Thamugadi (Timgad)

THAMUGADI, (Timgad), ancient Numidia, modern Algeria.

COORDINATES: 32º29’02.99’’N // 6º28’08.21’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: Half II A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS:

CAPACITY: 3.500 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing west. 63,6 m. diameter. Maenianum: Ima cavea with 8 rows of seats in 6 cunei. Media cavea with 12 rows of seats in 6 cunei. Summa cavea with more than 6 rows of seats in unknown number of cunei. Porticus in summa cavea remains.

ORCHESTRA: 21 m. diameter. 19 m., without balteus, and 15 m. without subsellia. Subsellia with three steps. It is paved in stone.

STAGE BUILDING: Pulpitum was 30,4 x 6,8 m. 1,27 m. high. Proscaenium with 3 curved and 2 rectangular niches. 12 square slots for aulaeum masts.

LOCATION: Thamugadi ancient city is 35 klm. east from modern Batna.

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. // Lancel, Serge; “L’Algérie antique”. Paris, Mengès, 2003. // Blas de Roblès, Jean Marie; Sintes, Claude; “Sites et monuments antiques de l’Algérie”. Aix-en-Provence, Édisud, 2003.

OUT OF PRINT: I visited Thamugadi in 2010, an evening in winter. Thamugadi was a military roman city, the layout of its streets is totally square and the remains are in an excellent condition. It´s small theatre is really wonderful, I was lucky of laying off the day from their steps. I slept that night in Batna, a big and modern city, 35 klm. west from Thamugadi; when I arrived to the city nobody were in the streets, a big silence had seized the city, suddenly I listened: “Goooollllll”, Algerian national football team had scored Mali in Africa Cup, that meant that Algeria, not losing its last match, could still qualify for the next round. At night, when the match was finished, everybody in Batna, thousands of people, went out to the streets, shouting and celebrating the victory in a way I never had seen, like if they were won the World championship. Algerian passion, something more that I love from these absolutely marvelous country.