Qualla: Theatre of Thorikos https://qualla.com/theatre-of-thorikos en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:07 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/9/n/theatre-of-thorikos-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Theatre of Thorikos https://qualla.com/theatre-of-thorikos Theatre of Thorikos: Introduction https://qualla.com/theatre-of-thorikos/ Photo credit Ziegler175, CC BY-SA 3.0. The shape is wrong, and that is the point. Every Greek theatre you have ever seen in photographs — Epidaurus, Delphi, Dodona — follows the same geometry: a perfect semicircle of tiered seats curving around a circular orchestra pit. The Theatre of Thorikos does not do this. Its seating rows run straight through the middle and bend only at the ends, creating an elongated form that opens toward the southwest with an oval orchestra approximately 16 by 30 meters. It looks like a theatre designed by someone who had not yet decided what a theatre was. That is essentially correct. Thorikos was built around 525–480 BCE, making it the oldest known stone theatre in the world, constructed before the conventions of Greek theatrical architecture had solidified into their canonical form.

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Image: Ziegler175 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/9/n/theatre-of-thorikos-wp/sw9n-theatre-of-thorikos-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Theatre of Thorikos: A Stage Built Among the Mines https://qualla.com/theatre-of-thorikos/ Photo credit Dr. Peter Tzeferis, CC BY-SA 4.0. Thorikos was an ancient deme — a local administrative community — on the southern tip of the Attica peninsula, just north of what is now Lavrio and not far from the silver mines of Laurion. The theatre sits on the southern slope of a hill called Velatoúri, carved from local limes...

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Image: Dr. Peter Tzeferis | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/9/n/theatre-of-thorikos-wp/sw9n-theatre-of-thorikos-a-stage-built-among-the-mines.mp3 0:06 2 full Theatre of Thorikos: How It Grew https://qualla.com/theatre-of-thorikos/ Photo credit Pompilos, CC BY-SA 4.0. The theatre was built in phases across roughly two centuries. In the first phase of construction, there were approximately 19 to 21 straight rows of stone benches, divided by two vertical staircases into three sections of unequal width. The middle section's benches run at a sligh...

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Image: Pompilos | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/9/n/theatre-of-thorikos-wp/sw9n-theatre-of-thorikos-how-it-grew.mp3 0:06 3 full Theatre of Thorikos: The World's Oldest, Largely Forgotten https://qualla.com/theatre-of-thorikos/ Photo credit Dr Peter Tzeferis, CC BY-SA 4.0. Despite holding the distinction of being the oldest known stone theatre in the world, the Theatre of Thorikos is not a famous destination. It lies outside the major archaeological tourism circuit of southern Attica, which tends to begin and end with the Temple of Poseidon at Cape...

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Image: Dr Peter Tzeferis | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/9/n/theatre-of-thorikos-wp/sw9n-theatre-of-thorikos-the-worlds-oldest-largely-forgotten.mp3 0:06 4 full