Dome

View along the seating stairs, west side; Segesta is a town in western Sicily, about 17 km from Castellammare, that flourished 600-400 BCE. It was inhabited by the Elymi, a native people strongly influenced by Greek culture; Segesta came under Carthaginian rule in 409 BCE and then from ca. 260 BCE under Roman rule. The theatre, on the hilltop within the walls, was probably constructed for local Phlyax farces ca. 100 BCE. The auditorium is in the shape of a horseshoe, as in Greek theatres, but the scaenae frons (stage building), with engaged Doric and Ionic columns in two storeys, and perhaps also a pediment, anticipates Roman forms. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 2/3/2008)