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In past years, the first floor of Rome’s Colosseum has become a showcase for exhibits highlighting selected aspects of ancient Greek and Roman culture. The trend began in 2002, when a stunning show on gladiators proved to be a blockbuster hit (we wish some part of it had stayed in the Colosseum as so many visitors enjoyed learning more about the men and women who fought in the arena). Subsequent shows have highlighted such topics as Nike, the Goddess of Victory; the Mystery Cults of Greek & Roman Antiquity; the Illiad; and Eros, the God of Love.

Currently, Rome’s super-sized amphitheater is hosting an exhibit titled In Scaena (or On Stage), which showcases some 900 years of theatrical history, displaying objects that range in date from the 3rd century BC to the 6th century AD. The enlightening exhibit (which claims to be the first show dedicated solely to ancient theatrical performances) includes painted vases, marble sculptures, portraits of ancient playwrights, models of Roman theaters, and more. As a whole, the body of objects is stimulating, not least for its ability to communicate the fact that theatrical performances were common cultural currency in antiquity, with theatrical performances attended by all classes of society.

In Scaena exhibit begins by paying homage to the Greek and Italic heritage of ancient Roman theater. Visitors discover that the Romans were exposed to Greek theatrical productions right on the Italian peninsula, for starting from the eighth century BC, Greek settlers made the southern part of the boot-shaped land mass their home. The depth of the cultural exchange between Greece and Rome becomes extremely clear as one admires the numerous black- and red-figure Greek vases that were found in southern Italy and are painted with expressive theatrical scenes. Emphasizing the same point are the numerous miniature terracotta theater masks, as well as a cast of adorable clay figurines of dancers, acrobats, and comic characters, all of which were likewise recovered in southern Italy.

Though the Greek influence is clear, visitors are reminded that the Roman theatrical tradition was a hybrid one, and that the Etruscans also contributed to the creation of the Roman theater. The Roman neighbors to the north contributed words like hystrio (actor) and persona (mask) to the Latin language, and may also have influenced the development of Roman mime and comedy. This Etruscan influence on Roman performance is exemplified by a bronze lamp stand from the northern Etruscan city of Spina (now in the archaeological museum of Ferrara) that is embellished with lively figures of castanet players who seem to sway and move in time to music.

Another section of the exhibition illustrates how the Romans employed their engineering skills to invent upon the characteristic Greek theater, thereby creating performance centers that were structurally and technologically more advanced than those of their eastern neighbors.

Rather than following the Greek model and setting their theaters on hillsides in order that the seats might be terraced down the slope, the Romans built freestanding stone theaters that could be placed anywhere, regardless of terrain. And place them everywhere is exactly what the Romans did. Photographs and models of Roman theaters on display in the exhibit convey the universality of this form of entertainment in the Roman world, reminding viewers that residents of Roman territories across the Mediterranean enjoyed the same classical tragedies and the same Roman comedies. One is rightfully left with the impression that the Romans should be cited as the inventors and exporters of mass entertainment.

Roman actors likewise receive attention in this exhibit and viewers learn that unlike modern-day actors, those in the ancient world wore masks that were carefully crafted to portray the nature of the character they represented on stage, from the comic slave to the satyr and from the comic old woman to the male tragic figure. Enlarged versions of such masks were commonly carved out of stone and used as embellishments in Roman theaters (see photo at the top of this article) and there are a variety of such decorative objects on display.

And, so, In Scaena continues in this way, addressing the general themes that are the stuff of textbook coverage of Roman theatrical productions, from the status of actors in Roman society and the interweaving of religion and spectacle in ancient society, and illustrating these themes with objects gathered from museums throughout Italy.

Yet, for all the wonderful objects on display in this exhibit, something is missing. Certainly In Scaena provides the general viewer with a broad and interesting overview of Roman theatrical entertainments. But, the exhibit does little to locate such entertainments in the city of Rome itself, as it fails to even mention the monumental remains of three Roman theaters that can all found less than a mile from the Colosseum.

Primary among those remains is that constructed by Rome’s celebrity general, Pompey the Great, in 55 BC (see reconstruction drawing below). As the first stone theater erected in the Eternal City, Pompey’s enormous entertainment complex broke Roman laws about the construction of permanent theaters and changed the face of the Campus Marius forever. Thanks to The Pompey Project, a series explorations led by Professor Jim Packer of Northwestern University and Richard Beacham of the University of Warwick, we know more about this opulent structure than ever before, but the structure goes unmentioned in this exhibition.

And what of fascinating architectural rivalry that broke out in the Campus Martius following the construction of the Theater of Pompey, provoking Julius Caesar to begin constructing the Theater of Marcellus (see photo below) after he defeated Pompey in battle, and likewise inducing Lucius Cornelius Balbus, a general of Augustus, to construct his own opulent theater nearby in 13 BC?

Neither of these structures are mentioned, thereby creating a gap in the coverage of Roman theater that this viewer found disappointing, for without examination of Rome’s all-important theaters, the exhibit remains exceedingly general. Though interested viewers leave the exhibit with a broad knowledge of Roman theater, they have been given no tools by which to understand this subject in the context of Rome itself. Where were the theaters? Who built them and why? Can we visit them today? None of these questions are answered and so a visitor to this exhibit must be exceedingly industrious if they wish to understand how their newly gained knowledge might be applied to the city of Rome itself.