Built by Agrippa, Augustus's son in law, 24 years BC, the theatre has the classic arrangement of the great imperial theatres: banks of seats in a semicircle with capacity for 6,000; a very fine stage wall decorated (2C AD) with colonnades and statues; and, overlooking the gardens, a portico where the crowd gathered during the intervals. The vaults and entrance corridors are made of great blocks of granite arranged without cement.