Germanicomagus (Saint Cybardeaux)

GERMANICOMAGUS (Saint Cybardeaux), ancient Gallia Aquitania, modern France.

COORDINATES: 45º46'53.56" N // 0º00'22.67" O
TIPOLOGY : Gallo-Roman cult theatre.

DATE: I A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS: II and III A.D.

CAPACITY: 6.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north-east. 105,6 m. diameter. Built against hillside. Two maeniana: Ima cavea with 7 cunei ; summa cavea with 13 cunei. In I A.D., in his first phase it was considerably smaller, with capacity for only 1.000 spectators. Seats were made of wood, in lower part some stone tired seats were added for persons of note.

ORCHESTRA: 47,6 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: Scaena 10 x 8,8 m. in the first phase, but later enlarged 35,5 x 7,1 m.

LOCATION: Ancient Germanicomagus is in the Bois des Bouchauds, 40 klm. north of Angoulême Theatre used in ancient times for religious purposes.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Sear, Frank; “Roman theatres: an architectural study”. Oxford University Press, 2006. // Ciancio Rossetto, Paola; Giuseppina Pisani Sartorio (eds); Teatri Greci e Romani: alle origini del linguaggio rappresentato. Rome: SEAT, 1995. // Grenier, Albert; “Manuel d’archeologie Gallo-Romain”. Paris, Éditions A. Et J. Picard, 1958. // Landes, Christian (Ed.); “Le gout du theatre a Rome et en Gaule romaine”. Musée de Lattes, 1989.

OUT OF PRINT: I arrived Germanicomagus one cloudy morning, cold but sweet time. I found of the deepest silences I have ever felt in my life. The theatre is in a forest called Bois de Bouchauds, a place drown of a story where, after the fog, it would be easy to see a druid.