ANTIQUE ENTERTAINMENT

Niet alleen het theater van Perge is spectaculair, maar de gehele opgraving, waardoor ik op Flickr nog wat extra door mij gemaakte foto's heb gezet. Het heeft op onderdelen de kwaliteit van Pompei, zij het zonder het indringende verhaal van Plinius. Je zou je voor kunnen stellen dat je in een buurt wandelt die wordt afgebroken. Geen drama, gewoon op, maar nog wel met al die verborgen nissen, stoepranden, waterbekkens. Alsof de bewoners zojuist zijn vertrokken.  Zoals in veel opgravingen werden in 1999 ook in Perge restauratiewerkzaamheden uitgevoerd. Het theater was te bereiken na een klimpartij en door onder een prikkeldraadversperring te tijgeren. Het uitzicht mocht er echter zijn. De bewaker beneden zag ons niet. Perge is lang een zeer aanzienlijke stad geweest. Het werd bezocht door de apostellen Paulus en Johannes. Het was vanaf deze tijd dat de stad een belangrijk centrum voor de verspeiding van het christendom in Pamphylia vormde. Perge werd vertegenwoordigd tijdens het Con...

Yesterday, I visited Atuatuca Tungrorum, or modern Tongeren in Belgium. A brand new museum, the Gallo Romeins Museum, shows the many Roman finds in the region. Like this gemstone of lapis lazuli, once part of a precious ring.  It shows Victoria with a Quadriga; a chariot with four horses. Next to the beauty of the stone, the colour reflects the preference of the bearer: Blue! So the Goddess Victoria is now favouring the Factio veneta. Lapis lazuli is said to possess strenghtening qualities. The gemstone was found in Tongeren and dates between 100 and 200 AD. Atuatuca Tungrorum is notorious because of the battle of Atuatuca , which took place at 54 BC. The Eburonian leader Ambiorix destroyed a legion. More pictures of the Gallo Romeins Museum can be found here !

This stunning Roman oillamp shows a racing chariot with two horses, or a biga. It is beautiful, primarily due to its almost childish simplicity. In my opinion it is one of the best objects of the Römisch Germanisches Museum in Köln. At the end of the first century AD, Rome had four racing stables. Each with a substantial amount of supporters, called factiones. These factiones were called 'the Green' (factio prasina), 'the Blue' (factio veneta), 'the Red'(factio russata) and 'the White' (factio albata). These four racing stables were of sociatal importance and had political significance. Even the Emporer had its favourite stable. This oillamp, found in Köln shows the popularity of chariot racing in the Roman world, while in Germania, only Trier had a hippodrome of significant size: 440 by 86 meters. More of my pictures of oil lamps you can find here !

About a year ago, TimesOnline mentioned a newly discovered theater at the 'Herodium'. This mausoleum of King Herod, who ruled Judea from 37 BC to 4 BC, was built at a hilltop, nine miles south of Jerusalem. In an ealier entry I already wrote about Herod ( July, 2009 ), and I recommend reading 'The Jewish War' or Bellum Judaicum by Flavius Josephus. The theater, just below and to the west of the mausoleum, fitted about 650-750 specatators and contained a loggia, located at the the top of the theater seats, decorated with wall paintings and plaster mouldings. The wall paintings were produced around 15-10 BC. With this date, they were probably painted for the visit of the Roman general Marcus Agrippa in 15 BC. The subject of the painting is highly unusual for Israel, since it shows living creatures, a dog and a deer. The colors, even after all this years, are still stunning. Information and picture of the painting is taken from http://www.bible-lands.net/ . Next time in ...

In 2006, I visited Almuñécar, or Sexi Firman Iulium during Roman times. It is famous due to the extended remains of Roman garum containers and a substantial aqueduct. In a small museum various finds are on display, including the above model. At the left side of the town you can see a theater. Unfortunately, I can't find any proper information about the Roman history of Sexi, apart from some details on wikipedia. The town was founded by the Phoenicians. From the 3rd-2nd centuries BC it issued a sizeable corpus of coinage depicting the Phoenician god Melquart on the observe and one or two fish on the reverse, possibly alluding a principle product of the area. The 'Westermann. Grosser Atlas zur Weltgeschichte', equates the Sexi with Almuñécar (38 /II).

The Ludus Magnus was the largest gladiatorial training school in Rome. It was built during the reign of Domitian (81-96 AD) in the valley between the Esquilino and the Celio, an area already occupied by Republican and Augustan structures. I visited the ruins a few months ago during a nightly walk, but did not make any proper pictures of it. Only the above model is among my collection, taken in the 'Museo della Civitata Romana'. A horrible place, with only fake objects. Next to the Ludus Magnus, three other gladiatorial training schools were located in Rome. The Ludus Mututinus was specialised in training with wild animals. The schools were supervised by Imperial procuratores. The procuratorship of the Ludus Magnus was very lucrative. A nice Youtube filmpje shows some impressions of gladiator fights. Play the music loud!

Two weeks ago I visited Laurium or Laurum (Woerden) in the Netherlands. Laurium was a castellum in Germania Inferior along the Limes (river Rhine, currently the Old Rhine). Laurium is famous due to various ships (7) which were excavated near the vicus and the castellum. The first (wooden) construction of the fortification (auxilia) dates 41 AD, during the reign of Caligula. A few years later a castellum was built of stone. Probably to supply the Roman troops which invaded Britain. It is nice to find references to antique entertainment so close at home. This small oillamp with theatermask, dates approximately 75 AD. So made during the reign of Vespasian (69-79 AD), and although it is not the most beautful oillamp I have seen until now, it is still worth while this entry. It is on display at the Stadsmuseum Woerden. More pictures of theater masks and objects can be found here .