Location
Lauro's Map of Rome: click here for interactive version showing Theatre of Marcellus in relation to other monuments.5
The Theatre of Marcellus was one of several theatres built in close vicinity over a period of 40 years. This created a small theatre district within the Roman city.1 Caesar intentionally started construction near the Theatre of Pompey to emphasize the rivalry.2 It was a prime position: west of the Capitoline Hill and between the Circus Flaminius and the Temple of Apollo Sosianus.3 In order to use this location, it had to be built on the site of an earlier theatre and several buildings and temples were demolished to allow for construction to begin. The Temple of Apollo actually had to be moved a few meters in order make room for the theatre.4
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1 Nancy H. Ramage and Andrew Ramage, Roman Art: Sixth Edition, (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2015), 118.
2 Andrew Ballantyne, Key Buildings from Prehistory to the Present: Plans, Sections and Elevations (London: Laurence King, 2013), 412.
3 Amanda Claridge, Judith Toms, and Tony Cubberley, Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 275.
4 Mark Cartwright, “Theatre of Marcellus,” Ancient History Encyclopedia, last modified October 8, 2013, http://www.ancient.eu /article/614/.
5 Giacomo Lauro, Splendore Dell'antica E Moderna Roma (Roma: Stamparia d’Andrea Fei, 1641), 31.