Roman Theatre of Fourvière
About
Built into the slope of the Fourviere hill, site of the original Roman colonia founded in 43 BCE, the theatre went up under Augustus around 15 BCE with a diameter of 108 meters and seating for about 4,500 people; a later enlargement, completed under Hadrian, nearly doubled its capacity to roughly 10,000. Formal excavations beginning in the 1930s first established the building's construction chronology, and more recent work has uncovered the hyposcaenium, the underground machinery room beneath the stage that raised and lowered scenery during performances. In 117 CE the theatre stood at its original Augustan scale, still decades away from the Hadrianic expansion that would give it the footprint visible today.
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
- Seneca, Epistulae Morales 91
Describes the catastrophic fire of 64 CE that destroyed the colony of Lugdunum (Lyon) in a single night. A citywide account, not a description of the theatre.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →