Syracuse - Greek Theater

(Local Name: Teatro Greco) In its original form, the Greek Theater (Teatro Greco) in Syracuse was built in the reign of Hiero I c. 470 B.C.; the master builder was named Demokopos. It was here that the tragedy "The Persians" by Aischylos was first performed in Sicily. There is also little doubt that the festival production "The Women of Aitne", which the same Attic tragedian wrote for Hiero I during his stay in Syracuse, was premièred here too. In addition it saw tragedies by Sophocles and Euripides and plays by the Sicilian comedy writer Epicharmos.

The theater was later changed. Its present form results from a reconstruction which - as is shown by a dedication inscribed on the wall of the diazoma - was completed at the time of King Hiero II, his son Gelo and his two wives. As Gelo married in 238 B.C. and Hiero died in 215, this gives us the dates between which the rebuilding took place. With a diameter of 138m/453ft and 61 rows of seats hewn out of the rock and providing places for some 15,000 spectators, it is one of the largest theaters in the whole of the ancient Greek Empire. The auditorium (cavea) has remained in its entirety, except for the lowest rows of seats, which were removed in the Flavian period (between A.D. 69 and 96) to make room for the orchestra who played at the gladiatorial games, as was the fashion then and for which the Roman amphitheaters were later designed. The stage and scenery buildings were multi-storyed edifices between two cubes hewn out of the rock, but these have disappeared.

For many years now Greek drama has been re-enacted here, but in the Italian language.