Roman Theatre of Cartagena

Theatrum Carthaginis Novae

TheaterHispania Tarraconensis · Cartagena, SpainBuilt 5 BCE

About

Cut into the slope of the Concepción hill so that the audience climbs to its seats, the theatre of Carthago Nova holds about six thousand and was paid for as an act of imperial flattery: inscriptions on its altars name Gaius and Lucius Caesar, the grandsons Augustus meant to succeed him. Marble for the stage front came in by sea. The colony below it lives on silver from the hills behind and on the esparto grass that ropes the fleet. In 117 CE it is a working theatre in a working port; later building buried it so completely that it was found again only in 1988.

What happened here

Seating is the message: the front rows are reserved by law for the town council, and everyone can see who is sitting where. The building is a half-circle against a tall stone backdrop that also serves as a permanent set, and the acoustics are good enough that an actor can be heard without effort. The programme is mime and pantomime more than the old tragedies — bawdy, topical, sometimes politically sharp enough that performers get exiled. Audiences are loud, partisan, and quite prepared to shout a piece down. Awnings and perfumed water sprays are laid on when the sponsor is generous. Shows are attached to religious festivals and paid for by a magistrate who wants the credit, and his name is on the seating.

In ancient writing

Theatre dedication, altars and entrance lintel Augustan
Marble altars and a large lintel from the entrances honour Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Augustus's grandsons — the same imperial heirs named on the Maison Carrée.