Theater of Pietrabbondante.
Pietrabbondante is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Isernia in the Italian region Molise, located about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northwest of Campobasso and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Isernia. On the slope of Monte Saraceno, the Samnites built a complex of worship consisting of a theater, a temple and two arcaded buildings on both sides. Work began in the late 2nd century BC and was completed in 95 AD. The building, as articulated, was intended both for worship and for institutional activities.[2] Pietrabbondante borders the following municipalities: Agnone, Castelverrino, Chiauci, Civitanova del Sannio, Pescolanciano and Poggio Sannita. The theater-temple complex is located on the outskirts of Pietrabbondante about 966 metres (3,169 ft) above sea level, next to another small temple with arcaded shops from a previous era (200 BC). To build it, the Samnites situated two terraces along the side of the mountain, but at different levels on a single axis. The top two buildings housed the temple and side porches. The overall size of the area is 55 by 90 metres (180 by 295 ft).[2] The theater consists of two elements: the auditorium and the building stage, which are linked together by two stone arches. The auditorium is capable of holding up to 2,500 spectators and has excellent acoustics. Each of the seats was created from a single stone block with the dorsal elegantly thrown backwards; signs at both ends of each row reserved them for judges, priests, and so on. On both sides of the orchestra, retaining walls of the embankment (analemma) end with atlases carved in stone (like the Odeon of Pompeii, however, the material is made of soft tuff). The entire embankment is supported by large semicircular and polygonal blocks processed by cutting without regular contours read more :
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Photo credit: © lugris / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: art, chalcography, isernia, italy, lugris2, molise, pietrabbondante, postagestamp, samnites, theater, tourism
