• Photos and Panorama Movies • Theatre Archive Home • Glossary of Terms The Theatre at Taormina (Latin: Tauromenium), Sicily, Italy:
The original Greek theatre at Taormina was carved directly into the living rock of Mount Tauro in the 3rd century BCE. Little of this earlier theatre exists except for a few stone seats with 3rd century inscriptions and the remains of a Hellenistic sanctuary at the top of the cavea. The majority of the ruins we see today are the result of numerous Roman reconstructions and additions that began as early as the Trajanic/Hadrianic period, (98 to 138 CE), with additions in the 3rd century CE when the theatre was transformed into a gladiatorial arena.
Sited on a rocky promontory overlooking the Ionian Sea, Taormina has been a popular tourist destination in Sicily for several hundred years. With breathtaking views from above and warm protected beaches below, Taormina is the jewel of Sicily. It was a “must see” stop on the 16th and 17th century European Grand Tour and its popularity continues today with its beautifully restored medieval buildings, breathtaking views, and its festival of winding streets strewn with shops, bars and restaurants. And the star attraction is the theatre that overlooks it all. A two-thousand-year survivor of war, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, the theatre of Taormina continues to impress visitors who idealize its weathered ruins, and it continues to serve as a venue for performances as it did in antiquity.
History: Taormina (ancient Greek, Ταυρομ?νιον) was founded by Andromacus at the behest of Dionysius the Tyrant Syracuse in 392 BCE. The original theatre dates from this time. Following the first Punic War, the city fell to the Romans in 212 BCE and became a favorite holiday spot for Patricians and Senators, establishing itself as a tourist destination then as now. Thus, the Greek city Ταυρομ?νιον became Roman Tauromenium which today is known as Taormina.
The ruins of the theatre we see today were sited by ancient Greeks in the 3rd century BCE but reenvisioned during of Rome’s 600-year occupation. The Hellenistic theatre the Greeks built has all but disappeared beneath the layers of Roman brick and concrete. The Greek theatre became a Roman theatre in the 1st century CE and that theatre in turn was transformed into a gladiatorial arena 300 years later. The ruins at Taormina today are a 600-year compilation of Greek and Roman constructions, over two thousand years of wear and erosion, and countless patches and repairs performed by stewards of the theatre site.
A study of the theatre in 1992 and 1993 led by Frank Sear of the Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Melbourne reviewed the theatre’s previous research records and assessed the existing remains. His study determined a chronology to the various constructions at the site. Sear’s findings can be found in his 1996 publication, “The Theatre at Taormina — A New Chronology,” Papers of the British School at Rome, 1996, Vol. 6, pp. 41-79. Sear concludes his publication with a summary of the team’s research. He ascertains that the transformation from Hellenistic theatre to Roman area was accomplished in 4 phases.
I am reproducing his conclusion below:
Phase I. There was a Hellenistic predecessor to the present structure, belonging probably to the third century bc.
Phase II. The theatre was rebuilt in brick, probably in the late Trajanic/Hadrianic period (Fig. 3). The old division into nine cunei was retained, but the edges of the cavea were cut back and new brick analemmata built parallel with the scene building. A praecinctio separated the ima cavea from the media cavea and a continuous high podium separated the summa cavea from the media cavea. The summa cavea was incorporated into the porticus. Access to the summa cavea was through doorways in the back wall of the arcaded ambulacrum encircling the top of the cavea. The doorways gave access to a crypta under the seats and staircases at intervals led up to the seats. A new brick-faced scaena of the Roman type was built, with a basilica on the west side and either a basilica or a smaller room on its east. A large stage, 1.68 m high, 41.8 m long and about 9.0 m wide, was built between these basilicas, closer to the seating than the old Hellenistic one, thus reducing the orchestra to a half-circle. As this stage blocked access to the orchestra, L-shaped passageways, accessible from the basilicas, were built through the analemma walls. The two-storey scaenae frons followed the latest fashion and behind it was a postscaenium with three floors which corresponded to the hyposcaenium and the two levels of the scaenae frons. A porticus post scaenam was built along the back to provide access to the rooms of the postscaenium.
Phase III. The orchestra was transformed into an arena, probably in the early third century ad. This involved a radical remodelling of the entire building (Fig. 11). The lowest rows of seats in the ima cavea were cut back and a vaulted corridor was built around the newly created arena. The stage was entirely removed and the protective wall was continued along the front of the scaenae frons with a corridor on top running at a level higher than the old stage. The old columnatio and stage roof were dismantled and a new columnatio of simpler design, using the old columns, was built a little closer to the scaenae frons wall.
