Madauros (M´Daourouch)

MADAUROS (M´Daourouch), ancient Africa Proconsularis, modern Algeria.

COORDINATES: 36º04’39.97” N  /  7º54’05.04” E

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: First III A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS: First V A.D.

CAPACITY: 600 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south-east. 33 m. diameter. Maenianum: 8 rows of seats in five cunei (smallers each side)

ORCHESTRA: 17,7 m. diameter. Including balteus. Bisellia with three steeps.

STAGE BUILDING: The sacenae frons´s wall is at the same time the bottom wall of the portico of the forum. Proscaenium with only one curved niche. Pulpitum is 20,2 x 4,06 m.

LOCATION: The ancient theatre is close to the forum. M´Daourouch remains are about 120 klm. south-east from Calama.

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: An argelian archeologist that I found in the ancient mausoleum of La Chrétienne, near roman Tipasa, assured me that Madauros´ ancient theatre was the smaller roman theatre in the world. Maybe, it seems more like an odeon than a theatre in fact. In photograph you can see my argelian close friend Nordine, all what I love Algeria is for what he showed me. Algeria is truly amazing, in fact one of my favourite countries, one of my best travels, marvellous people and land, I really hope all the political revolts of these days will give Algeria all the best, all what people want and was removed. There are theatres that invites you to make a classical play, other ones suggest you to make a loud laughter... Madauros invites you to whisper... a real close theatre.

Mantinea (Paleopoli)

MANTINEA (Paleopoli), ancient Arcadia, modern Greece)

COORDINATES: 37º37’05.19” N / 22º23’32.09” E

TIPOLOGY : Greek theatre. Urban.

DATE: Mid – IV B.C.

TRANSFORMATIONS: II B.C.

CAPACITY: 2.500 ? spectators.

CAVEA: Facing east. Larger than a semicircle. 67 m. diameter. It was built on flat site, resting in artificial embankment. Maenianum: Ima cavea 2 preserved rows of seats –very narrow- but unknow number of steps.

ORCHESTRA: 21,7 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: It was 21,07 x 5,5 m.

LOCATION: Theatre is close to the agora. The remains are 15 klm. north of modern Tripolis.

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. // Arias, Paolo Enrico; “Il teatro greco fuori di Atene”. Firenze, G.C. Sansoni, 1934.

OUT OF PRINT: Mantinea´s ancient greek theatre is very near Ayia Photeini , the most curious church I have ever seen, a mixture of styles, colours and forms made it with ancient  Mantinea´s remains, colums, friezes, pilastres... like a three-dimensional mosaic, like a jigsaw of mixtures and tones, the work of a mad genius... it was built in 1968.

Gerasa -South Theatre- (Jerash)

GERASA –South theatre- (Jerash), ancient Arabia, modern Jordan.

COORDINATES: 32º16’36.05” N / 35º53’21.30” E .

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: Last I A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS: Scene building first II A.D.

CAPACITY: 6.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north. 76 m. diameter. Maenianum: Ima cavea 15 row of seats in 4 cunei; Summa cavea: 24 rows of seat  (only 15 survives) in 8 cunei; Summa cavea maybe 5 rows in 8 cunei.

ORCHESTRA: 19,9 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: Proscaenium have 12 niches. Pulpitum 36,5 x 8,3 m. Scaenae frons was rectilinear, columanatio had two storeys.

LOCATION: Close and conected with Temple of Zeus. The archeological place is close to modern Jerash.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Segal, Arthur; “Theatres in Roman Palestine & provincia Arabia”. New York, E.J. Brill., 1995. / 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. // Lankester Harding, G.; “The antiquities of Jordan”. Jordan Distribution Agency, 1984.

OUT OF PRINT: Gerasa has three Roman theatres, the South theatre, the North theatre and Birketein´s theatre –a ritual theatre 2klm. north of the city- All of them are very special, in fact all the ancient theatres in Jordan. In Gerasa´s south theatre do not expect that some actors dressed with toga and buskin are going to acting... what you are going to see is some jordan people, dressed in some army local uniform playing bagpipes and drums, with a strange Scottish flavour... you can see a drum in the orchestra... if Euripides would wake up...

