Seressi (Oum el Abouad)

SERESSI (Oum El Abouad), ancient Africa Proconsularis, modern Tunisia.

COORDINATES: About 36º09’58.52’’N // 9º46’26.40’’E

TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: Imperial Roman times.

TRANFORMATIONS:

CAPACITY:

CAVEA: Facing south-west. Three rows of seat preserved.

ORCHESTRA: 22 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: 22x12 m.

LOCATION: Theatre remains are west of ancient town. Oum El Abouad is in C46 road, 85 klm. north-east from Mactaris.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Lachaux, Jean-Claude. “Théâtres et amphithéâtres d’Afrique Proconsulaire”. Aix en Provence, Édisud, 1979. // 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:

“Heroically
one hero strips his heroism to the air
to smoke a little of sad, lonely
in exile”.
     -Youssef Rzouga”-

Aggar (Henchir Sidi Amara)

AGGAR (Henchir Sidi Amara), ancient Africa Proconsularis, modern Tunisia.

COORDINATES: 35º51’21.73’’ N // 9º31’04.00’’ E

TIPOLOGY: Probably a Roman theatre or odeon.
DATE:
TRANSFORMATIONS:
CAPACITY:
CAVEA: Facing north-east. It does not seem a big theatre; Maenianum: Ima cavea have remains of six cunei but probably had eight with three rows of seats; In Summa cavea there are remains of three cunei but probably had eight too, there are remains of eight rows of seats.
ORCHESTRA: Balteus is preserved.
STAGE BUILDING:
LOCATION: Ancient Aggar is about 60 klm. east of Maktar. 6 klm. west from Al-Waslatiyah, on the road c-73, just on the right of a big road curve.
MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Chase, Raymond G. “Ancient Hellenistic and Roman amphitheatres, stadiums and theatres. The way they look now”. Portsmouth, Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2002.

OUT OF PRINT: The only reference to Aggar´s ancient theatre that I have found it was in Raymond Chase´s “Ancient Hellenistic and Roman amphitheatres, stadiums and theatres” , in that wonderful book you can find two photos. I have not found something more about it. When I visited Henchir Sidi Amara, some humble houses scattered in the middle of the field; I gave some walk round and when I found a boy tried to explained, making some pictures in my notebook, he took me to the ancient theatre remains. And he did, behind a big cacti it was the jewel, a little theatre lost in the heart of Tunisia.

Ammaedara (Haïdra)

AMMAEDARA (Haïdra), ancient Africa Proconsularis, modern Tunisia.

COORDINATES: 35º33’59.28’’ N / 8º27’27.43’’ E

TIPOLOGY : Roman theatre. Urban.

DATE: II A.D.

TRANSFORMATIONS: First and last III A.D.

CAPACITY: spectators.

CAVEA: Facing south. 65 m. diameter. Built in substructures. Maenianum: Ima cavea: unknow number of rows but maybe in five cunei; the theatre had Media and Summa cavea that rested on vaulted radial chambers

ORCHESTRA: 17, 60 m diameter. Two steps for bisellia and holes for balteus wall.

STAGE BUILDING: Only preservs the foundation of the stage building.

LOCATION: The theatres is north-east of the ancient city. Haidra is very close to Algeria frontier, 80 klm. south-west fron Le Kef.

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. // Slim, Hédi; Fauqué, Nicolas; “La Tunisie antique”. Paris, Mengès, 2001. // Grassi, Maria Teresa; Gabr’Aoun, Robo; “Tunisia, le cittá costiere, i siti romani e le oasi a nord del sahara”. Firenze, Polaris, 2006.

OUT OF PRINT: Ancient Ammaedara is one of these ancient sites that you can feel are alive, not for people living there, in fact it is a desert land, but because there are something very disturbing between the crumbling ruins... you are alone in the middle of nowhere but you can feel like if somebody would be looking at you... someone will tell me that these is only suggestion... maybe. I walked in the ruins, founding great little broken pottery that do not dare to take. The cold in the middle of the desert breaking the face, making the silence deep, comforted by a unsettling feeling that approached to a slight fear... nobody, in the middle of sand ruins, in the middle of nowhere, only cold, silence and the justice of the sun brighting and an immense echo that emptiness me... that´s Ammaedara, a city that seems to suffer still... and the theatre is a clear reflection of this feeling... it has not seats...

Simitthu (Chemtou)

SIMITTHU (Chemtou), ancient Africa Proconsularis, modern Tunisia.

COORDINATES: 36º29'28.40" N // 8º34'20.39" E
TIPOLOGY: Roman theatre. Urban.
DATE: III A.C.
CAPACITY: 3.500 ¿? spectators.

CAVEA: Facing north. 68 m. diameter. It was built on level ground, using 13 radial vaults. Two maenianum. Ima cavea is covered, 6 cunei and 6 steps; summa cavea probably 10 steps.

ORCHESTRA: 24 m. diameter.

STAGE BUILDING: pulpitum 1 m. high, 29 m. long. Proscaenium has three large and two curved niches.

LOCATION: Modern Chemtou is about 50 klm. north-west of Le Kef. In 27 AD the roman colony was founded; Simitthu was a very important marble quarry in roman times. West of the city.

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. // Slim, Hédi; Fauqué, Nicolas; “La Tunisie antique”. Paris, Mengès, 2001.

OUT OF PRINT:  The present state of the theatre is very spectacular, ima cavea is cover, what you can see in photograph is only the summa cavea -on the left you can see the "head" of the aditus maximus- . If you walk behind, surronding the outer wall, you can reach the vomitorium, go into the "squeleton" and reach the orchestra level. You are down on earth but touching the orchestra. Simitthu´s ancient theatre is like a body sleep, still waiting for being digged... it reminds me Goya´s painting called "Fight whit clubs" although only in poetic way.