COORDINATES: 36º56’20.28’’ N // 31º10’20.28’’ E
TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Not urban.
DATE: Half II A.D. The architect Zeone built it between 161-168.
TRANSFORMATIONS: Porticus in summa cavea was built after.
CAPACITY: 7.000 spectators.
CAVEA: Facing east. 95 m. diameter. More than semicircle. Maenianum: Ima cavea have 21 row of seats in 9 cunei. Summa cavea 20 rows in 20 cunei. the seats at the top end of ima have stone backs. There are a preserve porticus in summa cavea.
ORCHESTRA: 24 m. diameter.
STAGE BUILDING: All the sacenae frons wall is preserved, only the columns and the pulpitum are left. It has five doors. Versurae are preserved too, the same that postscaenium.
LOCATION: Aspendos is 3 klm. north-east of moden Belkis, 32 klm. east from ancient Perge and 40 from Antalya.
MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Yilmaz, Yasar; “Anadolu Antik Tiyatrolari”. Istanbul, Yem Yanin, 2010 // Bean, George; “Turkey´s southern shore”. London, Ernest Benn Limited, 1968. // 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. // Neppi Modona, Aldo. “Gli edificio teatrali greci e romani”. Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 1961.
OUT OF PRINT: Aspendos is the best preserved ancient theatre with Bosra (Syria) and Orange (France). These three ones roman theatres conserve completely the stage building. I spent some hours walking slowly by the rows of seats the two times I visited Aspendos, for me it was like to be in the Vatican of the ancient poets, like being in the centre of the ancient world. The silence I felt in Aspendos was mystical, as I afraid with my steps to cause a disturbing echo. For me the capital of Turkey is Aspendos, the best jewel in the country that ancient theatres grew like sunflowers.
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