Samaria / Sebaste (Sebastiye)

SAMARIA / SEBASTE (Sebastiye), ancient Samaria / Palestine, modern Palestinian Territories.

COORDINATES: 32º16’37.40” N / 35º11’26.69” E

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: First III A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS:

CAPACITY: 3.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north. 65 m. diameter. Maenianum. Ima cavea: 14 rows of seat in 12 cunei;  Summa cavea: nothing survives but some subestructure remains.

ORCHESTRA: 21 m. diameter. Paved with stone slabs.

STAGE BUILDING: There are some decorative remains. Stage building foundations under modern path. Proscaenium had seven curved niches and six rectangulars.

LOCATION: North-west of the ancient city, close to the walls, between sanctuary and forum. Samaria is 15 klm west of Nablus.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: “Teatri antichi nell’area del Mediterraneo”. Palermo, I Quaderni di Palazzo Montalbo, 2004. // Murphy-O’Connor; The Holy Land: An Oxford Archeological Guide from earliest times to 1700”. Oxford University Press, 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.

OIT OF PRINT: In my days in Palestine I thought I would find some ancient theatre that long ago was the place for playing drama. I could imagine that old stones that long ago were sheltered by the words of Sophocles, even knowing that at the time that the roman theatres in Palestine were built the words of Sophocles had probably passed away. Maybe I belived I will find the drama outside the theatre, hanging on the wall of present Samaria.. it is the ignorance of a strange. Fact is always more real than fiction. Night fell down from theatre´s rows and I found a humble bar close to the theatre, full of villagers. The tv signal came and went, the tv program was “Ninja Warrior”, a japanese tv program in which people have to do very hard tests. I ate fallafel and salad and five old men did not remove their smiling eyes of me, smoking narguiles. A little boy smile me always than a “japanesse warrior” felt down on tv, failing any of the trails... that is a global world, a palestine boy and me watching “Ninja Warrior”... and tragedy was not in Samaria´s theatre that night... I did not know yet than in Japan, in that moment, all people were fighting against a disaster that was not funny. There were too much starts in the sky that night, and the rows of stones of the ancient theatre brought under the moon and I felt a little sick visiting an ancient theatre in the middle of a real endless drama, that meddle east land that is a real bloody tragedy...  without Sophocles.

Tiberiades (Tiberias)

TIBERIADES (Tiberias), ancient Galilea / Palestina, modern Israel.

COORDINATES: 32º46’25.48 N // 35323899 E

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: First I A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS: II and IV A.D.

CAPACITY: 6.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north-west. 78 m. diameter. Maenianum: Probably had three maeniana. Four rows survives in ima cavea but there are remians of at least  another three. It is very surprising the colour of the rows, forming a checkboard of limestome and basalt.

ORCHESTRA: 20 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: 6 x 30 m.

LOCATION: North of cardo, south-east of ancient Tiberiades.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Murphy-O’Connor; The Holy Land: An Oxford Archeological Guide from earliest times to 1700”. Oxford University Press, 2007. //Walid Atrash: http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.asp?id=1381&mag_id=117

OUT OF PRINT: On Monday I had the luck of visiting ancient Tiberias theatre, Walid Athrash and Avner Hillman the archaeologist who has conducted the excavations kindly invited me. Avner showed me with all details and explained me the excavations, showing at any time a big passion and love in the work he is doing; it was marvellous for me listen to him all the explains about the history of the theatre, how the earthquakes had affected the structure by two times, from where it came the basalt stone of the place. Listening him I felt  he and Walid and all the people was working in the theatre were like sculptors who are working in the air, cleaning of impurities an idea of beauty, returning to life the lifeless skeleton of history, returning back to the theatre, sixteen centuries after, a big silence applause. Thanks Avner an Walid for your generosity, thanks for sharing your passion.

Laodicea-ad-Lycum (Goncali)

LAODICEA-ad-LYCUM –“second theatre”- (Goncali). Ancient Phrygia / Asia Minor, modern Turkey.

COORDINATES: 37º50’19.55’’ N // 29º06’28.67’’ E

TIPOLOGY : Greeh theatre. Urb.

DATE: III or II B.C.

CAPACITY: 7.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north-west. 100 m. diameter. Built on slope. Cavea had 45 rows of seats but only 38 are visible. 7 cunei.

ORCHESTRA: ? diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: Some fragments and remains of scaena are visible but is has not been excavated.

LOCATION: The “seceond theatre” is nort-west of town, 200 m. west from “first theatre”. Ancient Laodicea is close to modern Denizli.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Yilmaz, Yasar; “Anadolu Antik Tiyatrolari”. Istanbul, Yem Yanin, 2010. //  Bean, George; “Turkey beyond the Maeander”. London, Ernst Benn, 1971 // Ciancio Rossetto, Paola; Giuseppina Pisani Sartorio (eds); “Teatri Greci e Romani: alle origini del linguaggio rappresentato”. Rome: SEAT, 1995. // Sear, Frank; “Roman theatres: an architectural study”. Oxford University Press, 2006.

OUT OF PRINT: Two times I were in Laodicea I had the same feeling... walking on the moon... that´s what you can feel when you alone discover the ancient remains... two big ancient theatres, an impressive stadium, the odeon, agora... not only for the visual impression but because you seem to float in the middle of this immensity. The city had two huge greek theatres, the one I wrote today is called “the small one” or “the second one”... small... 7.000 spectators. It´s a big mystery that one city had two theatres built in the same period and with that big dimensions. The “smal one” is one of my favourites ancient greek theatres... is like a hole for playing marbles... and it re,mains me when I was a child and I spent hours and hours playing marbles... Marbles in the moon, because, when you visit Laodicea you are walking on the moon...  and now, writing that lines, I realize that these theatre is very musical, because to my mind come Police and Marillion songs... I hope, in a future to return to Laodicea in some rocket to continue walking on the moon...

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...