THEATER OF DIONYSUS

ON THE SLOPE OF THE ACROPOLIS IN ATHENS

The Theater of Dionysus

What we see here and call the remains of the "Theater of Dionysus" are actually the ruins of a Roman site built on top of the Greek theater. While we know that there was a theater on the site when Pericles began building the Odeon (see page) next door in the 440s BC, we don't know much about either the original theater or the changes made under Pericles.

There is much scholarly debate about the shape of the original orchestra -- if it was round or rectangular during the great age of classical theater. "The original performance space (orchestra) was, however, considerably larger than this surviving semi-circle, which dates from Roman times" (Brown, 15).


See this page for more about the theater and its parts.

See this link for more about the Great Dionysia.

Pages by Mrs. D

"One of the most admirable things about history is, that almost as a rule, we get as much information out of what it does not say as we get out of what it does say. . . . History is a frog; half of it is submerged, but he knows it is there, and he knows the shape of it."

"The Secret History of Eddypus", Mark Twain