Use & History
Drawing showing the busy public street along the Theatre of Marcellus; entertainment drew in people and commerce.3
The Theatre of Marcellus is most known for hosting the secular games of 17 B.C., an event that occurred before the theatre’s inauguration in 13-11 B.C.1 The theatre could hold up to 20,500 people and was equipped to host acts of pantomime, poetry and music recitals, and plays. Perhaps most importantly, the space was often used for the emperor to address the city population as a whole.2
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1 Amanda Claridge, Judith Toms, and Tony Cubberley, Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 275.
2 Inge Nielson, “Creating Imperial Arcitecture,” in A Companion to Roman Architecture, ed. Caroline K. Quenemoen and Roger B Ulrich (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), 57.
3 Venuti Ridolfino, Accurata, e succinta descrizione topografica delle antichità di Roma dell' abate, (Roma: Presso G.B. Bernabò, e G. Lazzarini, 1763).