Stunning Ancient Greek Theaters You Can Still Visit Today

It has been almost five years since I wrote a list for Listverse (yep, I wrote for them too) titled 10 Incredible Ancient Theaters That You Can Still Visit. Since the summer is coming soon and Greece will become a tourist magnet for millions of visitors from around the world, I thought of improvising and here I am with a "remake" of this list for Steemit, focusing on the ancient theaters of Greece. 

Source: Nea Selida

A Few Things About Ancient Greek Theater 

 In Ancient Athens, theater was considered to be the most significant form of art. The stories that were performed in front of the public incorporated elements of poetry, dance, music and acting.

Theater nowadays has become a force of creativity and inspiration in every corner of the planet. Most of us are familiar with Broadway in New York, Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, La Scala in Milan, and the Sydney Opera House—but what about the theaters of yesterday, and all the glory they once carried on their stages? 

Here follow some of of the best-preserved and significant ancient Greek theaters that you can still visit today. 

The Theater at Delphi

Delphi was one of the most important sites in Ancient Greek religion, home to the sanctuary and oracle of Apollo. The shrine to Apollo at Delphi was dedicated in the eighth century BC, and the site played an important role in the Pythian Games. 

Important architectural pieces of Delphi today include the Temple of Apollo, the Treasury of the Athenians, the stadium, and—which is our concern—the theater. The ancient theater of Delphi was built on a hill, giving spectators a view of the entire sanctuary and the spectacular landscape surrounding it. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

It was originally built in the fourth century BC, and could seat five thousand spectators. Although excavated and restored, the theater is in a poor condition; the cavea has subsided, the limestone blocks are cracking and flaking, and many of its architectural features remain scattered throughout the area. 

The Theater of Dionysus

The Theater of Dionysus, which lies practically in the shadow of the Acropolis, is believed to be the most ancient theater in the world. During the Classical era, Athenian drama was performed here during the celebration of the Great Dionyssia, one of the major religious festivals of the city.

Source: Visit Ancient Greece 

Believed to have been built by descendants of the tyrant Peisistratos, it has seen many subsequent alterations and expansions, meaning that its architectural evolution remains a mystery. Today’s remnants derive from the late Roman period of the theater, with only a few rows of benches dating from its Classical Greek period.

An effort is currently underway to restore the ancient theater using fragments of the original Corinthian stone which have been scattered throughout the site. 

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Carved into the southern slope of the Athenian Acropolis, the Odeon was built in 161 AD by Herodes Atticus in memory of his wife, so it’s foremost a memorial which also happened to function as a theater. It’s very possible that Herodes was the richest Athenian at the time. 

Though he was Greek in blood, he was an honored and privileged Roman citizen. His vast wealth and education (he was a philosopher, sophist, and rhetorician) made him very popular, even among the royal Roman families. It is said that he was also the teacher of two Roman emperors: Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius. 

He lived a distinctly Roman lifestyle, and married a young and very beautiful Roman woman named Rigillia, who unfortunately died while she was still quite young. The mourning of Herodes Atticus was so unbearable that he painted every wall and curtain of his house black and refused to leave it for a whole year. 

Source: GTP

When he finally got over his depression, he made various dedications to the memory of his wife. One of them was a monument right under the Parthenon, which he first called “The Odeon of Rigilla” after his wife, but which he then rather selfishly renamed The Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

The Theater of Epidaurus

The theater of Epidaurus is undoubtedly the most famous and best-preserved ancient theater in the world. It functioned as both the religious and political centre of Epidaurus, a city-state of rather minor importance which lived under the shadow of more powerful hubs like Corinth, Sparta, and Athens. 

The excavations, which began in 1880 and were completed along with restorations in the twentieth century, revealed the most perfect sample of ancient Greek theater. It has fifty-five rows of seats, which are divided into twelve tiers at the lower landing and twenty-two on the upper one, giving the theater a capacity of more than twenty thousand viewers. 

Source: The Toc 

The legendary acoustics of the theater has long been the source of academic and amateur speculation; some theories suggest that prevailing winds carried sounds or masks amplified voices, while others say that the secret lies in the design of the seats. No theory has been entirely proven, even after decades of research. 

Part of the article was written by me and published by my personal blog theo-cracy.com and Listverse in 2013. 

References

10 Incredible Ancient Theaters That You Can Still Visit