ANTIQUE ENTERTAINMENT

The ancient theatre of Cádiz is located on the road along the boulevard, but the entrance is hidden in a side street on the city side. As soon as you enter you will be surprised by beautifully displayed remains and information boards about its history. A corridor brings you to the theater. The city was known as Augusta Urbs Iulia Gaditana when it became a Roman colony, but its primary Latin name in historical and literary sources is Gades. It was built on the old Phoenician predecessor called Gadir.  The theater with a capacity of nearly 20,000 spectators was built during the late Republic, located in new town on island Kotinoussa. Here, I present the texts on display in the museum, which gives a great insight in its history.  The theater was built 'in montibus', taking advantage of the slope of the land to support the stands, whilst modifying it where needed. Architecturally the building stands out for its dimensions, given that the diameter of 118 meters, or 400 pedes, ...

Last year I visited Verulamium - capital of the Catuvellauni - at St Albans near London. It was on my bucket list for quite a while, because it is the only Roman theater visible in Britain today. This time, I took the train from Rotterdam to London and from London to St Albans. Arriving in St Albans it took a half hour walk through the village and passing some Roman remains in a park to reach the remains of the theater. Verulamium was among the first Romano-British towns to be built and by about AD 250 it was the third largest in this Roman province, surpassed only by London and Cirencester. It was not until about a hundred years after the Roman occupation of Britain, that the theatre in Verulamium was built. That might be around 140 AD, with serious alterations through time, until the early fourth century. The stage and seatings were mainly of wood, while the arena and orchestra were covered by a flat cement floor during the fourth major renovation (AD 300).     The tota...

This spring, I visited Córdoba's Roman theatre. The remains can be seen in the basement of the archeological museum. It was built on the south-east slope of the plateau on which the Roman City was founded. The spot chosen for the theatre was located in the new district that emerged in the times of Caesar Augustus, which extended the city limits to the riverbank. Part of the slope was cut away to build the theatre, and massive foundations - almost all of which are still intact today - were laid support the tiered seating area. The construction also triggered the urban development of the entire surrounding area. Important sewage works were undertaken to channel the water flowing down from the city's higher ground.    Foto's gemaakt in het Archeologisch Museum van Cordoba vind je hier !

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...