NIKONCOOLPIX S9300 22mm
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Now we are entering the theatre district of Pompeii, its Broadway, or West End, so to speak (which is actually in the south of the city). Like every busy night-life area in any self-respecting city, it′s full of restaurants, like this one, at the corner of Vicolo di Paquius Proculus @ Vicolo del Citarista.Moving on along Vicolo di Paquius Proculus, we peek into another domus, with the familiar layout - fauces (vestibulum), and atrium with impluvium.These people had some sort of a decoration in their impluvium - probably, a vase on a pedestal.Their neighbours also had something of the sort, right in the middle of their impluvium. Fancy neighbourhood indeed...And finally, we step into Via Stabiana, which runs past two Pompeii′s theatres - Teatro Grande (The Big Theatre) and Teatro Piccolo (The Smaller Theatre), sitting right next to each other. Like Moscow′s Bolshoi (The Big) and Maly (The Smaller) theatres, located in the same square, called - you knew it! - Theatre Square.This one is Teatro Piccolo, which is technically an odeon - a sort of a music hall in Ancient Greece and Rome, designed for "lighter" performances - musicals, singing concerts, poetry recitals.Let′s have a closer look at the unusual masonry of the theatre′s wall.The plaque tells us that this Teatrum Tectum (as odeon was called by the Romans) was commissioned by two local magistrates (duumviri) - Marcus Porcius and Caius Quinctius Valgus. I guess, this is one of the perks of being a high-level bureaucrat - just put your name on a plaque, and it will live in millennia.Inside, it′s a classic classical theatre setup, with the tiered sloping seating surrounding the orchestra (the marbled floor here) in a semi-circle.In classical theatre, "the orchestra" was the stage. It was called so because the actual orchestra would be sitting there, right behind the performers. The grassed area behind the orchestra was the backstage, with the dressing rooms for performers. As you can see, the backstage area was directly connected to the outside through separate doors, so the performers could come and go without bumping into the spectators (who might had not liked their acting).The first four rows of the low stone slabs are called ima cavea ("lower seats"). Theses were the fancy seats in the house. There would be chairs set up on these slabs for the prominent people of the city, so that they get the most intimate experience of the performance.Above the arched exits (one on each side of the theatre) are the boxes for the special guests, separated from the general public with a low wall (in the left upper corner here).Another low wall (decorated with whatever part of an animal′s anatomy that is) was separating ima cavea below from the common area above.The other figure - a human male - once supported some decorative structure, probably, a column. Such male figure is called telamon or atlas. Both are Greek mythological characters, titans (as in "big giants"), who are usually depicted in these situations.Same story on the opposite side, only here the wall between ima cavea and the common area is destroyed.At the top of the seating area, we can see that a section of the seats has been removed (most probably, after the construction), to build a wall supporting the roof. This theatre was covered with a roof on all sides, improving the acoustics and protecting spectators from the elements. (If today′s weather is any indication, this was not such a trivial concern).When leaving Teatro Piccolo through the exit opposite from the street entrance, ⇨⇨ you end up in a dark tunnel leading into Teatro Grande. This tunnel looks exactly like tunnels under the bleachers of a modern stadium. I have to ask - have we invented ANYTHING that the Romans hadn′t had already?Here we are, in Teatro Grande. It was built approximately 100 years before Teatro Piccolo, most probably on the site of the previous Greek theatre (Pompeii was once a Greek colony). Technically, it′s a bigger version of Teatro Piccolo - with orchestra in the middle, sloping seats in the semi-circle, boxes for special guests above the entrances, and four rows of ima cavea ("lower seats") right before the stage.However, there are some significant differences too. First - the stage. At one point the theatre was extended, and the boxes for special guests (the ones above the arched exists) were added. However, they turned out to be located behind the orchestra, which is not ideal for the important people in the boxes. So the stage was moved back and elevated, like the stage in a modern theatre. That brown platform in the picture is substituting for the original stage now. A backdrop imitating a generic building with columns and statues was also added (not shown here, because there is not much to see now). Another big difference with Teatro Piccolo is the presence of the nosebleeds - the cheapest seats on the balcony up on the back wall, right under the poles supporting the canvas rooftop. (We saw that nosebleeds balcony from Casina dell′Aquila, remember?) That reconstruction happened during the reign of Augustus, and was financed by a family of rich Pompeian vine growers, the Holconius brothers. Among other things, the entire seating area have been resurfaced with marble, the remains of which we can still see on some seats (in the middle there). The rest of the marble slabs, apparently, were looted soon after the eruption, the vast open area of the theatre being very easy to excavate.For their service (or, rather, their money), the members of the Holconius family were granted, in perpetuity, personal seats in the first row of media cavea ("middle seats′), right behind ima cavea (on top of the low stone wall here). Bronze plaques to this respect were installed on the seats.The platforms for ima cavea here are much wider than in Teatro Piccolo, and covered in marble. According to one source, it were loveseats (wooden benches for two) that were set up here.Even though Teatro Grande got its name only after another, smaller theatre was built next to it, it is really a big theatre. It could sit 5,000 people. For comparison - biggest theatres today can rarely sit more than 2,000 (well, with much more comfortable seating, sure).Right behind Teatro Grande, there is an area called Quadriporticus, which means exactly what it looks like - "a square place surrounded by columns".Initially, this was built as a sort of foyer for Teatro Grande. The spectators could come out here during the intermissions, ⇨⇨ and stretch their legs with a stroll along graceful columns. God knows, they needed it - in a Roman theatre, a performance would last almost the whole day.However, when the Pompeii Amphitheatre (a circus for gladiator fights) was built approximately a century later on the other side of the town from here, Quadriporticus changed its function and became a barracks and a training yard for the gladiators.The small cells around the yard (behind the columns in the back there) was where the gladiators lived, and the yard itself was where they trained.Items of gladiator clothing, weapons and armour, and human remains were found in these cells during the excavations.Most of the human remains were those of men (obviously). But in one cell they found remains of a woman, and a rich one to boot, judging by the jewelry. What was she doing there, I wonder...Press ESC to exit
