The Theater of Messene, with an auditorium width of 106.83 m and an orchestra diameter of 23.56 m, is classified among the large theaters of Classical and Hellenistic antiquity and stands alongside that of Epidaurus. These large dimensions were, of course, determined by the economic prosperity of the city and the number of spectators the theater could accommodate. However, one must not overlook the role of the theater in general as the locus par excellence in urban architectural design, as a space for showcasing and displaying the city, where the festive fervor reached its zenith with spectators enchanted by the performances and, as Vitruvius notes, with not only their veins open with delight, but also their souls.

The Theater of Messene served not only as a venue for performances and spectacles in general, but also as a site for mass gatherings of a political nature, as evidenced by the text of an inscription (IG V1, 1432). According to Plutarch’s account (Aratus 50.1–3), the Theater of Messene was the site of the crucial meeting between Philip V of Macedon and the general of the Sympoliteia, Aratus of Sicyon, in the year 214 B.C.

The auditorium of the Theater of Messene is built on an artificial embankment, supported by a strong, horseshoe-shaped retaining wall, which is interrupted around its perimeter, approximately every twenty meters, by pointed gateways. The gateways led through hidden stairwells to the upper tier. The staircases descended from the middle tier, converging radially toward the orchestra, and divided the cavea into eleven sections. The outer face of the massive retaining wall that supports the cavea is constructed using a fortification system, similar to the city’s fortified ramparts. The limestone corbels of the retaining wall’s superstructure are tightly mortared and have an unadorned, convex outer surface. The impression of fortified construction is reinforced by the narrow, tall, and pointed gateways at the stairwells leading upward. These structural elements, combined with the fact that the ramp was entirely visible and accessible from the outside rather than integrated into a hillside, as was the norm, make the Theater of Messene a special case, foreshadowing the prominent and externally accessible theaters, as well as the colossal amphitheaters of the Roman period.

The imposing wall of the eastern aisle was also built with great care and survives in excellent condition to a height of five meters, consisting of ten rows of rectangular stone blocks (corner stones). It did not merely serve as a retaining wall for the cavea, but also formed the northern wall of a large rectangular structure—a stage house—measuring 31.46 × 8.07 m. On the floor of the stage house, three parallel stone grooves were uncovered, along which the wheels of the movable stage from the Hellenistic period rolled as it was drawn toward the orchestra. The movable stage at Messene dates to the late 3rd to early 2nd century B.C. The presence of a movable stage has been confirmed at the theaters of Sparta, Megalopolis, and Thuria. The movable stage (scena ductilis) of the Messene theater remained in use until the 1st century B.C. At that time, the stage house was demolished to make way for the construction of the first permanent stage structure, while the ground around it was raised by approximately 40 centimeters.

 Around the middle of the 2nd century A.D. large-scale repairs and renovations took place at the theater of Messene at the expense of the city’s great benefactor, Tiberius Claudius Saitis, high priest of the Sebastoi and Helladarx, according to the testimony of two lengthy inscriptions engraved on the pedestals of honorary statues. The façade of the stage (scenae frons) was two-story, if not three-story. Each story featured columns, doors, and three niches decorated with statues. The six large columns of the lower story, made of gray granite and reddish-white marble, stood approximately 5 meters tall and featured, in alternating order, Corinthian, Ionic, and Pergamon capitals, which supported the heavy marble Ionic entablature. The smaller columns of the upper floors also featured a similar color scheme with three alternating column capital styles. The proscenium and the walls of the stage were adorned with marble panels featuring carved and engraved decorative motifs, such as actors’ masks and animals. These were set in the lower niches of the three-story stage structure.

From the late 3rd to the early 4th century AD, the theater began to be abandoned and filled in with rubble. Concurrent with the economic decline (a phenomenon that characterized the entire Roman Empire), there was also a drastic reduction in the population of Messene. The colossal theater no longer served any purpose and very quickly was turned into a “quarry,” a source of building materials for the remaining Christianized inhabitants of the Messinian capital.