|
|
Theatrvm Marcelli
|
|
Musa and the young apprentice now made their way through the crowd towards the Theatre of Marcellus they were faced with the back of the building and the small portico which was at the back of the scaena which contained the temples of Diana and Piety. Musa began telling the apprentice about the theatre
"The theatre was planned by Caesar to rival that of his enemy Pompey but he
never got around to carrying this out so it was actually built by Augustus and
has been suitable for use for 18 years, when the secular games were held here.
But it was not actually dedicated until 4 years after the games. (1)Augustus
dedicated the theatre nephew Marcellus who died in 23B.C.
(2) who he had wanted to
be his heir. It can hold up to 11,000 spectators which is more than the Theatre
of Pompey holds. Although this theatre is still not as good as that of Pompey
because it is not grand and is actually more compact. Plus when
the sun is behind the Cavea it casts a shadow over the stage and the breeze
never reaches the theatre properly so unpleasant vapours become trapped in the
building so that it is not be very pleasant to sit there sometimes.
As they walked around the theatre to the front of the building which was the curved and contained all the entrances to the seating of the theatre the crowd became more and more dense with people milling expectantly around the theatre waiting for the afternoons performances to begin. The apprentice once again was staring up at the building in amazement which looked to be built of just stucco and marble. It was three storeys high with the first two storeys containing open arcades which were superimposed onto the structure. The ground floor had Tuscan pillars in the arcading followed by ionic on the next storey and Corinthian pilasters which decorated the blank wall of the third story and every other panel contained a small square window. The young man could see the poles, which were used to hold up the awning that protected the audience from the weather, right at the top of the building.
As
they walked around to the entrance that Musa would use the young man noticed
that the walls of the arcades on the first two floors were decorated with
masks from all the types of theatre, comedy, tragedy and satyr. Once the young
man and Musa had made their way around to the entrance that Musa would use he
began to explain that they would not actually be able to sit together during the
performance due to the new
legislation which was introduced by Augustus in C. 20B.C. which was the lex juilia
theatralis. This law was part of Augustus' social legislation which was
based on wealth and status and although a freedman may be very wealthy but
because he was a former slave he could not sit with the upper classes at the
front of the theatre but would be forced further back. The marriage laws which
were implemented by Augustus also affected where people sat, men who were
married and who had children were given better seats than bachelors.
Finally the crowds started to move as the people began to make their way into the theatre through the many different entrances to the cavea and Musa pointed the young man in the direction of the entrance he should use to get to his seat. As the young apprentice entered the theatre he found himself in a long corridor made of stone and concrete and he could hear the footsteps of the thousands of people also making their way to their seats. He followed the other people as they started to go up the complex series of stairs and corridors within the theatre. Until they emerged into the cavea of the theatre which contained all the seating. Once he had found a place to stand the young man suddenly realised how high up he was with the other people of his rank and as he looked down he saw how the people nearer the stage were obviously of higher class. As he started to look at the building and realised that unlike a Greek theatre this theatre had a semi-circular orchestra and no paradoi and that the scanea was very elaborate and contained four massive marble columns which Musa had previously told him came from the house of Scaurus on the palatine. The young man was amazed at the amount of noise that the crowd was making and as he relaxed to watch the performance hoped that they would quieten down or he would not be able to hear the performance.
As the young apprentice jostled to find a position where he could see the stage he smiled to himself happily. he hoped that all his future days in Rome would be as interesting as his first.
(1)The date of the actual dedication is disputed it could be either 13B.C or 11B.C.
