Palmyra (Tadmor)

PALMYRA (Tadmor), ancient Arabia, modern Syria.

COORDINATES: 34º33'02.33" N // 38º16'07.66" E
TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.
DATE: First half of II A.D.

CAPACITY: Unfinished theatre. Ima cavea: 1.500 ? spectators. Inma, media and summa: 5.000 ? spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north. On level ground. The theatre is unfinished, only the ima cavea (not summa) was built, with a diameter of 48,5 m. although it was designed and projected to be built 92 m.. Ima cavea 11 cunei and 13 steps. Maybe summa cavea was built in wood.

ORCHESTRA: 23,50 m diameter, including balteus.

STAGE BUILDING: It is 45m. x 10,5 m. Never was finished, only was built -in the second half of II A.D. the first level of the sacenae frons –five doors-. Proscaenium 1,1 m. high with ten curved and nine rectangular niches.

LOCATION: Close to the cardo maximus. Palmyra´s ruins are in modern Tadmor, in central Syria.

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. // Burns, Ross; “Monuments of Syria”. London, I.B. Tauris, 1999. // Foudrin, Jean-Pascal; “Le front de scène du théâtre de Palmyre” in Moretti, Jean Charles (Ed.); “Fronts de scène et lieux de culte dans le théâtre antique”. Lyon, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2009.

OUT OF PRINT: The day I visited Palmyra was the colder of my life, I could not warm my hands all day except for all the wanders that day brought me. Palmyra is like a dead living city, one of the best preserved ancient treasures, a real travel to the past, miles and miles to explore, graves to experience silence. The landscape was so incredible, a mixture of snow and desert –I visit in january-. Some centuries ago a big wave broke haughty Palmyra, now these collapsed sand castle survives and breath, with the only company of a the hungry wind.