Qualla: Ancient Theatre of Argos

Ancient Theatre of Argos: Introduction

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sam_Korn (talk) (Uploads), CC BY-SA 3.0. There is a tunnel under the stage at Argos. It runs from the backstage area down beneath the orchestra floor, presumably so that actors could rise through a trapdoor and appear as if from nowhere — summoned from the underworld, or dropped from Olympus, depending on the play. Scholars debate whether the passage was actually wide enough for a costumed actor to navigate, and no firm conclusion has emerged. But the Charonian stairway, as it is called, captures something essential about this theatre: it was a place designed for spectacle, for illusion, for the management of time and space in front of an audience of twenty thousand people. Built into the eastern slope of Larissa Hill in the third century BC, it is among the largest ancient theatres in Greece. It is also, as excavations in 1988 confirmed, one of only two theatres in the Greek world proven to have had a fully circular stone orchestra. The other is Epidaurus.

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Image: Sam_Korn (talk) (Uploads) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Ancient Theatre of Argos: Stone Cut from the Hillside

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit George E. Koronaios, CC0. The theatre does not follow the textbook plan of a Greek theatre. British archaeologist Richard Allan Tomlinson, who studied it closely, noted that the steps of the cavea do not conform to any regular geometry — the blocks vary in size and angle in ways that suggest organic growt...

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Image: George E. Koronaios | CC0

Ancient Theatre of Argos: Rome Rebuilds, Hadrian Takes Note

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aeleftherios, CC BY-SA 3.0. Around 120 CE, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, the theatre was substantially renovated. The Romans were enthusiastic adapters of Greek theatrical infrastructure, and at Argos they added a proskenion — a raised stage platform — over part of the orchestra, with a hyposkeni...

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Image: Aeleftherios | CC BY-SA 3.0

Ancient Theatre of Argos: Assembly Hall and Arena

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0. The theatre was not only for drama. Political assemblies — the Ecclesia, at which male citizens could speak and vote — were held here, using the natural acoustics and sightlines that made the space ideal for public speech. The Nemean Games, moved from the city of Nemea to Argos a...

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Image: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany | CC BY-SA 2.0

Ancient Theatre of Argos: Buried, Found, Understood

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fingalo, CC BY-SA 2.0 de. The theatre was buried for roughly 1,400 years. In 1892, Greek archaeologist I. Kophiniotis partially excavated the larger theatre; from 1902 onward, Wilhelm Vollgraff excavated extensively on behalf of the French School of Archaeology (École Française d'Athènes), and the French ...

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Image: Fingalo | CC BY-SA 2.0 de