Three vaulted corridors were cut though the basement of the scaenae frons to connect with the postscaenium passage whose basement was re-roofed with a barrel vault, in place of its old wooden roof. This system of corridors allowed animals to pass directly from the postscaenium passage into the arena.
A large cellar was dug under the arena floor for equipment, scenery and props. It was accessible from an oblique tunnel which ran under the scene building and emerged probably under the porticus post scaenam.
The basilicas at the sides of the scaena were totally rebuilt and roofed with barrel-vaults. This was to create an upper level which could be used by the spectators, now that the ground floor was connected with the arena. In the case of the west basilica the north wall of the new basilica obscured the L-shaped passage into the old orchestra, which was sealed off to become a storeroom or an animal cage.
The west wall of the hyposcaenium was demolished in order to provide access to the new arena on the west side. The design of the east basilica allowed for the retention of the L-shaped passage and consequently the east wall of the hyposcaenium was retained. Once the entire ground floor of the building, orchestra, scene building, postscaenium and basilicas, had been given over to the workings of the arena and the general public were excluded, the whole of the upper parts of the theatre had to be remodeled for public use and public access. Hence the totally new circulation system, whereby the public entered not from below but from above, came into being.
The floor level of the crypta under the summa cavea had to be lowered and ten doorways had to be cut into the previously unbroken wall separating the media cavea from the summa cavea. At the same time an extra cladding of 0.5 m was added to the side of the wall facing the cavea, increasing its thickness from 1.1 m to 1.6 m. Within the thickness of the cladding were 36 niches, 0.5 m deep. Nine brick staircase platforms had to be built to compensate for the lowering of the floor in the passage under the summa cavea, so that the old staircase system leading up to the seats could still be used. The old analemma walls were also cut down to allow two further points of access from the sides of the cavea to the praecinctio separating the ima cavea from the media cavea.
Phase IV. The cellar under the arena was enlarged and lined with rough, irregular limestone pieces. The access corridor was extended to emerge behind the porticus post scaenam.
Author, Frank Sear
Description of the existing theatre architectural features: (theatre specifications from Frank Sear’s Roman Theatres: An Architectural Study. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).
1. Location and theatre type: theatre at end of rocky ridge at east edge of town, Tauromina (GPS coordinates: 37.85263,15.29282).
2. Theatre Type: Greek theatre transformed into Roman theatre, then into Roman arena.
3. Cavea (seating area): diameter 109 meters, south-southwest facing; ima cavea: 18 rows of seats (0.71 m deep) in 9 cunei; media cavea: 20 rows divided into 9 cunei; summa cavea ?5 rows; praecinctiones separate ima, media, and summa seating sections; seating capacity: 8,900 to 11,150 (FS).
4. Orchestra (performance space): theatre diameter 28 meters; arena diameter 34 meters.
5. Proscaenium (wall supporting the front edge of the stage): 2.3 meters high, wall around arena, 2.73 meters high.
6. Pulpitum (stage): H 2.3 meters, L 41. 9 meters, W 8.45, 10.7 meters. Aulaeum Slot (curtain slot): 1.02 meters wide with 8 or 10 mast holes.
7. Scaenae frons (front wall of Roman scene house behind stage): rectilinear; 3 stories high; 3 door regia (central openings) W 10 meter (west opening), W 3.45 meter (center), W 0.88 meter (east opening); 2 hospitalia (doors on either side of regia) W 3.3 and 3.33 meters; podia )H 2.3 m, W 2.25 m); later, old podia cut back and shallower podia erected on theirfootings (H 1.88 m, W 1.68 m); columnatio 2 stories, H 16.3m(Serradifalco); 3 stories (Corinthian) H 22.5 m (Pensabene);at least 66 columns of granite, cipollino, pavonazzetto, and breccia, with capitals and entablatures of Proconnesian. Basilicas: 12 Å~ 16.5 m (west); 10.5 Å~ 16 m (east). Doors to stage, W 3.6 m (west), 3.9 m (east). In arena period stage removed; doors at sides of stage communicated with arena. Postscaenium: divided into 7 rooms by 6 cross-walls resting on segmental brick arches; floor of wood; basement underneath
Bieber, Margarete. The History of The Greek and Roman Theatre. 2nd ed. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1961.
Gabellone, F, Ferrari,I, Giuri, F. “A new contribution for the reconstructive study of the theatre of Taormina,” Proceedings of 3rd IMEKO International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, Lecce, Italy, 23-25 October, 2017.
Sear, Frank. “The Theatre at Taormina — A New Chronology,” Papers of the British School at Rome, 1996, Vol. 6, pp. 41-79.
Sear, Frank. Roman Theatres: An Architectural Study. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (eds. Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976.
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