4/07/2019

Ancient Sparta

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 ephitheatron was planned. In the lower part of the seating area (cavea) there was a series of multiple seated benches with backrests, the proedria.



















Archeologists discovered a noteworthy feature: a moveable wooden skene. This could be moved on wheels along a triple corridor and was stored in a building by the west side entrance (parados), the skenotheke. It suggested the need for the existence of free space, probably because the theater was a place for public gatherings and of religieus ceremonies and rituals.

When sitting in the cavea of 141 meter in diameter, you can imagine it was one of the biggest theatres in Peloponnesse. It could host 17,000 spectators!

The theater had a large scene building (skene), an acting area (proskenion) and a U-shaped orchestra. For the formation of the two edges of the theater, two huge retaining walls were built, which was a great technical achievement.


By the end of the 1st century AD the theater was furnished with a monumental marble skene of the Corinthian order, the erection of which was funded by Emperor Vespasian. The marble facade or the retaining wall of the east parodos, a catalogue of Spartan officials and cursus honorum are recorded; quite impressive.

More pictures of the theater of Sparta and its museum can be found here!

3/04/2019

Boxing gloves from Vindolanda

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 opgegraven legerbarak is ook een compleet zwaard gevonden. De spullen zijn opmerkelijk goed geconserveerd doordat ze 2000 jaar onder een stenen vloer hebben gelegen waardoor er geen zuurstof bij is gekomen.

De vondsten worden tentoongesteld in het museum bij het voormalige fort van Vindolanda.

10/18/2017

Theater of Gytheio

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 the Festival of Gythio. These include ancient drama performances, speeches and music concerts. (Source: www.greeka.com).

The theatre, as well as the city's Acropolis (west to the location of the theatre) was discovered by the archeologist Dimitris Skias in 1891.

















The theater is located next to a Greek military base and is easily reachable. Curious (or bored) soldiers, stationed at the base will follow your moves while walking around at the premises making pictures. Not many people are attracted to this outskirt of the modern settlement.



9/25/2016

Faience mask

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.





10/26/2013

Gladiators and charioteers in Noviomagus

This morning I visited museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen, at Oppidum Batavorum or Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum. Het Valkhof is a remarkable museum with an extraordinary fine collection of Roman finds, both from the vicus and the military settlements. Among these finds are two beautiful objects, a green glazed bowl and a terra sigillata jar. One shows fighting gladiators and the other one a racing chariot.

















This well preserved bowl shows fighting gladiators in an amphitheater. A heavy armoured gladiator attacks his opponent, armed with trident and dagger.


















At the opposite side you can see a referee, carrying a stick, intervening. The bowl was made in Cologne (Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium) and capital city of Germania Inferior, probably at the end of the 2nd century AD. It was found at the cemetry of Noviomagus.

















The second object is this terra sigillata jar, decorated by three medailions. One with a deer, one with a dog, and the one shown here, with a quadriga. The driver shows his victory branch and a coronet of beads. It says CALOS VENETE or "Bravo Blues!", referring to the blue party (factio veneta). It dates from the 2nd century AD, was found in Noviomagus, but the exact location is unknown. Originally, it was part of the collection of the famous Dutch collector G.M. Kam. Years ago I already visited this collection, at that time on display, stuffed and pilled in a small museum at the outskirts of Nijmegen. Currentely, it is permanently on display in Het Valkhof.

If you like to see more of my pictures of this excellent collection on display, please click here.

8/03/2013

Scolacium, hidden and exclusive

Departing from Rome, a six hours journey by train brought me to Calabria. Here, I visited the ruins of the Greek city of Schilletion, or Roman Scolacium. An insiders tip away from the more crowded Tyrrhenian Sea and Vibo Valentia. Although the city is the birthplace of Cassiodorus (480-575), I was primarily interested in the small and intimate and very well preserved Roman theater, shown below. Originally built during the Greek era, the present building is Hadrianic. Due to its late Hellenistic origin, a small temple (or Frova) was built behind. A similar find was recorded at Teanum Sidicinum.

















The theater is built against the hillside on concentric and radial support walls. The outer cavea wall is remarkably (still) decorated in opus reticulatum. Although it is forbidden to enter the structure, my curiosity and ambition to get some good pictures for this blog made me to become a trespasser, again.
I couldn't find a clue on its capacity, but I guess - with an orchestra of approximately 19,5 meters - it could hold about 3500 spectators.

















The stage area is not fully cleared and only the north part of the scaenae frons survives above the ground. All three doorways in semicircular niches and the back walls are made of opus quadratum.

















During the exavations three late Republica heads, two headless statues and an above-sized draped figure with nude torso was discovered. The beautiful head shown here is suggested to image Germanicus.
More of my pictures can be seen here!

12/30/2012

Theatermask of Eleia

Yesterday, I visited the splendid exhibition 'Mythos Olympia: Kult und Spiele' in Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. The exhibition gave a thorough inside in the Olympic games, which were held in de Greek region of Elis, Eleia (Ἦλις) or modern Ilida, in southern Greece on the Peloponneso peninsula, bounded on the north by Achaea, east by Arcadia, south by Messenia, and west by the Ionian Sea.

The first Olympic festival was organized in Elean land, by the authorities of Elis in the 8th century BC, with tradition dating the first games at 776 BC. The Hellanodikai, the judges of the Games, were of Elean origin. Elis held authority over the site of Olympia and the Olympic games.

The spirit of the games had influenced the formation of the market: apart from the bouleuterion, which was housed in one of the gymnasia, most of the other buildings were related to the games, including two gymnasia, a palaestrum, and the House of the Hellanodikai.

 
This clay theatermask was found in a depot near the propylons or entrance of the Agora of Elis. It depicts Demeter, the goddess of harvest, or Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. It dates from the 4th century BC and is on display in the Archeological Museum of Ancient Elis.

Most popular posts