The Small Theatre and necropoleis of Ambracia
One of the smallest surviving ancient theatres in Greece and the western cemetery of the ancient city.
- Theatre
- Late 4th or early 3rd century BC, under Pyrrhus
- Orchestra
- A circle of about 6.70 m
- Polyandrion
- About 600 BC, on Kommenou Street
- City founded
- 625 BC, by Corinthians
Ancient Ambracia lies beneath present-day Arta, on the plain between the northern slopes of Peranthi hill and the Arachthos. It was founded in 625 BC as a colony of the Corinthians.
The Small Theatre
It stands near the church of Agios Konstantinos, in the administrative and religious centre of the ancient city. It was built at the end of the 4th or the start of the 3rd century BC, when Ambracia became the capital of Pyrrhus's kingdom, on an embankment over the remains of a bath with pebble mosaics. The auditorium has five rows of stone seats in three sections and the orchestra is a circle about 6.70 m across. The Discover Arta page calls it the smallest known preserved theatre in Greece. It was excavated in 1976 and work resumed in 2011.
The western necropolis
The western necropolis lay outside the walls, on the western slopes of Peranthi. Burials range from simple pits and cist graves to cremations in urns. Graves were marked by inscribed limestone columns, decorated with ivy, olive or oak branches. The Polyandrion, a cenotaph about 12.40 m long and 8 m wide, dates to around 600 BC and bears an inscription with the name of the city, the oldest known mention of it. It lies on Kommenou Street.
