ANTIQUE ENTERTAINMENT

This afternoon, I visited the theater of Regina Turdulorum. About a 1.5 hour drive from Seville, heading north. The excavation is located in a deserted area. Only the hamlet of Reina is within walking distance. There were no other visitors, which added to the serene atmosphere. Pliny mentioned the name of Regina as one of the 'oppida non ignobilia' (or independent community),  located in Baeturia Turdula founded in the layout of the road that runs from Augusta Emerita at Corduba. Among the reasons for founding the city is the mineral wealth of the area. Furthermore, there is political reason, control of the territory of Túrdulo people occupying this area.   The first archeological excavations off the theater, dated mid first century AD, started in the 1970s. At that moment the ruins were known as "The thick wall", referring to the solid concrete remains. The theater was built about the second half of the first century, making use of a soft slope which was used to cons...

My workation, gave me the opportunity to visit 4 theaters and 2 amphitheaters in Andalusia. One of the theaters is in the far south-west of Spain, Baelo Claudia. Originally, Baelo Claudia was the town of the Turdetani, which came a municipium under Claudius. The theater was integrated into the street plan. It has a diameter of 70 meter, facing south to the Ocean. It was built on a slope, with an outer wall of 2,70 meter hight. No seats survived. The orchestra was in front of the stage and was accessible from the side doors. In the south on both sides of the stage are flanked by rectangular buildings, so-called side-halls (parascaenia). A tier (pulpitum) separated the orchestra from the stage and was decorated with marble and painted stucco. Remains of it can still be found today. The 18 meter diameter semicircle at the foot of the auditorium was not just the orchestra pit. A balastrade (balteus) separated the orchestra from the first rows of seats, intended for the city's upper cla...

29 October 2017, I visited the theatre of Sparta. It is situated at the southern slope of the Acropolis Hill and was constructed around 30 to 20 BC, and closely connected with the hegemony of Gaius Julius Eurykles, a close friend of Octavian (Emperor Augustus). The Spartan theatre is unique on account of its size and the quality of its construction, evident from the use of local white marble Although we didn't find any remains of an earlier classical theater, the existence of such a theater at the city of Sparta since the 5th century BC is testified by ancient authors. It is closely connected with the celebration of religious ceremonies such as Gymnopaediai . Maybe the ancient building was located at the same position as the current Roman one, but that's unclear. The Roman theater had ten staircases and nine bleachers, while the upper part (the ephitheatron) had seventeen staircases with sixteen bleachers. It is suggested that the construction of a second ephitheatr...

Bij de Muur van Hadrianus in Engeland zijn twee leren bokshandschoenen van de Romeinen gevonden uit ongeveer 120 na Christus. Dat meldt The Guardian . Het zijn waarschijnlijk de enige exemplaren die de eeuwen hebben overleefd. De twee handschoenen, die op het oog geen paar vormen, zijn gevonden in een Romeinse legerplaats, die vorig jaar werd gevonden onder een stenen fort uit de vierde eeuw. Dat was het fort van Vindolanda ten zuiden van de muur van Hadrianus bij Hexham.  Boksen was een populaire sport bij de Romeinen, gezien de talloze verwijzingen ernaar in teksten en afbeeldingen uit die tijd. De leren bokshandschoenen waren eigenlijk een soort banden die om de knokkels van de hand zaten en die waren gevuld met natuurlijke materialen om schokken te absorberen. De handschoenen zijn niet vervormd en passen nog steeds om een normale hand. In één van de handschoenen zijn zelfs de afdrukken van de knokkels te zien. De grootste van de twee is ooit gerepareerd. In de opgegrav...

Although Gythio or Gytheio wasn't on my wish list, today it was nevertheless more than worthwhile the visit. Gythium was the seaport of ancient Sparta, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north. The city used to be an important port until it was destroyed in 4th century AD, possibly by an earthquake. Also in Roman times Gythium remained a major port and it prospered as a member of the Union. As purple dye was popular in Rome, Gythium exported that as well as porphyry and rose antique marble. Evidence of the ancient Gythium prosperity can be found by the fact that the Romans built this small theatre against a hillside. Although only 8 rows in 4 cunei survived. This is also were the 'thymelic' performances used to take place. The thymelic was a song contest dedicated to Dionisos, which included a parade and a sacrifice to the Roman emperors. Today, although the site is abondoned, there are some cultural events taking place in this theatre every summer, as part of th...

In February, I visited the Metropolitan in New York and saw this magnificent Faience masks, discovered in Medinet-el-Fayum at Antinoopolis, Middle Egypt. It dates from the 2nd century AD. With reference to the The Metropolitan, the masks are too small and brittle to have served as actual theater masks. They refer to the god Dionysus, patron of the theater and god of rebirth: in Egypt equated with Osiris. Terracotta masks are found in burials and sanctuaries in Greece, in sanctuaries and as garden decorations in Italy. In Egypt they are known only from burials, as offerings to Osiris, Dionysus. More of my pictures of the Metropolitan can be seen  here .