Abstract

As many as three permanent theatres were commissioned in the city of Rome in the second century BCE and never completed. Although many have cited ancient writers on the moral and political opposition to permanent theatres at this and later times, the fact that permanent theatres could be officially approved but not completed has never been satisfactorily explained. The evidence we have concerning the uncompleted theatres indicates that at least two of them were meant to be free-standing. The only feasible way to build a Roman-style free-standing theatre is by using concrete vaulting to support the seating area. An analysis of the remains of surviving concrete structures from the second century BCE indicates that the concrete would not have been strong enough to support the necessary seating. Therefore, it is likely that the faction who would have opposed the construction of permanent theatres in Rome seized on the impracticality of the structures for an excuse to ban them.

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