Greek Theatre (Teatro Greco), Syracuse

The Greek Theatre (Teatro Greco) of Syracuse stands within the Neapolis Archaeological Park in the Sicilian city of Siracusa, cut directly into the slope of the Temenite hill. First built in the 5th century BC, when Syracuse was among the most powerful cities of the Greek world, it was extensively rebuilt in the 3rd century BC under Hieron II, reaching a diameter of around 138 metres with a cavea of 59 rows divided into nine wedges. In its prime it could seat an audience of some 15,000 spectators. Carved from the living limestone, the auditorium is among the largest surviving from antiquity, and an inscription along the upper walkway still records the names of Hieron II and members of his family. The theatre's importance is bound up with the history of Greek drama itself: ancient sources record that Aeschylus presented works here, including The Persians, giving Syracuse a claim to be one of the cradles of Western theatre. In the Roman period the structure was adapted for new spectacles, and during the 16th century the Spanish dismantled parts of the upper seating to build the fortifications of Ortigia, which accounts for the worn state of the highest rows today. Around the theatre the park preserves a remarkable concentration of monuments, including the vast Altar of Hieron, the Roman amphitheatre, and the Latomie del Paradiso quarries, where the Ear of Dionysius, a 23-metre-high S-shaped cave with extraordinary acoustics, draws as many visitors as the theatre itself. The Greek Theatre remains a living monument: each spring and early summer the INDA festival of classical drama stages ancient Greek tragedies and comedies on the original site, continuing a tradition more than two millennia old and making the theatre one of the defining symbols of Sicily's classical heritage.