Apollo Theater (Rome)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Apollo Theater , also treated as Theatrum et Proscaenium ad Apollinis because of its proscenium , was a 179 BC. Established theater on the south-eastern Campus Martius in Rome .

The construction presumably goes back to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , who shortly before had become censor together with Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and by virtue of his office issued orders for the construction and maintenance of public buildings. He sat the first theater of Rome, that was probably built largely of wood, to the front of loud Livy of Gaius Julius Mento donated the temple of Apollo Medicus . This 431 BC The temple erected in BC later gave way to a marble structure erected by Gaius Sosius , the temple of Apollo Sosianus , the remains of which are still today next to the Marcellus Theater and convey a feeling of where the Apollo Theater may have been.

The Apollo Theater followed the tradition of temporary venues. This raises questions about the material used and the inclusion of existing facilities as aids. In contrast to other venues of the time, the Apollo Theater was used permanently, among other things, the Ludi Apollinares took place here. It remains to be seen whether, in addition to a permanent cavea, the skene and proscenium had to be rebuilt each time. As far as there is a high probability of this, it remains unclear whether and which (perishable) materials were used in addition to wood and to what extent various staircases, such as the podium of the adjacent Temple of Apollo, were used as part of the cavea. Since Plutarch reported in his Cicero biography that Cicero led the people out of the theater to the Bellona Temple on the occasion of a commotion , it is in any case considered unlikely that this sanctuary was part of the auditorium.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Filippo Coarelli : Il Campo Marzio. Dalle Origini alla Fina della Repubblica. Quasar, Rome 1997, ISBN 8-871-40106-9 , pp. 603-606.
  2. ^ A b c Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 , pp. 68 ff., 117, 198.
  3. ↑ Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita 40,51,3.
  4. ↑ The new building was praised as a result of Sosius' triumph over the Hasmoneans in Iudaea , which took place on September 3, 34 BC. Was celebrated. The reconstruction as a temple of Apollo Sosianus was completed around 20 BC. Chr .; John W. Stamper: The Architecture of Roman Temples. The Republic to the Middle Empire. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008, p. 119; Paul Zanker : The Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill. Equipment and political references after the Battle of Actium. In: Città e architettura nella Roma Imperiale. Atti del seminario del 27 ottobre 1981nel 25 ° Anniversario dell'Accademia di Danimarca (= Analecta Romana Instituti Danici. Supplement 10). Odense University Press, Odense 1983, ISBN 8-774-92439-7 , pp. 21-40.
  5. ↑ a b Frank Sear: Roman Theaters. An Architectural Study. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-0-191-51827-0 , pp. 54 f. ( online ).
  6. ↑ Inge Nielsen : Cultic Theaters and Ritual Drama. A Study in Regional Development and Religious Interchange Between East and West in Antiquity. University Press, Aarhus 2002, ISBN 87-7288-879-2 , pp. 177-179.
  7. ↑ Plutarch , Cicero 13.3 f. ( online )
  8. ^ Filippo Coarelli: Il Tempio di Bellona. In: BCom , Vol. 80, 1965-1966, pp. 67-72.

literature

  • Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 .
  • Filippo Coarelli : Il Campo Marzio. Dalle Origini alla Fina della Repubblica. Quasar, Rome 1997, ISBN 8-871-40106-9 , pp. 603-606.
  • Filippo Coarelli: Il Tempio di Bellona. In: Bulletino della Commissione Archeologica Communale di Roma , Volume 80, 1965-1966, pp. 67-72.
  • Inge Nielsen : Cultic Theaters and Ritual Drama. A Study in Regional Development and Religious Interchange Between East and West in Antiquity. University Press, Aarhus 2002, ISBN 87-7288-879-2 , pp. 177-179.
  • Frank Sear: Roman Theaters. An Architectural Study. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-0-191-51827-0 , pp. 54 f.