Ancient Theater of Thassos
The ancient theatre, built in a natural concavity in the hill of the ancient city of Thassos’ acropolis, is located at the eastern end of the city. It is leaning against the wall of the city, its koilon opening to the west. To the east, there is a steep slope, while to the north and west extend the sea, the harbor and the ancient city, occupied today by the modern city of Limenas. There was already a theatre in Thassos at the time of Hippocrates (Epidemics A’ 20) in the fifth century BC but we do not know if it was at the same place in the city. A large retaining wall, built with exceptional quality marble blocks was found under the floor of the proskenion, but it could not be identified if it belonged to a theatre of the classical era or to another building.
The oldest phase of construction of the theatre of Thassos dates back to the beginning of the Hellenistic period (late fourth – first quarter of the third century BC). The theatre had a stage building with a marble facade. The proskenion, dedicated to the god Dionysus by the Thassian Lysistratos, son of Kodes, had a supporting facade composed of twelve columns with a pillar on each side as well as a frieze with plain metopes and a cornice. The small columns were fluted about three quarters of their circumference and had notches to support the scenery of the staging. At the proskenion level, the stage building façade was in a Doric style. Several sections of its architraves, capitals and metopes are preserved. There are no indications about the form of the orchestra and koilon of this period.
