Sabra (Wadi Sabra)

SABRA (Wadi Sabra), ancient  Arabia , modern Jordan.

COORDINATES: 30º16'28.03" N // 35º24'34.23" E (I am not 100% sure)
TIPOLOGY : Roman cult theatre. Not urban.

DATE: II A.D.

CAPACITY: 600 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north-west. 40 m. diameter. Biger than a semicircle. 1 maeniana. Ima cavea: 8 cunei and 10 step survives, carved in rock. Top row seat have a backrest.

ORCHESTRA: 24 m. diameter. Some scholars erroneously  thought it was transformed in a naumachia.

STAGE BUILDING: It is covered.

LOCATION: Wadi Sabra is 8 klm. South of Petra. The theatre is part of a nabatean santuary.

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. // Segal, Arthur; “Theatres in Roman Palestine & provincia Arabia”. New York, E.J. Brill., 1995.

OUT OF PRINT: Sabra is 8 km. south of Petra, there is no road for cars, you have to arrive the place walking or in a donkey. I contacted with a Nabatean teenager that take me to the place after walking two hours between the Wadi and the red lone mountains of Petra; I did not have yet my GPS and I read that it was better to arrive the ancient theatre with somebody who knows the walk, and that was truth, is not easy to find it if you do not know the right way. A very enigmatic place, like all Petra in fact, although with the added of being out of any population signal; and something for not te be forget, a tea made and served in the steps of the theatre, in a makeshift fire made by my companion... Sacrilege? No, just life and peace.