was one of the most important structures in all of Roman history. The first n ibga largest permanent stone theater in Rome, it had religious and civic significance in addition to its prominence as a cultural institution of entertainment. It w ill also be forever remembered as the location of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Although the mainkll
Historical Background
Up until 61 BCE, there had never been a permanent theater in the city of Rome. The social tradition was that wealthy people seeking public favor (usually running for public office) would pay to have temporary wooden theaters constructed for several days of plays and games, and these theaters would be torn down at the end of the festivities. But Pompey, upon returning to Rome in the late 60s BCE, having swept the entire Mediterranean Sea clean of pirates from west to east and fresh off victories over King Mithridates of Pontus in the Third Mithridatic War, decided that he deserved better. He was awarded an unprecedented third triumph by the Senate, and to celebrate, he drew up plans to build Rome's first permanent, stone theater.
Construction, Physical Description, and Function
The plans called for the most ambitious building project undertaken to date by the Romans, a giant marble theater with an adjacent courtyard of gardens and art galleries surrounded by a portico, at the other end of which would be a curia (a building for government matters), behind which would be yet another peristyled courtyard, a sacred one, containing four small temples. The theater itself was 300 ft wide (unfortunately, we do not know exactly how tall it was, but it was comparable to the height of the Colosseum, perhaps 6 stories tall at its highest point) and could seat between 5,000 and 8,000 people---the entire complex could fit 28,000.
The "steps" of the temple to Venus Victrix
The final and most interesting feature of the building was a raised temple to Venus Victrix (Venus the Conqueror) at the very back of the seating in the theater. The reason for this was that when the Senate objected to Pompey building a permanent theater in the city, he simply claimed that it was a temple with an extremely elaborate set of steps that happened to accomodate 5,000 people and faced a stage. Nobody in Rome had the political capital or will to oppose the most powerful man in Rome.
After years of construction, the theater was dedicated in 55 BCE to a week of games in celebration, although the finishing touches of the temple to Venus were not completed until three years later. It would remain the largest theater in Roman during ancient times, and was the most impressive structure in Rome until the construction of the Flavian Amphitheater (better known today as the Colosseum) more than a century later.
Recreation of the Theater's lavish marble stage, on which the best Greek and Roman plays were performed for hundreds of years.
The theater complex served many functions thereafter. Greek and Roman tragic and comedic plays were held in the theater proper, as well as gladiatorial games and wild beasts fights. The courtyard of gardens became the hottest hangout spot on the Campus Martius, the flat area of the Roman city to the northwest of the city center of the Capitoline and Palatine hills; Ovid describes it at a great place for singles to meet, a fact made all the more appropriate by the worship of Venus that regularly took place at the pinnacle of the structure. The temples in the sacred area at the other end of the complex were frequented by the Roman populace, and the curia that separated the two courtyards served as a multi-use building for administrative purposes, and even as a meeting place for the Senate whenever the curia was undergoing repairs, being one of the only places in Rome large and fancy enough to accomodate the Senate.
Legacy
It was this function as the temporary meeting place of the Senate that led to the curia of the Theater of Pompey on the Ides of March, 44 BCE being the location of the most famous (or infamous) event in Roman history: the assassination of Julius Caesar. The ancient sources are unclear about why exactly the Senate was meeting at the Theater of Pompey, whom Caesar had just
The ruins of the temples in the sacred area as they stand today.
returned from defeating and receiving the severed
head of Pompey in Egypt, rather than their normal building in the Forum, but nevertheless, they are clear Caesar was assassinated there. You have all seen two version of how it took place---both are reasonably faithful to the ancient accounts, even if they misplace the event in the Forum. Now you know why Caesar died in front of a statue of Pompey: It happened at his theater.
Today, the theater itself and the larger courtyard have been buried by the centuries and now sit under several city blocks of the modern Roman city. The ruins of the edge of the curia and the four temples of the sacred outer courtyard, however, are still accessible today and visible from the street. The below-ground city block that these ruins inhabit is today called the Largo Di Torre Argentina, and is home to a no-kill sanctuary for stray cats. You can imagine that as a cat shelter as well as the place of Julius Caesar' death, this peculiar sunken city block is quite a tourist attraction. If you ever visit Rome, feel bad to check out this fascinating site, now that you know so much about it!
One of the many stray cats at the Largo Di Torre Argentina cat sanctuary that unwittingly tread every day on the spot of Caesar's murder.
Ancient/Modern Comparisons
Google Earth's Rome Layer version of the Theater of Pompey. Compare to what is there today (below).
Rome today: Note the curved structure of the buildings on the left, which mimics the curvature of the ancient theater. The remains of the four temples and part of the curia are on the right, and the road cuts off exactly where it did in ancient times.
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A view from the east of the four temples in the sacred area, part of the garden courtyard, and the curia that separated them. The ruins of these temples are still visible today (see below)
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An arial view of the sacred area today. Note that the leftmost temple is underneath the modern street, as is most of the curia where Caesar was assassinated.
