The Theater of Marcellus

The Theater of Marcellus was an open-air theater built in Rome, near the Tiber River. It was dedicated to Marcus Claudius Marcellus.

Marcus Claudius Marcellus was the nephew of Octavian (future Emperor Augustus), being the son of Octavian’s sister, Octavia Minor and her husband Gaius Claudius Marcellus. He was born in Rome in 42 BC.

His military career included a campaign in Hispania where he accompanied Augustus and his cousin, the future Emperor Tiberius.

He was being groomed by Augustus to be the next emperor, with the emperor exposing Marcellus to military duty and accelerating his political career.

When Augustus fell gravely ill in 23 BC, it was expected that Marcellus would become the next emperor. However, Augustus chose Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a close friend of the emperor. There is conjecture as to whether Agrippa was chosen because he was a better choice, or whether he was chosen as a temporary measure until Marcellus was ready, as he was only 19 at the time.

Augustus recovered, thanks to the help of the emperor’s physician, Antonius Musa. Later that year, Marcellus fell ill with what seemed to be the same fever, but despite the same treatment administered by Musa, Marcellus could not be saved.

This is recounted by Cassius Dio in his book, Roman History, Book LIII, XXX:

“When Augustus was consul for the eleventh time, with Calpurnius Piso, he fell so ill once more as to have no hope of recovery; at any rate, he arranged everything as if he were about to die, and gathered about him the magistrates and the foremost senators and knights. He did not, to be sure, appoint a successor, although all were expecting that Marcellus would be preferred for this position, but after talking with them awhile about the public affairs, he gave Piso the list of the forces and of the public revenues written in a book, and handed his ring to Agrippa. And although he lost the power of attending even to the most urgent matters, yet a certain Antonius Musa restored him to health by means of cold baths and cold potions. For this, Musa received a great deal of money from both Augustus and the senate, as well as the right to wear gold rings (for he was a freedman), and he was granted exemption from taxes, both for himself and for the members of his profession, not only those living at the time but also those of future generations. But it was fated that he who had taken to himself the functions of Fortune or Destiny should speedily be caught in her coils; for though Augustus had been saved in this manner, yet when Marcellus fell ill not long afterward and was treated in the same way by Musa, he died.”

He was cremated and he was the first person to be interred into the Mausoleum of Augustus. Speculation was rife that Livia (the mother of Tiberius) was somehow involved in the death of Marcellus as it eliminated a rival and ensured her son would ascend to the position of Emperor.

This is addressed by Cassius Dio in Book LIII, XXXIII:

“Livia, now, was accused of having caused the death of Marcellus, because he had been preferred before her sons; but the justice of this suspicion became a matter of controversy by reason of the character both of that year and of the year following, which proved so unhealthful that great numbers perished during them.”

As is the case in antiquity, speculation runs rife as there is no way to prove these claims, while it was a brutal age when family killed family for power. It may have just been rumors.

It must also be noted that the word ‘character’ would seem to be either a translation error or a poor choice of words from Dio, as it is believed that Dio was referring to a plague or something contagious in Rome that caused many to die, which is what Augustus fell ill to.

Augustus venerated Marcellus, according to Cassius Dio in Book LIII, XXX:

“Augustus gave him a public burial after the customary eulogies, placing him in the tomb he was building, and as a memorial to him finished the theatre whose foundations had already been laid by the former Caesar and which was now called the theatre of Marcellus. And he ordered also that a golden image of the deceased, a golden crown, and a curule chair should be carried into the theatre at the Ludi Romani and should be placed in the midst of the officials having charge of the games.”

The theater itself was said to be the largest in ancient Rome (different to an amphitheater, such as the Colosseum) and could fit up to 20,000 spectators at its height.

It was built using tuff (a type of rock formed from volcanic ash), concrete and limestone.

It was a project that was started under Julius Caesar, who began clearing land and buying up the local private houses in order to make room for his newest building project, much to the dismay of some of the locals.

The project was completed by Augustus and dedicated to his nephew, Marcus Marcellus.

As attested by Cassius Dio in Book XLIII, XLIX on both counts:

“Being anxious to build a theatre, as Pompey had done, he laid the foundations, but did not finish it; it was Augustus who later completed it and named it for his nephew, Marcus Marcellus. But Caesar was blamed for tearing down the dwellings and temples on the site, and likewise because he burned up the statues, which were almost all of wood, and because on finding large hoards of money he appropriated them all.”

Suetonius, in his book, The Lives of the Caesars – the Life of Julius Caesar, comments that Caesar was keen to start many building projects, while he also gives some accurate details as to the location of where the theater is to be built. Chapter XLIV:

“He formed more projects and more extensive ones every day: first of all, to rear a temple of Mars, greater than any in existence, filling up and levelling the pool in which he had exhibited the sea-fight, and to build a theatre of vast size, sloping down from the Tarpeian rock”.

It went through several uses throughout the centuries, with declining usage in the fourth century AD meaning that it served as a quarry for other buildings. The Pons Cestius (Cestian Bridge) was rebuilt using some of the materials from the theater.

The fifth century AD saw small residential buildings take up positions in the theater, as the waning empire entered its final years. In the Middle Ages, it was turned into a fortress and was used by many different noble families.

It is currently being used as apartments, while it also houses the Embassy of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the Holy See, in the Orsini Palace, that was built on the site in the sixteenth century.