Epidaurus Little Theatre

Location: Ancient Epidaurus Village

The Little Theatre of Epidaurus: The Little Theatre of Epidaurus is placed in an area called Nisi, near the port of Palea Epidaurus. It used to be the theatre of the ancient city-state and, apart from drama performances, it also hosted religious and political celebrations. This theatre was discovered in the early 1970s, under a field of olive trees and its restoration process continues till today.

Its construction started in the 4th century B.C. and was originally built to cover the needs of this small city-state, so its size was not big. It had 9 tiers and 18 rows of seats and could host about 2,000 spectators. Some seats have inscriptions which show that the theatre was dedicated to god Dionissos and was built in sections.

This theatre was totally reformed in the Roman times: the orchestra became semi-circular and the seats were reordered. However, it is believed that the small theatre of Epidaurus was in function for only seven centuries since its construction, because the historian Pausanias, who visited the area in the middle of the 2nd century BC, didn\'t mention anything about it. Today, an old, two-storey house is preserved in front of the theatre\'s orchestra.

After several excavations and much restoration work performed over the last decades, the Epidaurus Little Theatre hosts today the annual Greek Festival, celebrated in summer with music, dance and theatre performances. There are seats for 800 spectators and work is done to restore more of them. The performances are mostly held in modern or ancient Greek.