SECTIONAL VIEW SHOWING THE STAGE AND THE TWO AUDITORIUMS.
CURIO’S PIVOTED THEATER.
One of the most ingenious of the ancient theaters of which we have any record is that devised by Curio, which is described by Pliny. In the half century before Christ, a wealthy Roman citizen constructed a theater capable of holding eighty thousand persons. The stage of this theater was ornamented with three hundred and sixty columns, and between these columns there were in all three thousand statues. Curio not being able to do anything more magnificent, was, according to Pliny, obliged to substitute ingenuity for extravagance; he therefore constructed two large wooden theaters near each other, and they were so arranged that each could be revolved upon a pivot. In the morning plays were put upon the stages of each of the theaters, the latter being back to back. In the afternoon the theaters were all at once revolved so as to make them face each other, the people being carried with them. It was only necessary to connect the corners of the two theaters in order to have an amphitheater in which gladiatorial combats might be exhibited.
SECTION OF CURIO’S PIVOTED THEATER.
