South of the city of Dion, just outside the city limits and west of the temple of Demeter lies the ancient theatre. It’s construction is placed in the Hellenistic time, most probably during the reign of Philip V (221-179 BC). The theatre is built on the slope of a natural hill and has a northeast orientation, the best orientation for the proper ventilation of the place, as Vitruvius later commented. The architect of this monument, taking advantage of the morphology of the ground, shaped appropriately the space with partial excavation and artificial embankment, creating a masterpiece with his personal touch, in the most successful way of its kind. The orchestra, with a diameter of about 26m, is defined by uncovered stone drain and had a floor of beaten earth. At the axis of the theatre and on the inside of the orchestra, an underground way with two chambers, one at each end, coincides with the ‘’charoneian stairs’’ of the ancient, that is the point, from where actors that impersonate people of the underworld show up. The auditorium, with no retaining wall on the edges and with arranged ballast slopes that fade smoothly into the lanes, had benches of clay bricks, a peculiarity not seen in any other ancient theatre. For the record, the king Archelaus called Euripides, who spent the last years of his life in Macedonia, where wrote the dramas ARCHELAOS and BACCHAE. It is almost certain that these performances took place at the theatre of Dion. Excavation observations suggest that the theatre was probably abandoned after 168 BC, was rudimentary used till the early Imperial period and was rather left fully useless after the construction of Roman theatres in the area.

Recently, at the ancient theatre were installed wooden seats of approximately 4.000 spectators capacity and every summer the events of the Olympus Festival perform there.