The Roman theatre was a takeover of the Greek theatre, in which comedies

comedies, tragedies and so-called satyr plays were performed. It consisted of

a stage and a mostly semi-circular auditorium. While the Greek theatre

theatre was often built on a slope in order to use the natural elevation for the

Roman theatres were mostly free-standing buildings. Until the middle of the 1st cent.

Until the middle of the 1st century BC, there were only wooden, demountable theatres in Rome, as the University Senate feared

that a permanent theatre could serve as a meeting place for rebellious crowds.

could be used as a meeting place. It was not until 55 BC that the first stone theatre was built under the rule of

Pompey the Great. Parts of the stone Roman theatre, such as the wide stage

stage (pulpitum) and the front of the stage (scaenae frons), which was often very elaborately

decorated, were built into the wall. (Cf. Schollmeyer, Patrick: Handbuch der

antiken Architektur, Darmstadt/Mainz 2013, pp. 127-133).