- Mchfj
By Lucretius (Mr. Van Eimeren)The Theater of Pompey (Theatrum Pompeii)
was one of the most important structures in all of Roman history. The first n ibga largest permanent stone theater in Rome, it had religious and civic significance in addition to its prominence as a cultural institution of entertainment. It w ill also be forever remembered as the location of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Although the mainkllHistorical Background
Up until 61 BCE, there had never been a permanent theater in the city of Rome. The social tradition was that wealthy people seeking public favor (usually running for public office) would pay to have temporary wooden theaters constructed for several days of plays and games, and these theaters would be torn down at the end of the festivities. But Pompey, upon returning to Rome in the late 60s BCE, having swept the entire Mediterranean Sea clean of pirates from west to east and fresh off victories over King Mithridates of Pontus in the Third Mithridatic War, decided that he deserved better. He was awarded an unprecedented third triumph by the Senate, and to celebrate, he drew up plans to build Rome's first permanent, stone theater.
Construction, Physical Description, and Function
The plans called for the most ambitious building project undertaken to date by the Romans, a giant marble theater with an adjacent courtyard of gardens and art galleries surrounded by a portico, at the other end of which would be a curia (a building for government matters), behind which would be yet another peristyled courtyard, a sacred one, containing four small temples. The theater itself was 300 ft wide (unfortunately, we do not know exactly how tall it was, but it was comparable to the height of the Colosseum, perhaps 6 stories tall at its highest point) and could seat between 5,000 and 8,000 people---the entire complex could fit 28,000.
The final and most interesting feature of the building was a raised temple to Venus Victrix (Venus the Conqueror) at the very back of the seating in the theater. The reason for this was that when the Senate objected to Pompey building a permanent theater in the city, he simply claimed that it was a temple with an extremely elaborate set of steps that happened to accomodate 5,000 people and faced a stage. Nobody in Rome had the political capital or will to oppose the most powerful man in Rome.
After years of construction, the theater was dedicated in 55 BCE to a week of games in celebration, although the finishing touches of the temple to Venus were not completed until three years later. It would remain the largest theater in Roman during ancient times, and was the most impressive structure in Rome until the construction of the Flavian Amphitheater (better known today as the Colosseum) more than a century later.
The theater complex served many functions thereafter. Greek and Roman tragic and comedic plays were held in the theater proper, as well as gladiatorial games and wild beasts fights. The courtyard of gardens became the hottest hangout spot on the Campus Martius, the flat area of the Roman city to the northwest of the city center of the Capitoline and Palatine hills; Ovid describes it at a great place for singles to meet, a fact made all the more appropriate by the worship of Venus that regularly took place at the pinnacle of the structure. The temples in the sacred area at the other end of the complex were frequented by the Roman populace, and the curia that separated the two courtyards served as a multi-use building for administrative purposes, and even as a meeting place for the Senate whenever the curia was undergoing repairs, being one of the only places in Rome large and fancy enough to accomodate the Senate.
Legacy
It was this function as the temporary meeting place of the Senate that led to the curia of the Theater of Pompey on the Ides of March, 44 BCE being the location of the most famous (or infamous) event in Roman history: the assassination of Julius Caesar. The ancient sources are unclear about why exactly the Senate was meeting at the Theater of Pompey, whom Caesar had just
head of Pompey in Egypt, rather than their normal building in the Forum, but nevertheless, they are clear Caesar was assassinated there. You have all seen two version of how it took place---both are reasonably faithful to the ancient accounts, even if they misplace the event in the Forum. Now you know why Caesar died in front of a statue of Pompey: It happened at his theater.
Today, the theater itself and the larger courtyard have been buried by the centuries and now sit under several city blocks of the modern Roman city. The ruins of the edge of the curia and the four temples of the sacred outer courtyard, however, are still accessible today and visible from the street. The below-ground city block that these ruins inhabit is today called the Largo Di Torre Argentina, and is home to a no-kill sanctuary for stray cats. You can imagine that as a cat shelter as well as the place of Julius Caesar' death, this peculiar sunken city block is quite a tourist attraction. If you ever visit Rome, feel bad to check out this fascinating site, now that you know so much about it!
Ancient/Modern Comparisons
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References:
http://www.theaterofpompey.com/auditorium/firsttheater.shtmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2mOd7lIGOE
http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/ge/AS-015.html
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Theatrum_Pompei.html
http://www.pompey.cch.kcl.ac.uk/
Richard C. Beacham, Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome, (Yale, 1999), pp. 61-71.
Gleason, K.L., “The Garden Portico of Pompey the Great”, Expedition 32, no. 2 (1990), 4-13.
http://www.nyu.edu/its/humanities/ach_allc2001/papers/beacham/
http://www.maquettes-historiques.net/P16b.html
pictures from internet sources link directly to sources; all other pictures are screenshots from Google Earth.