Regina (Casas de Reina)

REGINA (Casas de Reina), ancient  Baetica / Hispania, modern Spain.

COORDINATES: 38º12’12.07” N / 5º57’12.45” W

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: Last quarter I A.D.

CAPACITY: 1.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north.east. 64 m. diameter. Maenianum: Ima cavea, 10 row of seats  in 5 cunei; the existence of Summa cavea is hypothetical, maybe it had 8 row of seats in 5 cunei and maybe that rows were of wood.

ORCHESTRA: 19,60 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: Scaenae frons with three doors in semicircular niches. Pulpitum was 39,4 x 9,17 m (including proscaenium).

LOCATION: Theatre is close to the village of Casas de Reina, closeto the forum, in the meddle of the field.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Martínez Alvarez; Nogales Basarrate; “Teatro Romano de Regina” in Dionisio 6, Palumbo & C. Editore, 2007. // 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.

OUT OF PRINT: Regina would be Don Quixote´s ancient theatre, for its situation; it´s not in Castilla but in Extremadura, the cereal field paying tribute to the sun. Near Regina, in the north of Badajoz land you can visit the rediscovered Medellin ancient theatre and of course the jewel crown of Hispania´s ancient theatres, Mérida.

Selge (Zerk)

SELGE (Zerk), ancient Psidia / Asia Minor, modern Turkey.

COORDINATES: 37º13'45.39" N // 31º07'39.91" E
TIPOLOGY : Roman Asia Minor style theatre. Sub-urban.

DATE: Mid- II A.D.

CAPACITY: 9.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south-east.  Exceeds semicircle. 104 m. diameter. Maenianum: Ima cavea, 30 rows of seats in 11 cunei; Summa cavea: 15 rows of seats in 22 cunei.

ORCHESTRA: 22,5 m.diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: It´s collapsed, although it seems that all the remains are scattered in the place.  The scaenae frons was rectiliner.

LOCATION: Ancient Selge, modern Zerk is located on the slopes of Toros mountains, 85 klm. north-east of Antalya. The theatre is close to the stadium.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Yilmaz, Yasar; “Anadolu Antik Tiyatrolari”. Istanbul, Yem Yanin, 2010. // 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. // Bean, George; “Turkey´s southern shore”. London, Ernest Benn Limited, 1968. // Freely, John; “The eastern mediterranean coast of Turkey”. Istanbul, Matbaacilik ve Yayincilik A.S., 1998.

OUT OF PRINT: Selge is one of those special theatres, unique. It´s teh only one I have felt a real sense of vertigo, the cavea´s angle of decline is spectacular and the two times I have been there I had to sat in the stone seats. Not only the vertigo is something unique in that theatre, although the color of the stone seats, with a gray color that unifies all the blocks of stone in one. There are more things that make Selge´s a marvellous place... the modern village, a very small village with a traditional rural life is inside the ancient ruins, it seems  like a joke, that gigantic theatre, largely intact, which hosted an audience of 9.000 people, in a a major city in ancient times, now a an inert shadow in a little village of 100 people. Selge theatre is not a space to see a play... is a huge eye that looks the village of Zerk... since inmemorial time.

Sabratha (Sabratha)

SABRATHA (Sabratha), ancient Tripolitania / Africa Proconsularis, modern Libya.

COORDINATES: 32º48’19.50” N // 12º29’06.77” E

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: Last II –First III A.D.

CAPACITY: 6.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north. 92,6 m. diameter. Built on level ground, but rested on a plataform rock. Maenianum: Ima cavea with 11 rows of seats in 6 cunei; Media cavea with 6 rows and 7 cunei; Summa cavea with 15 rows in 8 cunei (the extreme ones small).

ORCHESTRA: 25 m. diameter (including balteus and four steps for bisellia. Paved on whit marble.

