Although both Greek and Roman plays had lighting cues, they relied on natural light and used no artificial light. Plays were staged at particular times of the day to take advantage of existing light.
The first artificial theatrical lights were created by Sebastiano Serlio in 1545. He used candles as light sources and polished barber's basins as reflectors. Round bottles provided the lenses. Colors were created using colored liquids in bottles placed in front of the lights.
The concept of dimmers was developed by Nicola Sabbatini in 1638. He proposed a system of cylinders raised and lowered over candles to dim and brighten stage lights.
Candles were the main source of stage lighting until 1783, when the first kerosene lamp was invented. Gas came in to use in 1791. Lime lights, a way of creating light by heating a piece of lime with a flame of oxygen and hydrogen, began being used in Paris opera houses in 1803.
Although electric arc stage lighting was discovered in 1809 by Sir Humphrey Davy, it didn't come into common use until the 1880s. The Savoy Theater in England was the first completely electric theater in 1881. With the introduction of the saltwater dimmer switch in the electric theater exposition in Munich, electric lighting took off and became the dominant theatrical lighting system.