The first ancient theater of Larissa was built during the first half of the 3rd century BC, during the reign of the king of Macedonia, Antigonus Gonatas. During the Hellenistic era following Alexander the Great ’s death, Thessaly was part of the kingdom of Macedonia.
The construction site, at the southern foot of the Acropolis hill, was dictated by the location of the city, and for this reason is not consistent with the Directive of the Roman architect Vitruvius on the selection of theaters position "should be made so that the theater is not exposed to the south, because the air trapped in the hollow where the sun fills the semicircle of spectators, wandering there and heated "(on Architecture, V, III, 2).
The construction was associated with the celebration of theatrical and musical performances, as well as with political activities related to the administration of the Thessalian League. The earliest reference to the first ancient theater comes from an inscription of the first half of the 2nd century BC: it is a judiciary case referred to the violation by an individual, of the theater’s surrounding area.
The monument has the typical structure of the Hellenistic period's theater with three key elements:
concave - orchestra - scene
The main theater is divided to ten staircases in eleven tiers, with twenty-five marble rows of seats, each of which first belonged to the order of President.
Stage-Top view from side
Scene-Front side
In its present form, as it was reconstructed in Roman times to be transformed into an arena, preserves twenty-one rows of seats. In their surface's middle there is a shallow concave, which was used to define the proper place for the feet of the spectators of the overlying series. Above all seats are inscriptions with names, probably of the Thessalian city representatives.
