ANTIQUE ENTERTAINMENT

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. It 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 class. The s

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 opgegraven l

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 .

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 show