Ammaedara (Haïdra)

AMMAEDARA (Haïdra), ancient Africa Proconsularis, modern Tunisia.

COORDINATES: 35º33’59.28’’ N / 8º27’27.43’’ E

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: II A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS: First and last III A.D.

CAPACITY: spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south. 65 m. diameter. Built in substructures. Maenianum: Ima cavea: unknow number of rows but maybe in five cunei; the theatre had Media and Summa cavea that rested on vaulted radial chambers

ORCHESTRA: 17, 60 m diameter. Two steps for bisellia and holes for balteus wall.

STAGE BUILDING: Only preservs the foundation of the stage building.

LOCATION: The theatres is north-east of the ancient city. Haidra is very close to Algeria frontier, 80 klm. south-west fron Le Kef.

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. // Slim, Hédi; Fauqué, Nicolas; “La Tunisie antique”. Paris, Mengès, 2001. // Grassi, Maria Teresa; Gabr’Aoun, Robo; “Tunisia, le cittá costiere, i siti romani e le oasi a nord del sahara”. Firenze, Polaris, 2006.

OUT OF PRINT: Ancient Ammaedara is one of these ancient sites that you can feel are alive, not for people living there, in fact it is a desert land, but because there are something very disturbing between the crumbling ruins... you are alone in the middle of nowhere but you can feel like if somebody would be looking at you... someone will tell me that these is only suggestion... maybe. I walked in the ruins, founding great little broken pottery that do not dare to take. The cold in the middle of the desert breaking the face, making the silence deep, comforted by a unsettling feeling that approached to a slight fear... nobody, in the middle of sand ruins, in the middle of nowhere, only cold, silence and the justice of the sun brighting and an immense echo that emptiness me... that´s Ammaedara, a city that seems to suffer still... and the theatre is a clear reflection of this feeling... it has not seats...