Theatre of Ostia

Theatrum Ostiense

TheaterItalia · Ostia Antica, ItalyBuilt 18 BCE

About

Ostia's theatre went up at the end of the 1st century BCE, built by Augustus's son-in-law Agrippa and originally seating around 3,000 people. This Augustan-era building was still the one standing in 117 CE. Emperor Commodus began enlarging it to roughly 4,000 seats decades later, and the brick-faced theatre visitors see today wasn't dedicated until 196 CE under Septimius Severus.

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

CIL XIV 82, building inscription 18/17 BCE
Names Marcus Agrippa as builder of the original theatre, dated by his tribunician power — the Augustan-era building still standing in 117 CE, decades before Commodus enlarged it.