STAGE BUILDING: Proscaenium niches (3 curved and 4 rectangular) has a marvellous and very well preserved relief sculptures (Muses, Satyrs, Graces and Judgment of Paris are the motifs. Scaenae frons, like other theatre parts have been restored, the corinthian columnatio  has three storeys (21 m. high)

LOCATION: Sabratha is 65 klm. west of Tripoli.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Caputo, Giacomo; “Il teatro di Sabratha”. Roma, l’Erma di Bretschneider, 1959. // 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. // Bieber, Margarete. “The History of The Greek and Roman Theatre”. Princeton University Press, 1961. // Di Vita, Antonio; Di Vita-Evrard, Ginette; Bacchielli, Lidiano; “Libia antigua”. Barcelona, Könemann, 1999. // Dal Bosco, Oriana; Grassi, Maria Teresa; “Mediterranean and Roman Libya”. Firenze, Polaris, 2005. // Haynes, D.E.L.; “The antiquities of Tripolitania”. London, Darf.

OUT OF PRINT: What to say about these ancient theatre... I spent some hours, fascinated with its remains. I sat down in the inma cavea and wait for a long time for the actors; I called them, encouraging them to start, like children do when they want the play start... some hours passed... and nobody acted these day, only the echo of the wind, mimicking the sound of the seashell... only the shadows projected of some clouds clueless, lonely, like me that day in the wilds of ancient Libya, that evening in which the only act was the acting of the shadows.

Saepinum (Sepino)

SAEPINUM (Sepino), ancient Regio IV Samnium et Sabina, modern Italy.

COORDINATES: 41º26’03.99” N // 14º37’02.85” E

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: First I A.D. (Augustan)

TRANSFORMATIONS: Scene building in IV.

CAPACITY: 3.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south-east. 61,5 m. diameter. Maenianum: Ima cavea had 10 rows of seats divided in four cunei, five rows of them (three complete) survives; Summa cavea: probably had 7 rows of seats.

ORCHESTRA: 23 m. diameter including balteus and three steeps of bisellia.

STAGE BUILDING: Proscaenium had three curved and two rectangular niches. Scaenae frons was rectilinear. Pulpitum was 40,3 x 8,7 m.

LOCATION: Sepino is 50klm. north-west of Benevento.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Tosi, Giovana; “Gli edificio per spettacoli nell’Italia romana”. Roma, Quasar, 2003. // Courtois, Catherine; “Le bâtiment de scène des théâtres d’Italie et de Sicile”. Providence, Louvain-la.Neuve, 1989. // Maggi, Stefano; Troso, Cristina. “Guida all’Italia archeologica”. Casale Monferrato, Piemme, 2007. // 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.

OUT OF PRINT: Who would not like to leave there? Sepino´s ancient theatre is surrounded by opening the window every morning and find these view... the ancient theatre. In the photo you can see the house built in the scene building place, but at the back some old houses surrond all the cavea. I spend a lovely evening there, experiencing a very special silence, imagine all the common life around the theatre, children playing, clen clothes drying in the sun, elderly people talking in the row of seats, the smell of the food scaping from the windows... all the life flowing aroun the ancient theatre... it remains me something, the name of one of my favourites music recordings: “All the world is a stage”, by Rush.

Canatha (Qanawat)

CANATHA, ancient Arabia, modern Syria.

COORDINATES: 32º45’21.99” N // 36º37’08.25” E

TIPOLOGY : Roman cult theatre. Not urban ¿?

DATE: Second half II A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS:

CAPACITY: 800 ¿? spectators.

CAVEA: Rest on natural hill, carved into the rock. 46 m. Diameter. Facing west. Ima cavea: 3 cunei and 9 steps survives, but it was bigger.

ORCHESTRA: 12 m. diameter. Paved in cut stones.

STAGE BUILDING: The proscaenium shows three curved and two rectangular niches.

LOCATION: Close to the nymphaeum, in the eastern banks of the wadi. Modern Qanawât is 5 klm north-east of Suwayda.

