Teatro Romano di Trieste
The Teatro Romano di Trieste (also Teatro Tergestino ) is the ruin of the Roman theater in the northern Italian city of Trieste .
location
The Teatro Romano is located on Via del Teatro Romano at the foot of the Colle di San Giusto , the city hill and ancient center of Trieste. Originally the theater was outside the city walls and on the seashore. Due to the increasing silting up of the port and the expansion of the city on the ground that was gained in this way, the ruins of the theater are now in the center of the city.
Structure of the theater
The semicircular grandstand ( cavea ) with the stone rows of seats is divided into four wedge-shaped sectors ( cunei ) by stairs and originally offered space for 6,000 people. A colonnade forms the upper end of the auditorium. The grandstand and portico are largely preserved today. Only fragments of the stage wall ( scenae frons ) and the foyer behind it have survived .
history
The theater was built at the end of the 1st century with the instigation and financial support of the Trieste patrician Quintus Petronius Modestus , a colleague of Emperor Titus in the Jewish War as well as procurator and Flemish under Emperor Trajan . The stage was originally on the seashore and served as a location for theatrical performances.
Presumably the theater was destroyed in 568 by the Lombards , who raided and besieged the city that year. The remains of the theater were then hidden under the medieval city wall and the adjacent houses for centuries. It was not until 1938 that the ruins were rediscovered in the course of major urban redevelopment. Mussolini then had an entire residential area of the old town torn down. The uncovering of the Roman ruins was intended to demonstrate the continuity of the new fascist empire and to prove that Trieste belonged to the Roman empire and thus to Italy. Medieval parts of the city were destroyed in the course of the excavations.
Today the Teatro Romano is an indication of the wealth of Trieste at the time of the Roman Empire and is used in July every year as the venue for a festival, the Teatro Romano Festival .
literature
- Monika Verzàr-Bass: Il Teatro romano di Trieste. Monumento, storia, funzione. Contributi per lo studio del teatro antico (= Bibliotheca Helvetica Romana . No. 25 ). Swiss Institute in Rome / Istituto svizzero di Roma, Rome 1991, ISBN 978-3-8053-1341-4 (Italian).
- Elisabetta Mangani, Fernando Rebecchi, Maria Josè Strazzulla: Emilia, Venezie (= Guide archeologiche Laterza ). 2nd Edition. Laterza, Rom / Bari 1993, ISBN 88-420-1791-4 , pp. 273-275 (Italian).
Web links
Coordinates: 45 ° 38 ′ 57 ″ N , 13 ° 46 ′ 18 ″ E