June 2022
18 Travelling around Greece
THE ANCIENT THEATRE OF LARISSA The ancient theatre of Larissa lies in the centre of the town. It was built during the second half of the 3rd century B.C. on the south side of the Acropolis of Larissa and it constitutes the landmark of the town. It was originally connected with the worship of God Dionysus but also with theatrical plays, musical performances as well as the governance and the public
gatherings of the town which was called Agora. It is the biggest ancient theatre in Thessaly and it can hold 10,000 spectators. It was built in the centre of the town when Filippos the fifth was the king of Macedonia. It had been in use for almost 6 centuries until the end of the 3rd century A.D, when it stopped being used very abruptly. Its construction is connected with cultural happenings such as musical or theatrical performances as well as with municipal gatherings. It had been the centre of
the cultural and social life of people in Larissa which becomes quite obvious from the findings around and near it and mainly from the inscriptions and the sculptures found there. The ancient inscriptions make it very accurate that during the Roman period along with the equestrian races in the hippodrome, poetry, dance and music competitions were also held in the great Thessalian celebration called “ELEFTHERIA” (liberty). During the 1st century B.C., it was turned into an arena and that’s why they
built the second ancient theatre of Larissa then. After a very strong earthquake during the 7th century A.D. a big part of the epitheatre and the second floor collapsed into the theatre orchestra . The main theatre is divided by ten climbing stairs in eleven stands, each one of them consisting of twentyfive rows of seats. However, during the Roman years the theatre was reconstructed and nowadays it remains in that form with twenty-one rows of seats. Above all the seats there are inscriptions with names which are believed to be the names of the representatives of Thessalian people. The first excavation started in 1910 when the antiquities curator Mr. Arvanitopoulos discovered a part of the theatre stage. Early in the 20th century the theatre was covered under the earth. Back then, a street was made on top of the theatre along with houses and shops which of course caused great damages to the monument. During our visit and our guided tour by an archeologist from the antiquity serv-
