In 111 b.c. a fire broke out on the palatine and did extensive damage to the temple of the Magna Mater on the southwest side of the hill. Repairs were some ten years in the making and brought significant changes to both the temple and its precinct. The original building, dedicated in 191, had a distinctive, high podium ascended by two tiers of steps rising about nine meters from a paved plaza below. That plaza was only a cramped, L-shaped space defined by the temple of Victory ten meters to the east and the steep cliff of the hill itself falling away on the south and west, but it nevertheless accommodated the ludi Megalenses held each April in the goddess' honor. The multifarious entertainments of that festival all crowded into this narrow area, with vendors, performers, and spectators alike jostling for space. Plays were part of the mix, too, which is why the Megalensia figures prominently in the history of Roman drama. Plautus' Pseudolus was performed at the temple's dedication in 191, and four of Terence's six plays were contracted for this festival in the 160s. The conditions of performance, however, could not have been easy. A small stage erected near the cliff perhaps accommodated the actors comfortably enough, but their audiences must have gathered on the temple steps themselves or looked across from the Victory temple.