. xxxiii. 54; Cass. Dio lxii. 6. 1-2). In 80 the scaena was burned
(Cass. Dio lxvi. 24. 2), but must have been repaired very soon. Under
Severus some restoration must have been carried out, for there are
two inscriptions of Q. Acilius Fuscus, who was procurator operis theatri
Pompeiani in 209-211 a.d. (Pros. i. 6. 47; CIL viii. 1439; *iv. 154;
cf. NS 1880, 471, and CIL vi. 1031). In 247 the theatre was burned
again (Hier. a. Abr. 2263), and probably under Carinus (Hist. Aug.
Car. 19), for it was restored by Diocletian and Maximian (Chron. 148).
Other restorations are recorded, by Arcadius and Honorius (CIL vi.
1191, cf. 1193 ; Mitt. 1899, 251-259), and finally by Symmachus at the
command of Theodoric between 507 and 511 (Cassiod. Var. iv. 51 ; cf.
Sym. Rel. 8. 3). Successive restorations probably increased its magni-
ficence, and it is mentioned among the notable monuments of the city
by Cassius Dio (xxxix. 38) and Ammianus Marcellinus (xvi. 10. 14 :
inter decora urbis). Immediately outside the south-east side of the
scaena was the Porticus Pompeii (q.v.) for the use of the spectators
in case of rain. Other references to the theatre in ancient literature
convey no additional information (Tac. Ann. xiii. 54; Mart. vi. 9 ;
x. 51. II ; xiv. 29. 1, 166. 1 ; App. BC ii. 115 ; v. 15 ; Fest. 178 ; Plin.
cit. xxxvii. 19).
The theatre was in the campus Martius (Not. Reg. IX), a little north-
east of the circus Flaminius, and is represented on the Marble Plan
(frg. 30 ; see Jord. FUR 22-23). Its exact site is determined by the
remains in opus reticulatum of the foundations of the cavea (the church
of S. Maria de Crypta pincta (HCh 328) takes its name from one of the
vaults), of the temple of Venus Victrix, discovered under the Palazzo Pio,
and of the scaena in the Piazza dei Satiri (which takes its name, not
from the two satyrs now in the Capitol (Cortile 5, 23), but from a local
name Satro, HCh 204-205) The Piazza di Grottapinta still preserves
the name and the form of part of the theatre. The fagade of the semi-
circular cavea consisted of three series of arcades, adorned with columns,
the lowest arcade being of the Doric order, the second Ionic, and the
third Corinthian. Of the lower arcade traces of twenty-four arches of
peperino have been found, in front of which were columns of red granite.
The diameter of the theatre was 150-160 metres (cf. LF 23), and the
length of the scaena about 95 metres. According to Pliny (NH xxxvi.
115) the cavea seated 40,000 persons, but this, like other statements of
seating capacity in ancient literature, is open to question, and the most
careful estimate reduces this number to 10,000 (BC 1894, 321 ; for the
theatre and its remains, see also HJ 524-530 ; Gilb. iii. 322-327 ; LS
ii. 50, 175, 244; iii. 123, 124, 234; DS v. 192-194; DAP 2. xv. 371 ;
RA 24 ; Mem. L. 5. xvii. 505 ; Capitolium ii. 531-544).