Notion (Ahmetbeyli)

NOTION (Ahmetbeyli), ancient Ionia / Asia Minor, modern Turkey.

COORDIANATES: 37º59’37.00’’N // 27º12’03.27’’E

TIPOLOGY: Greek theatre. Urban.

DATE: II B.C.

TRANSFORMATIONS: Cavea was restored in imperial roman times.

CAPACITY: 4.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing west. 64 m. diameter. Rest on natural slop, partially carved on rock . Bigger than semicircle. Maenianum. There are 27 visible row of seats, ima cavea with 9 cunei and summa with 11.

ORCHESTRA:

STAGE BUILDING: Rectangular shape, 25 x 6,5 m. Facade with five thymorata.

LOCATION: 4 klm. south from modern Ahmetbeyli, 2 klm. south from ancient Claros, 18 klm west from ancient Epheso.

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; “Aegan Turkey”. London, Ernst Benn, 1972.

OUT OF PRINT: First time I visited Notion´s ancient theatre I felt like a ballet dancer, I had to cross a muddy field strewn. I tried to be light, by a pathetic jumps that were too far from the weightless... I suppose that, Notion ancient people, in their theatre, saw, more than once, graceful and beautiful dances... that day I was crowned in the silence theatre, but not with laurels for poets, I had a different present... muddy boots, heavy as hell.

Termantia Therme (Tiermes)

TERMANTIA THERME (Tiermes), ancient Tarraconensis, modern Spain.

  

COORDINATES: 41º19’46.67’’N // 3º08’48.20’’O

TIPOLOGY: Iberan or Roman Theatron.

DATE: I a.C or I d.C.

TRANSFORMATIONS:

CAPACITY: 2.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south. It´s rectilinear but it has not a regular shape. The theatre is carved on rock, but there are remains of masonry for a second maeniana. Ima cavea with 9 rows of seats, buy unknown rows in summa. The theatre was used for public or religious propose. There´s a drainage system, consisting of several channels carved on the rock. In summer the rock cavea is used for performances.

ORCHESTRA: An open area, trapezoidal, 200 x 80 m.

STAGE BUILDING: There´s no traces of it.

LOCATION: Close to “Sun gate”

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: www.tiermes.net/opc_yacimiento_virtual.asp?id=2

OUT OF PRINT: It´s said that Salvador Dalí was inspired by the topography of Cadaqués to paint his creations. I say that he probably knew the cavea of Tiermes, or maybe he was the sculptor of the rows of seats.

Scolacium (Squillace)

SCOLACIUM (Squillace), ancient Regio III, modern Italy.

COORDINATES: 38º48’24.61’’N // 16º35’40.71’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre.

DATE: I A.D. (Julio-Claudian dinasty)

TRANSFORMATIONS: II a.D. (Hadrianic times) in sacaenae frons, podium in media cavea and analemma.

CAPACITY: 3.500 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing West-South-west. 60 m. diameter.  Rest partially on natural slope. Ima cavea was divided in 5 cunei with 6 scalaria, 8 rows of seat are preserved. It has a podium maybe for a statue. Summa cavea rest on two radial corridor vaults, it had 14 or 16 rows of seats.

ORCHESTRA: 19,5 m. including balteus. 3 steps for bisellia.

STAGE BUILDING: Sacenae frons with three doors, all of them in semicircular niches. Proscaenium was rectilinear, 0,85-1 m. high.

LOCATION: Ancient Scolacium is close to modern Roccelletta. The ancient roman theatre is west from forum.

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. // 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 ancient theatre is surrounded by a fence. When you see an exotic animal in a cage you feel sad... you look something extraordinary, unusual but you look at too an indissoluble distance... like a virtual reality. Scolacium ancient theatre is that, of course I understand heritage conservation... but it´s sad, something you can only look at , in the distance, no possibility of touch, like a sacred exotic animal in a jail, a broken animal.

Vienna (Vienne)

VIENNA (Vienne), ancient Gallia Narbonensis, modern France.

COORDINATES: 45º31’29.51’’N // 4º52’43.41’’E.

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: Last I B.C. or first I A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS: Proscaenium was built in II A.D.

CAPACITY: 10.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing west – northwest. 130,4 m. diameter. Buily against hillside, all the cavea was accessible from vomotoria and annular passage system. Maenianum: Ima cavea with 12 rows of seats in 4 cunei; Media cavea with 21 rows in 10 cunei; Summa cavea with 10 rows in 10 cunei, top of it there is an ambulatory. In the middle of the porticus in summa cavea there was a small temple.

ORCHESTRA: 34,7 m. diameter including bisellia –four steps-. Paved in different colors marble.

STAGE BUILDING: Proscaenium -1,33 m. high- with 4 rectangular –two big and two small- rectangular niches and 3 curved; it has remained part of the decoration (lion, satyr heads...). There are aulaeum remains. Pulpitum 72 x 11,3 m. In scaenae frons the regia door is in a large niche with curved sides.

LOCATION: The theatre was built using the natural slope of Colline de Pipet.

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. // Grenier, Albert; “Manuel d’archeologie Gallo-Romain”. Paris, Éditions A. Et J. Picard, 1958. // Landes, Christian (Ed.); “Le gout du theatre a Rome et en Gaule romaine”.

OUT OF PRINT: The Roman theatre in Vienna is a fest for the eyes... the colorful marble orchestra, the stunning decorative figures from proscaenium, the inmensity of the cavea... but there is something more extraordinary, when I viewed the cavea from the top of the seats I had a long lost feeling, overwhelming... the same feeling I had when I was a boy, the same feeling I had when I went to football matches at the Santiago Bernabeu,.. an emotional vertigo.

Augusta Bagiennorum (Benevagienna)

AUGUSTA BAGIENNORUM (Benevagienna), ancient Regio IX, modern Italy.

COORDINATES: 44º33’33.34’’N // 7º51’17.67’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.
DATE: Second half II A.D. Maybe Flavian.
TRANSFORMATIONS: It was used till IV a.D.
CAPACITY: 3.000 spectators.
CAVEA: Facing south-west. 57,5 m. diameter. Built over radial and annular substructures. It has been restored in recent times.
ORCHESTRA: 22,2 m. diameter, paved in brick.

STAGE BUILDING: Pulpitum was 40,5 x 7,2 m. Scaenae frons was rectilinear; the porticus post scaenam was a quadriporticus with a temple.

LOCATION: East of forum, north of amphitheatre remains. The ancient theatre is 2 klm. north-east from modern Benevagienna, about 65 klm. south from Torino.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Tosi, Giovana; “Gli edificio per spettacoli nell’Italia romana”. Roma, Quasar, 2003. // 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: Essence, minimalism, structure, function, lines, wind... Augusta Bagiennorum, an ideal place for Bob Wilson´s plays.

Stratos (Stratos)

STRATOS (Stratos), ancient Acarnania, modern Greece.

COORDINATES: 38º40’18.43’’N // 21º19’10.44’’E

TIPOLOGY: Greek theatre. Urban.
DATE: Last IV B.C.
TRANSFORMATIONS:
CAPACITY: 5.000 spectators.
CAVEA: Facing south. Built in a low slope. It seems only one maeniana with near 40 rows of seats in 11 cunei; first row with stone back.
ORCHESTRA: Visible remains of I B.C. skene.
STAGE BUILDING: There are remains of the greek scene.
LOCATION: 0,5 klm. north from modern Stratos; 80 klm. south from Arta.

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: Sometimes the silence is a danger echo, like a mute burst...  the quiet, but fast, movement of a scorpion.