Herculaneum Theater

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Location of the Herculaneum theater

The Herculaneum theater is a Roman theater that was excavated from 1710. Since 1997 the underground site has been a World Heritage Site under the name "Archaeological Zones Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata".

historical model of the theater

The theater was discovered at the time when the region was occupied by Austro-Habsburg troops. The commander of the Austrian cavalry, Emmanuel-Moritz von Lorraine , who came from France , Prince d'Elbeuf had a country house built in nearby Granatello di Portici and heard about marble finds in neighboring Resina. He bought a piece of land in Resina around 1709 and had existing shafts expanded there. Marble slabs and nine statues were discovered in 1710/1711, including the so-called "Great Herculan Woman" and the two "Little Herculan Women". The excavations had to be stopped around 1711 because the buildings above were at risk and the excavations could no longer be kept secret.

The property came to the Bourbons who later ruled the region via detours and when the royal palace Portici was built in the adjacent Portici in 1736 by the then ruler Charles VII , the Spanish engineer Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre rediscovered the old excavation shafts. He persuaded the king to finance further excavations there, which began on November 3, 1738. On December 11, 1738, an inscription was found over the "Theatrum Herculanense", with which there was certainty about the place.

Access building of the theater
GB Piranesi plan

The excavations were not public and the first step was mainly to find statues. Under Karl Weber , who worked as Alcubierre's assistant from 1748, the first systematic plans for the theater were drawn up later. With the beginning of the exploration of Pompeii and Weber's death in 1764, the excavations in Herculaneum were largely stopped. Francesco La Vega , Weber's successor, completed some surveying work and other projects at the theater before activities at the theater were suspended for the next 60 years.

The theater was built free-standing in the course of the Augustan city expansion. According to an inscription, its construction was made possible by the magistrate Lucius Annius Manniamus Rufus and planned by P. Numisius.

Access to the theater is possible through a room outside the archeological park, which was built in 1750 and from which a staircase leads to the excavation corridors. In 2019, guided tours were offered with a limited number of participants.

literature

  • Andrew Wallace-Hadrill: Herculaneum . Zabern, Mainz 2012.
  • Agnes Allroggen-Bedel: Archeology and Politics. Herculaneum and Pompeii in the 18th century. In: Hephaistos 14, 1996, pp. 217-252 ( online ).
  • August Mau : Pompeii in life and art, 2nd edition, Bonn 1908

Web links

Commons : Theater of Herculaneum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jens-Arne Dickmann: Pompeji, p. 15
  2. ^ Andrew Wallace-Hadrill: Herculaneum, p. 47
  3. ↑ Agnes Allroggen-Bedel: Archeology and Politics, p. 218
  4. ↑ Agnes Allroggen-Bedel: Archeology and Politics, p. 218
  5. ^ Andrew Wallace-Hadrill: Herculaneum, p. 49
  6. ↑ Ceram: Gods graves and scholars, ....
  7. ↑ Valentin Kockel: view, plan, model: for the representation of ancient architecture using the example of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Augsburg, 1996, p. 13
  8. ^ Andrew Wallace-Hadrill: Herculaneum, p. 57
  9. ^ Andrew Wallace-Hadrill: Herculaneum, p. 169
  10. ↑ official site (Italian)

Coordinates: 40 ° 48 ′ 30 ″  N , 14 ° 20 ′ 51.4 ″  E