Petra (Petra)

PETRA (Petra), ancient Arabia, modern Jordan.

COORDINATES: 30º19’30.02’’N / 35º26’49.52’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre (with Nabatean style).
DATE: Last I B.C. or first I A.D.
TRANSFORMATIONS: Half I A.D. and first half of II.
CAPACITY: 6.800 spectators.
CAVEA: Facing Nort-east. 95 m. diameter. Maenianum: Ima cavea has 10 rows of seats in 6 cunei; Media cavea 25 rows; Summa cavea with 14 rows. Media and summa are not perfect semicircles and do not have perfect and clear division. It´s carved on rock.
ORCHESTRA: 24,6 m. diameter.
STAGE BUILDING: Pulpitum is 50 x 6,8 m. Columnatio had two orders and was 13,8 m. high. It´s supposed to have been another level because the cavea is higher.
LOCATION: Between “the Treasury” and the “Royal Tombs”.
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. / Lankester Harding, G.; “The antiquities of Jordan”. Jordan Distribution Agency, 1984.

OUT OF PRINT: First day I saw Petra´s Nabatean theater I was paralyzed for two times. The first one for its undeniable beauty, at dawn, turning the sun the stairs in red, that red of Petra that is unique and fascinating. The second time, in the afternoon, I was paralyzed for about half an hour; I had climbed some of the graves, in order to reach the top of the theater, without measuring the risk. When I realized I had gotten into a ridge from which it was difficult to escape ... I panicked and I was still that half hour trying to stay calm and fighting with the vertigo that had gripped me. I had two options, first one to scream to the people that was down, like little ants, and shouting for help and "rescue"... I chose the second, not without some degree of recklessness , to left the risk shaking on my own, playing stupidly with my life, for shame... but happy for having taken a little silence to the high of that absolutely wonderful red theatre.