The ancient theater at Sparta, as the name implies, stood in the ancient city of Sparta, and was a part of the Spartan Acropolis. It was located on the south side of the complex, opposite of the temple of Athena Chalkioikos, and north of the contemporary city of Sparta. Today, only portions of the orchestra, retaining wall, and concave seats remain, as time has taken a heavy toll. The theater itself was built later in the imperial era, sometime around 30-20 BC.1 The theater is constructed primarily of limestone and white marble, however much of the marble was removed to construct other buildings later on in the Byzantine era. However, the theater was in use for a relatively long time, and merchant stalls were even added later on by the Romans. In addition to the stalls, there were other changes made to the theater, including numerous inscriptions carved into the retaining walls, which were added in the second century AD, and extensive repairs and retro-fits by the Romans to the various structures on the site.2 Clearly the theater was used and valued well into the Roman era.

  While it is well known that theater was an important part of life to the ancient Greeks, it is thought that the theater at Sparta was used for public gatherings, and festivals, as well as plays. It had no permanent stage as other theaters of the time often did, but relied upon a wooden stage to be wheeled in for plays. When the stage wasn’t in use, there was a special storage hangar built on the western end of the theater to accommodate the rolling stage.3 By the standards of the Peloponesian era, the theater at Sparta was relatively large, being able to accommodate roughly 16,000 people, and was noted in ancient times for its particularly luxurious construction.4 Most of the original archaeological studies of the site were conducted by the British School of Archaeology, however in recent years there has been a renewed interest in the study and the preservation of the site by the Greek Central Archaeological Council.