Bubon (Ibecik)

BUBON (Ibecik), ancient Lycia, modern Turkey.

COORDINATES: 36º58’05.06’’ N // 29º24’27.25 E (approximately)

TIPOLOGY : Probably Greek theatre. Urban.
DATE: An inscription from II A.D. has been found but the theatre is probably a Greek theatre.
TRANSFORMATIONS:
CAPACITY: 2.300 spectators.
CAVEA: Facing south. 49 m. diameter. Built against hillside. Maenianum. 22 rows of seats in 5 cunei. 6 radial stairs.
ORCHESTRA: I has not been excavated.
STAGE BUILDING: Covered.LOCATION: The ancient city of Bubon is 1280 m. above sea level, on a hill 1,8 klm. south-west from Ibecik, 30 klm. south-west from Gölhisar.
MY BESIDE TABLE: Yilmaz, Yasar; “Anadolu Antik Tiyatrolari”. Istanbul, Yem Yanin, 2010. // Bean, George; “Lycian Turkey”. London, Ernst Benn, 1978. // 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: First time I wanted to visit Bubon it snowed too much and I did not any reference about the site, only some information in Bean´s book. Second time I had located the hill were the ruins are but did not have the exact point the theatre is. When I climbed the hill, not too much high from the road with a very high slope I realized I had forgotten in the car my note book, in it I had cavea´s orientation, a very good fact if you do not know the exact location of a theatre and you have to scrutinize an extensive rugged terrain. I refused to go down the hill for taking my note book... I do not know if it was or not a good decision because I spent two hours trying to find the theatre, something very common visiting hidden ancient theatres in Turkey if you do not have a GPS position, a healthy sport that knows how to reward the effort... when you find the theatre all this stupid feeling of having gone round in vain disappears for showing you a half-buried treasure... an ancient theatre. It is an indescribable feeling... my treasures, the silences of forgotten theatres.