Description
Trieste's Roman Theatre is a stone auditorium from almost two thousand years ago, set into the slope of San Giusto Hill right in the centre, between Via Donota and Via del Teatro Romano. Restored and partly rebuilt, it lies behind the Town Hall on Piazza Unità and still clearly shows the shape of an ancient theatre.
Depending on the estimate, the tiers could seat from 3,500 to 6,000 spectators. They are divided into sectors by five stairways and by walkways on two levels, and they use the slope of the hill, in the Greek manner.
At the bottom is the orchestra, the semicircle at the foot of the seating, and in front of it remain part of the rectangular stage building, with its pillars, and traces of five doors. Uphill, a mighty semicircular wall supported the roofing.
Today it seems wedged between the buildings, but when it was built, at the end of the 1st century BC, the theatre stood outside the walls and on the seashore, which then reached this far. The stage, adorned with statues in niches, looked straight out over the water.
Those niches held statues of the imperial family and of illustrious citizens. Among them was Quintus Petronius Modestus, a native of Trieste, procurator and flamen, that is, priest of the imperial cult, of Trajan, who enlarged and restored the theatre in the early 2nd century; some think he had it built in the first place.
He is commemorated by two twin inscriptions, a cast of which can be seen on site. The original statues and inscriptions found in the excavations are in San Giusto Castle, in the Lapidario Tergestino.
For centuries the theatre vanished under the houses of the old town, which used its walls as foundations, and it was believed lost. In 1814 the architect Pietro Nobile identified its remains, but it was brought back to light only in 1938, when that part of the old quarter was demolished.
Depending on the estimate, the tiers could seat from 3,500 to 6,000 spectators. They are divided into sectors by five stairways and by walkways on two levels, and they use the slope of the hill, in the Greek manner.
At the bottom is the orchestra, the semicircle at the foot of the seating, and in front of it remain part of the rectangular stage building, with its pillars, and traces of five doors. Uphill, a mighty semicircular wall supported the roofing.
Today it seems wedged between the buildings, but when it was built, at the end of the 1st century BC, the theatre stood outside the walls and on the seashore, which then reached this far. The stage, adorned with statues in niches, looked straight out over the water.
Those niches held statues of the imperial family and of illustrious citizens. Among them was Quintus Petronius Modestus, a native of Trieste, procurator and flamen, that is, priest of the imperial cult, of Trajan, who enlarged and restored the theatre in the early 2nd century; some think he had it built in the first place.
He is commemorated by two twin inscriptions, a cast of which can be seen on site. The original statues and inscriptions found in the excavations are in San Giusto Castle, in the Lapidario Tergestino.
For centuries the theatre vanished under the houses of the old town, which used its walls as foundations, and it was believed lost. In 1814 the architect Pietro Nobile identified its remains, but it was brought back to light only in 1938, when that part of the old quarter was demolished.