THEATRE DISTRICT
The oldest residential area with the most prodigious villas of the island and beautiful mosaics.
Built from the5th century B.C., the oldest residential area of Delos is located south of the sanctuary of Apollo, towards Mount Cynthe. Ending with the great ancient theatre, it houses some of the most prodigious villas of the island and beautiful mosaics. For non-specialists, this will be the most pleasant part of the excursion to Delos. The district was built up little by little and without a master plan. It thus resembles a maze of narrow alleys where the houses fit into each other without any apparent coherence. The comfort of each dwelling was to the detriment of the public space, most of the houses being surrounded by high walls without windows. This austere aspect is reinforced by the loss of the plaster which makes the district a "stone town" with a medieval look. It is, however, fairly easy to find your way around by following the winding main street, known as Rue du Théâtre, which stretches for 200 m.
Maison de Dionysos
. The house is located on the right-hand side of the Theatre Street and can be identified by its high marble columns protruding from the walls. Dating from the 2nd century BC, it is one of the largest (400 m²) and most luxurious houses in the Theatre district. The nine marble columns in the atrium are recent reconstructions, set in the heart of a vast complex of rooms and corridors. They enclose a splendid, original mosaic representing Dionysus and giving the house its current name.House of the Trident.
Located at a small crossroads along the Theatre Street, and shortly before the theatre, it is one of the richest houses in Delos. Built between 150 and 100 BC for a Syrian merchant, it preserves three mosaics. The most beautiful is placed in the centre of the atrium, whose peristyle has recently been restored. This large mosaic depicts a trident decorated with a ribbon and a dolphin wrapped around an anchor, all surrounded by geometric motifs.Theatre. Following the main street of the district, the aptly named Rue du Théâtre, one reaches this hemicycle, which is 64 m in diameter. Dug into a hill, it offers a breathtaking view of the port and the island of the Rhine. Designed in archaic times, the Delos theatre was originally intended for religious ceremonies and equipped with wooden stands. From around 296 B.C. onwards, it was gradually extended and equipped with 43 marble bleachers divided into two horizontal sections (26 and 17 bleachers). The classical authors were performed in front of 6,500 spectators. This is considerably less than in Epidaurus. The famous Peloponnesian theatre, although less wide (58 m in diameter), is about twice as high (22.50 m) and nowadays welcomes more than 12,000 people. Here, the state of conservation no longer allows performances to be held. Only certain seats in the procession (first row), with backrests and reserved for notables, have been spared by history. However, the semicircular orchestra (19.60 m in diameter) where the choir stood, the proskénion stage, a colonnade 2.67 m high reserved for the actors and the movable panels of the set, and the base of the rectangular building (15.26 x 6.64 m) which housed the dressing rooms, can be recognized. Further down, a large reservoir, known as the Theatre Cistern (25.4 x 6,5 m), was used to collect rainwater from the stands. The theatre was abandoned after the raid by King Mithridates VI in 88 BC
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