Athenae (Athina)

ATHENAE (Athina), ancient Achaia, modern Greece.

COORDENATES: 37º58’30.86’’N // 23º43’23.28’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman odeon, known as Odeon of Agrippa. Urban.

DATE: Last I B.C.
TRANSFORMATIONS: In 150 A.D. was transformed for public lectures.
CAPACITY: 1.000 spectators.
CAVEA: Facing north. Auditorium square 25 x 25 m., 19 rows of seats in 6 cunei. Overall dimensions of the building 51,3 x 43,2 m.
ORCHESTRA: 18,5 m., paved in polychrome marble.
STAGE BUILDING: Pulpitum 25 x 3 m. Proscaenium rectilinear. Scaenae frons is rectilinear too, with three doors. There are three marble statues in the place, well preserved, they were part of the decoration; drum columns too of the Corinthian order.
LOCATION: The Roman odeon of Agrippa is in the Agora.
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. // Izenour, George. Roofed Theaters of Classical Antiquity. Yale University Press, 1992.

 

OUT OF PRINT: In Athens the Gods are still alive, but they are deaf to the cries of their people... “Because gods perceive future things, men what is happening now, but wise men perceive approaching things” wrote Philostratus in his “Kife of Apollonius of Tyana”... but, where are the wise men nowadays?

Iulia Concordia Sagittaria (Concordia Sagittaria)

IULIA CONCORDIA SAGITTARIA (Concordia Sagittaria), ancient Regio X, modern Italy.

COORDENATES: 45º45’31.93’’N // 12º50’26.10’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.
DATE: I A.D.
TRANSFORMATIONS: Scaenae frons reformed in last I A.D.
CAPACITY:

CAVEA: Facing east south-east. 80 m. diameter. Maenianum: Ima cavea with 16 rows of seats; summa cavea: ?

ORCHESTRA: It was transformed for amphitheatre games.

STAGE BUILDING: Proscaenium was rectilinear. Porticus post scaenam traces found.

LOCATION: The place of the ancient Roman theatre is west of Concordia Sagittaria, 60 klm. south-west from Udine.

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: Also nowadays there´s not visible remains of the Roman theatre, in 1879 excavations revealed some traces;one century later, in 1980, new excavations reveled part of the scaena wall. Nothing visible today, but special for me, iConcordia Sagittaria was the first “theatre” I visited in my four travels to Italy

Scupi (Skopje)

SCUPI (Skopje), ancient Moesia Superior, modern FYR of Macedonia.

COORDENATES: 42º01’01.80’’N // 21º23’36.90’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: II a.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS:

CAPACITY:

CAVEA: Facing south-west. 98 m. diameter. Built against hillside, lower cavea rested on annular corridors.

ORCHESTRA: 28 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: In scaenae frons, regia door in a curved niche, hospitalias in rectangular niches. Columnatio in Corinthian order. There is a passageway that connect stage building with orchestra.

LOCATION: Ancient theatre is west of modern Skopje.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: “Anticki teatar na tlu Jugoslavije”, Novi Sad, 1881. // 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: I will not forget my visit to ancient Scupi...in the evening I visited the roman theatre, by night Spanish national football team won the World Championship.

Colonia Patricia Corduba (Córdoba)

COLONIA PATRICIA CORDUBA (Córdoba), ancient Baetica / Hispania, modern Spain.

COORDINATES: 37º52’55.14’’N // 4º46’41.41’’W

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.
DATE: Last I B.C.
TRANSFORMATIONS:
CAPACITY: 10.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south-east. 124 m. diameter. Maenianum: Ima cavea with 14 rows of seats, number 10 and 11 are preserved, divided in 6 cunei.; Media cavea with 20 rows of seats divided in 12 cunei; Summa cavea with 6 rows. There is an axial vomitorium that leads directly  to the orchestra and bisects the ima cavea.

ORCHESTRA: 31 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING:

LOCATION: The remains are inside Archaeological museum, in Jerónimo Paéz square.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: “Jornadas sobre teatros romanos en Hispania” Grafisur, Córdoba, 2006. // “El teatro romano. La puesta en escena” . Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, 2003.

OUT OF PRINT:
“Or perhaps you think I am equal to you and indecisive to the destiny”
               -Lucano, “Farsalia”-

Metropolis (Yeniköy, Torbali)

METROPOLIS (Yeniköy, Torbali), ancient Ionia / Asia Minor, modern Turkey.

COORDENATES: 38º07’26.28’’N // 27º19’28.91’’E

TIPOLOGY: Greek theatre. Urban.

DATE: III B.C. ¿?

TRANSFORMATIONS: Scene building restored in Roman times.

CAPACITY: 2,600 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south.east. Maenianum: Ima cavea with 11 rows of seats in 7 cunei; Summa cavea does not reach the semicircle, with 8 cunei some of them with 12 rows, other with 8 rows.

ORCHESTRA: 12,2 m. diameter. Paved in color marble. There are 4 thrones for dignitaries with griffin´s feet and lion´s claws and 2 cylindrical altars.

STAGE BUILDING: The stage is 5,3 m. wide. Proscaenium: there are 8 colums preserved in site

LOCATION: Theatre is south-east of the acropolis hill, north-west of Yeniköy, 4 klm. south-west from Torbali, 30 klm. north from Ephesos.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Yilmaz, Yasar; “Anadolu Antik Tiyatrolari”. Istanbul, Yem Yanin, 2010. // Sear, Frank; “Roman theatres: an architectural study”. Oxford University Press, 2006.

 

OUT OF PRINT: Metroplis was a great surprise... in my first travel to Turkey, although it had been yet excavated, i did not know its existence; second time I were in Ionia land, I found not only a great theatre, ima cavea very well preserved, with marvellous stone thrones for dignitaries, like in Priene or Amphiaron, and altars too; it was a great award, the day before returning to the great Epheso. But Metroplis had other great surprise for me, after visiting the ancient Greek theatre I took a round for the city remains and, oh my god!, I meet with something i did not have notice about... the remains of an ancient odeon or bouleuterion that had being recently excavated... that evening I won the lottery.

Derventum (Drévant)

DERVENTUM (Drévant), ancient Gallia Aquitania. modern France.

COORDINATES: 46º41’35.13N // 2º31’21.35’’E

TIPOLOGY: Rural ritual Gallo-Roman theatre. Not urban.

DATE: Last I or first II A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS: III and IV A.D.

CAPACITY: 5.000 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south-west. 85 m. diameter. Rest on hillside. There were three maeniana: Ima cavea with 10 rows of seats in 4 cunei.

ORCHESTRA: 27 m. diameter, surrounded by podium, 2,6 m. high.

STAGE BUILDING: Scene building 18,5 x 7 m. It was roofed by 4 Doric columns.

LOCATION: Ancient Derventum is in modern Drevant, 45 klm. south of Bourges.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: 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”. Musée de Lattes, 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: I spent one winter crossing France searching for the ancient stages...

““It is snowing on my roof and on the trees. The wall and the garden are white,
the path black, and the house has given way without a sound. It is snowing.”

            –Pierre Reverdy-