English: A picture of the theatre from one side.

The theatre dates from the second half of the first century under the patronage of Gaius Julius Zoilus. Zoilus was believed to have been from Aphrodisias and was enslaved by pirates. He was freed by Octavian Augustus, the first Roman emperor, and returned to Aphrodisias a wealthy man. A number of the significant public buildings in Aprhodisias were paid for by Zoilus.On a wall near the north parados (entrance) a set of inscriptions was found from the first half of the third century, with letters and historical annotations, going back to the first century BC. It was rebuilt near the end of the second.

The Aphrodisias Theatre had a seating capacity of 7,000 persons. The two main components of the building are the auditorium, built up against a prehistoric settlement mound, and an elaborate three-storied marble stage building. An earthquake damaged the Theatre in the 7th century. When the site was excavated in the 1970s, much of the statuary that decorated the stage building were recovered in an excellent state of preservation. These included figures of Apollo, two Muses, Demos, two boxers, several Victories and a Polykleitan athlete, all of which are now on display in the Aphrodisias Museum.