page_title: Greek Theatre of Syracuse
section_title: Hellenistic theatre
hierarchical_section_title: Greek Theatre of Syracuse / Hellenistic theatre
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Originaria scrizione in lingua greca al teatro greco di Siracusa
context_page_description: The Greek theatre of Syracuse lies on the south slopes of the Temenite hill, overlooking the modern city of Syracuse in southeastern Sicily. It was first built in the 5th century BC, rebuilt in the 3rd century BC and renovated again in the Roman period. Today, it is a part of the Unesco World Heritage Site of "Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica".
  Despite its abandoned state, it remains one of the most beautiful locations in the world, offering the most grandiose and picturesque spectacle that there is.
  — Vivant Denon, Voyage en Sicile, 1788
context_section_description: It seems that the theatre was renovated in the third century, after 238 BC and certainly before the death of Hieron II in 215 BC, transforming it into the form seen today. Its structure was extended, taking into account the shape of the Temenite hill and the best possibilities for acoustics. Another typical characteristic of Greek theatres is the celebration of the panoramic view, also applied to the theatre of Syracuse, offering a view of the bay of the port and the island of Ortygia.
  The cavea had a diameter of 138.6 metres, one of the largest in the Greek world, and originally had 67 rows of seating, mostly cut into the living rock, and divided into nine sectors (cunei) by access stairs. A pathway (diazoma) runs around the theatre halfway up the cavea, dividing it in two. On the walls there are inscriptions for each of the cunei, with the names of divinities (Olympian Zeus, Herakles) and of members of the royal family (Hieron II himself, his wife Philistis, his daughter-in-law Nereis, daughter of Pyrrhus, and his son Gelo II), which has encouraged some authors to consider the inscriptions valuable for dating the monument's construction or renovation. The upper portion of the seating, now destroyed, was built up on top of an embankment held up by a retaining wall. On the central axis of the cavea, a platform was cut into the rock, perhaps a place for particularly important people to sit.
  The orchestra was originally bounded by a wide euripos (drain), with a space on the outside before the beginning of the steps, by which the public entered.
  The scene building is entirely destroyed and only the cuttings in the bed rock for its foundations are now visible. These belong to multiple phases and are difficult to interpret. A passage dug under the orchestra, accessible by a staircase from the stage and ending in a small room probably belongs to Hieron II's time: it is hypothetically identified with the "Stairs of Charon," which allowed the actors sudden entrances and exits. A ditch for the front curtain probably belongs to this phase too (in ancient theatres these did not fall from above, but rose from below). The traces of an element on which columns and pilasters must have stood have been interpreted as the remnants of a small mobile stage for Phlyax plays. A statue of a caryatid now preserved in the Museo archeologico regionale Paolo Orsi, which contains material excavated and recovered in the theatre, probably formed part of the theatre's decoration.
  Above the theatre there is a terrace, excavated in rock, accessible by a central stairway and by a recessed path, known as "Via dei Sepolcri" (Street of the Tombs). Originally, the terrace had a large portico at the left. In the centre of the foundation wall was a grotto, the grotta del Ninfeo, excavated in the rock, bordered by niches probably designed to host statues and originally probably surrounded by architectural elements of the Doric order (of which only parts of a frieze survives). Inside the room (9.35 x 6.35 m, 4.75 m high) was a tub made of Opus signinum, into which water from the ancient Greek aqueduct flowed. From here the water flowed into the hydraulic system of the theatre. The whole thing might be identified with the Mouseion or sanctuary of Muses, seat of the company of actors. According to the anonymous Life of Euripides, Dionysios dedicated objects belonging to the tragic poet Euripides acquired at great expense in Greece in this sanctuary.
caption: Inscriptions in the diazoma
exif: {}