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. // Burns, Ross; “Monuments of Syria”. London, I.B. Tauris, 1999. // Abou Assaf, Ali; “The archaeology of Jebel Hauran”. Damascus, Sidawi, 1998.

OUT OF PRINT: Marcus Ulpius Lysias Icarius paid 10.000 denarii fot its construction. The building was never covered so we can not say it is really an odeon. Probably a typical west cult theatre. Canatha is in the south of Syria, in the Hauran plain; in a very short distances you can visit six ancient theatres. Hauran plain reminds me to Castilla, where evenings seems to be caught in the sun. Is etched in my mind, that fire sunset, from Hauran to Damascus, eating spinach pie and blaklava.

Mylias (Kocaaliler)

MILYAS / MELLI (Kocaaliler), ancient Pisidia – Asia Minor, modern Turkey.

COORDINATES: 37º18’20.23” N // 30º45’02.35” E

TIPOLOGY : Greek theatre. Urban.

DATE:  Hellenistic.

TRANSFORMATIONS:

CAPACITY: 1.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north-east. Carved on rock. Only one maeniana, 13 rows of seats in 5 cunei.

ORCHESTRA:

STAGE BUILDING: Wall of stage buildibg survives in good condition, not excavated yet.

LOCATION: Ancient Milyas is 2 klm. south-east from modern village of Kocaaliler, up in a mountain. The theatre is not easy to find because the ancient city is under vegetation. Kocaaliler is 50 klm. north from Antalya.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Yilmaz, Yasar; “Anadolu Antik Tiyatrolari”. Istanbul, Yem Yanin, 2010.

OUT OF PRINT: The evening I arrive Milyas was rainig. I did not know exactly the position of the ancient theatre, only the hill were it was the Greek town. Walking through the remains was dificult, the old city was covered by bushes and a lot of rolling stones under them made my ankles very fragile and sore. I was more than one hour touring the hill but did not find the theatre. When I dicided to turn back beacuse the day was getting dark I saw a man in a high cliff. I said him “Merhaba, tiyatro” and he signed me behind him. I followed him and I could discover the theatre hidden among the rocks, the show was wonderful, a theatre tucked into the rock´s embrace. The turkish man was the guard of the archeological remains, in every ancient turkish city there are a guard, they do not spend the day in the remains, the archeological place usually is open-air, no supervision... well that seems to be but the guards always appear, you do not know how but they appear... a real mistery, in the middle of nothing... but they are there... and that time great for me... he showed me the theatre, a really hypnotic place; take notice of the landscape you can see from the cavea.

Typaneae - Aepium (Kastro Platiana)

TYPANEAE - AEPIUM (Kastro Platiana), ancient Elide / Achaia, modern Greece.

COORDINATES: 37º32’25.26” N // 21º45’07.90” E

TIPOLOGY : Greek theatre. Urban.

DATE: IV B.C.

TRANSFORMATIONS: Stage building late II B.C.

CAPACITY: 500 ? spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north. 34,50 m. diameter. There are remains of nine rows of seats.

ORCHESTRA: One honor stone seat survives who bordered the orchestra.

STAGE BUILDING: Remains are from after 145 B.C. The stage complex is part of the wall, like Nea Pleuron´s ancient theatre.

LOCATION: In a mountain, up from modern village of Platiana, in Peloponnesus. Platiana is 35 klm. south-east from Pyrgos.

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.

OUT OF PRINT: The site of ancient Typaneae has a real great view over Elide and Achaia land. The remains are not very good, but it´s easy to view the analemma, some row of seats and the stage complex foundations... in that  bleakness there are something special, one honor stone seat, one of those who bordered the orchestra is ancient times, reserved seats for priests... it´s really surprising , so little remains but one honor of seat well preserved, the ghost of a priest still dismiss the sunset every evening, since twenty-four centuries ago. You can feel it, a silence lover. In photograph you can see the stage complex that is part of the wall at left; on your right the analemma; honor seat is in the middle of photograph, a little right, yo can see how projects a little shadow