Discover Theatre of Marcellus

The Theatre of Marcellus is an ancient theatre in the centre of Rome, begun by Julius Caesar, completed by Augustus, and dedicated between 13 and 11 BCE. It was named for Marcellus, Augustus's nephew and son-in-law.

Two tiers of its outer arcades survive, Doric below and Ionic above. On top of them stands a palace of the sixteenth century, built for the Orsini to a design by Baldassare Peruzzi, whose upper floors are private apartments to this day. The Sovrintendenza Capitolina, which runs the site, states that the building is visibile solo dall'esterno — visible only from the outside.

The archaeological area around the base is open daily and free. The sources differ on the theatre's size: the Sovrintendenza gives a diameter of 130 metres and a capacity calculated at 15,000, expandable to 20,000; Wikipedia gives 111 metres and cites a fourth-century catalogue figure of 17,580.

The facade is a textbook, and it was copied for fifteen centuries. The surviving arcades run Doric at the base and Ionic above, with a third Corinthian order very likely above that — Wikipedia notes the uncertainty, since the medieval rebuilding took the top away. Stacking the orders lightest-last on an arcaded curve is the arrangement the Colosseum would use a century later, and that most of Renaissance Europe would use after it.

What makes this building unusual is not the Roman part but the join. Peruzzi's palace does not sit beside the theatre or inside it; it sits on it, using the ancient structure as a foundation and springing a domestic facade of windows and cornices directly from the Ionic tier. The seam is visible from the street: travertine arcades, then a horizontal break, then plastered wall and shutters.

The ground has moved too. By the nineteenth century the street had risen so much that almost half the ground floor was buried; the 1930s clearance cut it back out, which is why visitors now walk several metres below the road to stand at the foot of the arches.

Caesar cleared the site, Augustus paid for the building, and a dead young man got the name. The theatre was begun under Julius Caesar, who acquired and demolished to make room for it, and finished under Augustus around 17 BCE. Marcellus — Augustus's nephew, married to his daughter — had died in 23 BCE, before the dedication.

It was built as a free-standing masonry theatre rather than cut into a hillside in the Greek manner, which is the Roman innovation the type depended on: a curved multi-storey arcade of travertine carrying tiers of seating on vaults, so a theatre could stand anywhere flat.

Roman repair continued for centuries, with restorations recorded under Vespasian and Alexander Severus. The medieval conversion then did what preserved it: turning the arcades into the base of a fortress, and later a palace, gave the lower two storeys a reason to be maintained while the upper tier and the entire interior were quarried away.

Can I go inside? No. The Sovrintendenza states that the building is visibile solo dall'esterno. The upper floors are private apartments.

Is there a charge? No. The archaeological area is free, daily.

What are the hours? 09.00-19.00 on summer time, 09.00-18.00 on winter time, closed 1 May.

Is this the Colosseum's prototype? It is the older building, dedicated between 13 and 11 BCE, and it uses the same stacked-orders arcade the Colosseum would use about ninety years later. The page does not claim a direct line of influence, because neither source makes that claim.

How big was it? That depends who you ask. The Sovrintendenza gives 130 metres across and a calculated capacity of 15,000, up to 20,000. Wikipedia gives 111 metres and cites a fourth-century catalogue figure of 17,580.

What are the three columns next to it? The Temple of Apollo Sosianus, a separate building.

How long does it take? About 25 minutes at the lower level.