Teate

What is there today

Four groups of remains, all on the hill of the old town, none of them a self-contained ruin field: the Romans’ town lies under the modern one, and you meet it street by street. The amphitheatre is at the top, on the Civitella; the theatre lies on the slope below it, the temples in the centre, and the baths on the eastern slope (the operator, it.wikipedia).

The amphitheatre and La Civitella

The amphitheatre was built in the first half of the 1st century AD on a natural terrace below the acropolis; its arena measured 60 by 40 m, cut out of a small saddle in the hill, and the natural slopes were shaped to carry the seating. The two main entrances, on the long axis, were faced in two-coloured stone network masonry (the operator). It has been partly reconstructed, after the football stadium that stood on the site was moved away in the 1980s (it.wikipedia), and it is used for events through the year (the operator).

Beneath it is the Museo archeologico nazionale La Civitella, opened on 18 November 2000 to show the temples of the acropolis, the amphitheatre and the finds from Chieti and the territory of the Marrucini. One hall holds reconstructions of the pediments of the Republican temples that stood on the acropolis, with their painted terracotta roof decoration; the Roman section shows finds from the theatre, the amphitheatre, the forum and the baths, and its funerary monuments include the mausoleum of Lusius Storax, carved with scenes of gladiators fighting (the operator).

The temples

In Piazza dei Templi Romani, on the site of the forum, stand the so-called Tempietti. The first sanctuary here grew up beside a sacred well: two temples side by side in squared travertine blocks, inside a sacred enclosure. Between the end of the 1st century BC and the start of the 1st century AD two new temples on a high podium were built over their walls, aligned square to the forum and the main street, now Corso Marrucino, and a smaller third building was added against one of them. Remains of a fourth temple can be seen in the structure of the post-office building (the operator). In the 8th century one temple became the church of Saints Peter and Paul; it was deconsecrated in 1927 so that it could be excavated (the operator, it.wikipedia).

The theatre

The theatre was built in the 1st century AD beside one of the town’s entrances, on a branch of the Via Tiburtina Valeria. Its seating, banked against the hillside, reached 80 m across, with the Maiella massif as the backdrop to the stage. Stripped over the centuries and swallowed by the modern town, it was rediscovered during building work in the mid-19th century; since excavation began in the 1930s the eastern part of the seating and some of the arched entrances can be seen (the operator). It is at the junction of Via di Porta Napoli and Via Generale Pianell, where the buildings around it cover the orchestra and the stage entirely (it.wikipedia).

The baths and the cistern

The baths, dated to the 1st to 2nd century AD (the operator), were fed by a great cistern on the slope above them: a concrete barrel-vaulted reservoir lined with waterproof crushed-tile mortar, holding about 3,300 m³ and one of the main water stores of the whole town. Its front towards the baths was a row of nine brick niches that also served as the baths’ monumental backdrop. A corridor paved in black and white tiles led into the building; the central room keeps a mosaic panel of sea creatures, among them fish-tailed horses. The side rooms of the warm and hot baths are still visible, while the octagonal hall of the cold baths has partly collapsed because the ground is unstable (the operator).

Under Palazzo de’ Mayo on Corso Marrucino runs the Via Tecta, a barrel-vaulted Roman passage in mixed brick and stone network masonry, which it.wikipedia describes as part of the water system that ran down to the baths; it has not been fully explored.