Overview
Capable of seating six thousand spectators, the theatre had been built as early as the Augustan age, only to be refurbished at the beginning of the second century on the initiative of Quintus Petronius Modestus from Trieste, procurator of Emperor Trajan. One can recognise the orchestra at the foot of the auditorium and part of the stage, with wings decorated by niches where statues of members of the imperial family or eminent members of the local community stood. Sculptures and inscriptions to this effect are on display near the San Giusto Cathedral in the J.J. Winckelmann Antiquities Museum, named after the German archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who worked in the city for a long time.
The theatre had remained half-hidden over the centuries by the workings of nature and the gradual superimposition of everyday buildings, only to be rediscovered in the early 19th century and restored or even partially rebuilt once excavations in the area were completed in 1938.
