Second Ancient Theatre

Greece

The Second Ancient Theatre of Larissa is an ancient Greek theatre in the city of Larissa in Thessaly, Greece.

Only the stage (skene) and the chorus area (orchestra) were completed; the semi-circular seating area (koilon) and the side entrances (parodoi) were left incomplete, apparently due to inability to fund their completion. The koilon is divided by 14 stairs into thirteen tiers, each with two rows of low seats of grey-white marble (edolia); the rest were never completed, and probably wooden seats (ikria) were used instead The orchestra has a diameter of 29.7 metres (97 ft) and is composed of two layers of stamped earth mixed with gravel. The thymele (a small square altar) is located on its right. It is of white marble, decorated with Lesbian-style kymatia (decorative bands). It stood on a stepped pedestal of three steps, of which the two lower ones survive.

The marble used in the theatre was not newly quarried, but reused from an older building, probably of circular shape. Some of the blocks feature inscriptions from freedmen dating to the late 3rd century BC.

Contact

MUNICIPALITY OF LARISSA
email
protokolo@larissa.gov.gr
address
Ionos Dragoumi 1 PC 41222
phone
2413 500 200