Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία

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Aezani (Antiquity), Theatre

Συγγραφή : Aristodimou Georgia (28/3/2002)
Μετάφραση : Velentzas Georgios

Για παραπομπή: Aristodimou Georgia, "Aezani (Antiquity), Theatre",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7123>
Αιζανοί (Αρχαιότητα), Θέατρο (28/5/2009 v.1) Aezani (Antiquity), Theatre (23/2/2009 v.1) 
 

1. Location

The theatre is built within the boundaries of the city of Aezani, in the area including the Agora, Zeus’ temple and a baths complex. It is along the same longitudinal axis as the stadium and they both form an integrated architectural programme, as the outer view of the stage building (porticus post scaenam) is the inner view of the stadium.1 The fact that the underground arched corridors through which chariots and horses entered the stadium were under the skene should be noted. Moreover, the spectators accessed the theatre through these corridors more easily when the stadium was out of operation.

2. Architectural Description

It is a theatre of the so-called “Roman-Asia Minor” style. It is quite sizeable, with a cavea (auditorium) larger than a semicircle, 104.5 m in diameter. The lower part of the cavea is built on a squat natural elevation, thus taking advantage of its sloping side, while the upper parts were constructed with the help of auxiliary built substructures so that the gradient of the ground could be eliminated.

The cavea is divided by a circumferential aisle (diazoma-praesinctio) into two parts (maeniana). The lower part of the cavea (theatre, ima cavea) was divided by ten flights of steps into nine sectors, the tiers (cunei). Each tier comprised a total of 23 rows of seats. The seats had an arched profile and were made of a single marble block. At the centre of the cavea there are traces of balcony stalls (tribunalia) intended for the officials of the city, a feature found also in the theatres of Priene and Tralles. The upper sector of the cavea (epitheatre, summa cavea) is in bad condition. It was probably divided by nineteen flights of steps into eighteen tiers.2

Apart from the orchestra, access to the theatre was through two side doors in the wall surrounding the cavea. The spectators reached the doors, which were at the level of the central circumferential aisle, through two side flights of steps. There were possibly more entrances to the epitheatre but they have not survived.

The upper and side sectors of the cavea rest on built substructures. The latter included a long underground circumferential corridor 5 m wide, and fifteen shorter arched passages in radiating arrangement. Each passage led directly to the central circumferential corridor (praesinctio), which was covered by a semicircular arch and was lower than the last rows of seats. The passage walls were made of large upright stone slabs 0.36 m thick.3

Between the first row of seats called proedria and the orchestra there is a paved separative corridor 1.17 m wide used by the spectators. The orchestra with a diameter of 35 m is at a lower level.

The stage building has been quite well preserved. It probably had a rectangular ground plan and was divided by four walls into 5 communicating spaces. The proscenium is in front of the stage building, extending as far as the retaining walls. Doors open on the narrow sides of the skene, while two flights of steps in the corners of the south walls of the skene provide access to the different levels created in the rear part of the skene.

The two-story (or three-story) skene facade (scaenae frons) was adorned with 14 Ionic columns on pedestals, forming 6 groups of 2 columns each, which corresponded to 2 pillars joined to the rear wall. The skene wall includes a central niche corresponding to the central door (porta regia), which is framed by 2 columns, as it happens in the theatre of Hierapolis. Five doors are created, whose dimensions gradually decrease from the centre to the sides.4 The skene facade was adorned with relief decoration, though few fragments from the architectural members of the superstructure survive today. The decoration is plain in execution but rich in themes.5 Although not quite certain, the external doors were arched according to various representations.6

The south side of the stage building closes the north part of the stadium, while underground passages allowed chariots and riders to access the stadium. When the stadium was out of operation the audience entered the cavea through these long underground passages, which lead in eight large arched doors.

3. Masonry

Τhe theatre is made of local limestone, while marble was used on the skene facade. Only the SW corner of the circumferential wall of the cavea has survived, although the retaining walls are in a much better condition. Stone bricks with a well processed outer surface, arranged in horizontal layers, have been used, while the inner side is quite coarse. The profile of the seats is carefully made with cymatia.

The stage building was constructed following the isodomic system of masonry, although not everywhere. It was made of stone bricks of various dimensions and a coarse front view, arranged in layers, which were not always horizontal. This construction technique suggests that the building was made much later than the cavea. The different sizes of the stone bricks in the lower part of the stage building indicates architectural material previously used in the former stage building.

4. Relief Decoration

The theatre was decorated with a frieze consisting of nine relief slabs depicting hunting scenes. Only three of them are today visible among the architectural members scattered around the theatre. They represent putti hunting wild animals (lions, boars, deer and bulls). A landscape is frequently indicated (trees at the ends of the relief slabs), although the setting remains unspecified. The slabs are 0.76 m high.7

5. Chronology

Two chronological phases may be identified: the first covers the third quarter of the 1st c. BC (concurrent with the stadium) and includes the initial construction of the cavea, the retaining walls and the underground vaulted substructures. The masonry is quite similar to that used in the theatres of Perge, Miletus and Cibyra. The second phase was much later, in Hadrian’s years, in the mid-3rd c. AD. This phase includes the stage building, the extension of the cavea, the reconstructed substructures and the underground circumferential passage. The relief frieze with the hunting scenes also belongs to the same phase, which indicates that the stage building was used for games and beast-fights in a subsequent period.8

6. Current State of Preservation

The area has not been excavated. As for the current state of preservation, the central part of the cavea and the built substructures have collapsed, while the stage building has survived. The orchestra and the skene are covered with soil.

1. For the city stadium, see Hoffmann, A., “Aizanoi. Erster Vorbericht über die Arbeiten im Stadion, 1982‑1984”, AA (1986) from p. 683 onwards.

2. The walls of the circumferential passage and the substructures of the upper part of the cavea (summa cavea, epitheatre) have collapsed. In the lower diazoma only the side seats are in good condition, while the middle seats are completely damaged. Things were probably somehow different when Texier and the architect Landron visited the area, as evidenced by their drawings, which are inaccurate at certain points.

3. Almost all of them are in situ. Three of them are vertical and two horizontal. The horizontal ones correspond to the start of the passages.

4. F. Sear, Roman Theatres. An Architectural Study (Oxford 2006) p. 325.

5. Τhe fragments from the entablature of the theatre facade are different from those from the doors as regards the construction technique followed; see De Bernardi Ferrero, D., Teatri classici in Asia Minore 3 (Roma 1970) pp. 182-183, fig. 216-218.

6. De Bernardi Ferrero, D., Teatri classici in Asia Minore 3 (Roma 1970) from p. 182 onwards. Fiechter, E. R., Die baugeschichtliche Entwicklung des antiken Theaters (München 1914) fig. 88a-b. Neppi-Modona, A., Gli edifizi teatrali greci e romani (1961) p. 162.

7. F. Sear, Roman Theatres. An Architectural Study (Oxford 2006) p. 325.

8. De Bernardi Ferrero, D., Teatri classici in Asia Minore 3 (Roma 1970) p. 185. F. Sear, Roman Theatres. An Architectural Study (Oxford 2006) p. 325.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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