ANTIQUE ENTERTAINMENT

Italy is a beautiful country, but it is sometimes difficult to understand the rationale behind the opening hours of many of its monuments. The Imperial Villa at Pausylipon, restored by - as so much in Italy - EU funds, was closed. Why? I can't think of any reason, instead of that the restored villa doesn't add to any pride, or a lack of 'ownership', or just because of the imcompetance of the Italian management. Therefore this picture of its odeon had to be taken by a zoom lense. During the late republican period a magnificent residential complex was bulit on the hillside facing Sorrento. In its heyday, this villa covered an area of approximately 9 hectares including gardens, a theater, baths, vines and finds ponds. Historical sources cite the Roman knight Publio Vedio Pollione, a rich freed man originally form Benevento, as the first owner of a large villa built on the site which he called Pausilypon (meaning respite from pain in Greek) a modified version of which came ...

The '-anda' in Arycanda suggests that the city was of considerable antiquity. Many pre-Greek settlements have 'ss' (like Sagalassos and Termessos) or 'anda' in their names. During the 2nd century BC Arycanda became part of the Lycian League and issued its own coins. In 43 AD, it became part of the Roman province of Lycia-Pamphylia. Next to the splendid theater, you can find a stadium and an intimate odeum. The odeum is shown above. It dates from the 2nd century AD. This was once - I learn from varies sources - a rich decorated building. Walls, orchestra and seats were covered with colored marble. A block in the Antalya Archeological Museum bears a portrait of Hadrian. More pictures of Arycanda can be seen here ! In 1999, I visited Arycanda, nearby the village Arif. The theater, as shown above, is of an amazing beauty. Dated to the 2nd century AD, it was constructed in the Greek manner, ie. larger than a semicircle. There is no diazoma. The 20 rows of seats a...

Today, I visited Yarkon National Park, which comprises the Yarkon streams and wells, ancient Tel Afeq, Roman Antipatris and the Ottoman fortress Binar Bashi. Only, 25 kilometers east of Tel Aviv.  Exclusively interested in the Antipatris' odeon and not aware of the larger setting of the Roman remains, it was very hard to find out the exact location. It took me a trainticket, six plausible advices to get at the place, a tour by bus through the suburbs of Afeq Park, a 'I call the police' incident with a taxi driver and a second taxi driver (first still missing), to get at the right place. Everything at 33 degrees Celsius. People do not have a clue of these kind of curiosities within reach, although preserved at a large amount of money. This, while visiting the odeon is really worthwile a visit. It has been 'renovated' just recently, and it is funny to compare my pictures taken today, with the one I have used for an entry just two months ago. Showing the odeon ...

Veel mooier dan het grote theater en meer intact is het theatrum tectum of odeon, direct daaraan grenzend. Het is een zaal voor ongeveer 300 mensen en werd in de 1e helft van de 1e eeuw v.Chr. door Sulla gebouwd. Door de achterwand is de sfeer intiem. Het odeon werd met name gebruikt voor het voordragen van poëzie, ondersteund door lyrische muziek. Bijvoorbeeld van Seneca. Cicero, die een villa in Pompeï bezat, zal het zeker hebben bezocht. Er zat voor de akoestiek ook een dak op. Ik vond met name de atlasachtige, knielende figuur mooi. Het schijnt Telamon te zijn. Daar had ik nog nooit van gehoord. Pompei is als opgraving natuurlijk uniek en het is spectaculair om door de overdekte passage te lopen die naar het odeon leidt.

One of the most beautiful and best-preserved buidlings in Aphrodisias is the odeon, where concerts, theatrical productions requiring only small casts, lectures, discussions and political gatherings were held. I visited the odeon in 1990 and 1999. The city council also met here. Built towards the end of the 1st century AD or the beginning of the 2nd century AD, it had, in its original state, a seating capacity of circa 1,700. Badly damaged by the fourth century earthquake, the odeon became subject to flooding because of the disturbance of the water-table. It also appears to have lost the roof above then, so leaving audiences and councillors alike exposed to the fury of the elements. The cavea retains nine rows of its seats. These are divided into five cunei. Some of the seats carry rough inscriptions probably reserving them for particular groups, e.g. young men, Jews, partisans of the Blue Faction. The orchestra floor was covered with a fine opus sectile design whose pattern was...

Wanneer je op de acropolis van Athene de Stoa van Eumenes langswandelt bereik je het Odeon van Herodes Attikos. Het is de schitterende stadsgehoorzaal van Athene, gebouwd omstreeks 160 n.Chr. Het is aan de stad geschonken door de bankier Herodes Attikos van Marathon. Oorspronkelijk schijnt het toneel, maar misschien zelfs het hele theater, overdekt te zijn geweest met een cederhouten plafond. Er konden 6.000 mensen in. Het middenstuk van de voorgevel had twee verdiepingen, de hoektorens elk drie.