I need major help w/ The Theater of Pompey?

Question

I need info about The Theatre of Pompey but its due 2marrow i need major help <3 M&M

Answer 1

Start with : "Theatre of Pompey" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_of_Pompey

From Britannica :

"The crescent of buildings between the Piazza del Biscione and the Piazza dei Satiri take their curved shape from having been built into and around Pompey's Theatre, the first stone theatre building in Rome. Inspired by the Greek theatre of Mytilene, in which Pompey had been so spectacularly entertained, it had a portico of 100 columns that was equipped to be a community centre almost as much as the baths. The Senate met there on the Ides of March in 44 BC, when Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times and fell at the foot of Pompey's statue. For almost 400 years a piece of sculpture, unearthed nearby in 1550 and deposited in the Palazzo Spada, was erroneously believed to be the Pompey statue. A part of the theatre was fortified by the Orsinis in the 12th century and later converted into the Palazzo Righetti, or Pio."

"Rome : The lower east bank", Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000

"Aesopus, Claudius (1st century BC) also spelled CLODIUS, most eminent of the Roman tragedians, contemporary and intimate friend of Cicero, whom he instructed in elocution, and regarded by Horace as the equal of the great Roman comic actor Roscius. Aesopus became completely absorbed in his roles; the biographer Plutarch mentions that, while playing the part of Atreus deliberating revenge, Aesopus forgot himself and in the heat of the moment struck and killed another actor. Aesopus made a last appearance in 55 BC at the dedication of the Roman ruler Pompey's new theatre; Cicero mentions that Aesopus was advanced in years at that time."

"Aesopus, Claudius", Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000

"Though often revived, plays modeled on Greek drama were rarely written after Terence. The Ciceronian was the great age of acting, and in 55 BC Pompey gave Rome a permanent theatre. Plays having an Italian setting came into vogue, their framework being Greek New Comedy but their subject Roman society."

"Latin literature : The genres : Comedy", Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000

"During the civil strife that occupied most of the first half of the 1st century BC, both population and problems multiplied in Rome. The creation of private armies attached to the Roman nobility offered employment to some of the urban lower classes but contributed greatly to the political violence that eventually spelled the end of the republic. Securing an adequate supply of cheap grain offered possibilities for the political manipulation of the urban masses. By the middle of the century, perhaps as many as 500,000 persons were receiving free grain. The upper classes became more interested in luxurious living and their tastes were matched in the public sphere by the building programs of Sulla and Pompey. Public buildings and theatres paid for with tribute and booty enhanced Rome's beauty but did not make a more livable city."

"Rome : The late republic", Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000

"Caesar also carried his building program onto the flat ground just north of the valley between the Quirinal and Esquiline hills, making his own forum of shops and temple, alongside which Augustus, Trajan, Nerva, and Vespasian later constructed their forums. Pompey's theatre in the bed of the Tiber (55 BC) was followed by the Theatre of Marcellus (13 BC). The great baths, Agrippa's grand concourse in the Campus Martius, the circuses, and the Colosseum all drew the populace away to other centres of activity. The political attraction of the Forum, already vitiated in Caesar's day, continued to decline."

"Rome : The Forum", Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000