Description
During the second half of the 1st century BC, Amiternum underwent a phase of reorganization and monumentalization that led to the construction of new public buildings, including the theater. The structure was built east of the ancient Via Caecilia, taking advantage of the slope of a hill and replacing previous buildings, perhaps residential in nature.
Part of the seating reserved for the audience and the stage, which was equipped with a curtain supported by wooden scaffolding, are still preserved today. A circular control room at one end of the stage indicates the rich sculptural decoration. A statue of Hercules and several marble masks, now housed at the National Museum of Abruzzo, were discovered. During the early Imperial period, a large basin was built adjacent to the stage.
The theater remained in use until the mid-4th century, when the first attempts to salvage building materials for reuse were recorded. In the early Middle Ages, the theater area was occupied by wooden huts and later by a cemetery, while in the 13th-14th centuries, a dirt road was built to facilitate the salvage of building materials.