GREEK THEATER

This small theater, which had a rare oval plan, could hold between 2,900 and 3,600 spectators (R. Hidalgo, "Il considetto Teatro Greco," Lazio e Sabina 8 [2012] 24). It consisted of a pulpitum (stage; 8) with a scaenae frons (stage building; 9), a semi-circular orchestra (1), a cavea (seating area; 4-5) with two maeniana (blocks of seats) divided by a praecinctio (aisle) to which were connected three vomitoria (entrance passageways). At the top of the cavea was a pulvinar (imperial box; 12). Despite the (modern) name, the structure does not have the canonical plan of a Greek theater. Recent excavations by Hidalgo show that the theater lacked a porticus post scaenam (peristyle behind the stage), a feature often associated with Roman theaters, but was set in the middle of a garden with fountains, pavilions, and topiary. As Hidalgo observes, the design was "a potpourri of elements belonging to Greek and Roman theaters united in a form and language that is innovative" (2013: 23). Very little of the decoration survives. Two herms, whose heads (restored in the 18C by Cavaceppi) are traditionally identified as Tragedy and Comedy, were found somewhere in the theater; they are now in the Vatican Museums (Pio-Clementino inv. 262, 285; Raeder, Statuarische Ausstatung, 1983: 100). The date of the theater is uncertain.