Sense and nonsense concerning design and engineering of the theaters of classical antiquity and the writings of M. Vitruvius Pollio on the subject

This paper is a concentrated encapsulation of the theater architecture of classical antiquity utilizing paired slides of theater restorations in plan and perspective section accompanied by selected photographs of archeological sites. All of this is occasioned by four decades of the author’s travels, researches, writings, ruminations, and conclusions concerning the theaters of ancient Greece and Rome. Considered in the abstract and irrespective of historical epoch, the functional purpose underlying all theater architecture is to provide the physical means by which an audience, preferably comfortably seated, is enabled to both see and hear a staged performance. It is the purpose of this paper to equate the archeologically revealed ‘‘SENSE’’ with the romantically derived fictious ‘‘NONSENSE’’ of both the outdoor and the roofed theaters of classical antiquity. A contemporary perspective concerning the ‘‘SENSE’’ and the ‘‘NONSENSE’’ of the writings of M. Vitruvius Pollio on theater architecture is also provided. O tempora O mores.