Assemblee politiche e spazio teatrale ad Atene

A history of the political use of the theater at Athens from the classical period to the Roman era. By "political use," the author means the use of theater structures for assemblies that performed the administrative and decision-making functions of the polis. For example, an annual assembly at the Theater of Dionysus is well attested in both literary and epigraphical evidence. There is also evidence for ekklesiai and meetings of the boulē in the Theater of Eleuthereus, which were rare at the end of the classical period, but more frequent in the following period. Similarly, the theater of Munichia in Piraeus is mentioned in sources, occasionally in the fifth century and more frequently in the Hellenistic period, as a place intended not only for dramatic spectacles, but also for ekklesiai and perhaps meetings of the boulē. While the political use of theaters is well known to students of the ancient world, the topic has not until now been thoroughly investigated.