Greek and Roman Theatre buildings

El teatro es un proceso de comunicación que tiene como objeto al ser humano en todos los sentidos; pero el individuo no sólo sirve para dar sentido al teatro, sino que es su condición de posibilidad: nace en el creador de la obra dramática; crece gracias a las personas que contribuyen a transformar la imaginación, la emoción, el pensamiento y las palabras en una realidad concreta; vive en el espectador que contempla lo que ocurre en escena. Sólo así se convierte la realidad en ficción y, al mismo tiempo, la ficción en verdad. Pero cuando suena el aplauso final, el teatro sigue su proceso vital en forma de un texto que espera a que, con el tiempo, un lector inicie un nuevo proceso de comunicación.
El teatro como texto y el teatro como espectáculo. Siempre corpóreo, siempre físico, sea en el espacio de una habitación, de una calle, de una plaza, del suelo, de un teatro… o en el pequeño espacio de un libro.
Por primera vez se reúnen y se estudian desde el punto de vista etimológico, filológico, lingüístico, dramático, cultural y literario las voces relativas al teatro romano: el dramaturgo, el actor, los artistas, el espectador, la escenografía, el edificio, el atrezo, el disfraz, los patrocinadores públicos y privados, la música y el baile presentes en el espectáculo, la expresión corporal y la gestualidad, los personajes y su universo dramático, el aplauso y el abucheo… En definitiva, este Diccionario abarca el teatro como recinto, como expresión cultural, como texto y como representación.

ABSTRACT: From the moment that executions of Christians in Roman spectacles buildings began to take place, the amphitheatre, as being the generic of such public buildings, becomes one of the paradigmatic settings of Christian identity. This would help to explain the emergence —after the Peace of the Church— of Christian buildings involving a worship of martyrial nature in the arenas of abandoned or unused entertainment buildings. The ludic substrate of certain martyrdoms allowed hagiographers to compose stories with an architectural background scenery full of symbolism that helped to emphasize the martyrial victory of the "athletes of Christ", thus contributing largely to explain this further relationship between Christian building and playful architecture occurred from the late fourth century and early fifth century and detected in the late antique and early medieval topography of some Roman cities. However, this issue has gone relatively unnoticed for Archaeology, and when the two key elements —roman spectacle building and church— appear, with few exceptions, they are considered separately in case of being subjected to some kind of study.

RESUMEN: A partir de las ejecuciones de cristianos en edificios de espectáculos romanos, el anfiteatro, como genérico de este tipo de edificios públicos, se convierte en uno de los escenarios paradigmáticos de la identidad cristiana, lo que ayudaría a explicar la aparición, en momentos posteriores a la Paz de la Iglesia, de edificios de culto cristiano de carácter martirial en las arenas de los edificios de espectáculos abandonados o en desuso. El sustrato lúdico de determinados martirios permitió a los hagiógrafos componer relatos con escenarios arquitectónicos de fondo cargados de simbolismo que ayudaron a enfatizar la victoria martirial de los “atletas de Cristo”, lo que contribuiría, en gran medida, a explicar esta ulterior relación entre edilicia cristiana y arquitectura lúdica acaecida a partir de finales del siglo IV e inicios del V y detectada en la topografía tardoantigua y altomedieval de algunas ciudades romanas. Sin embargo, tal asunto pasa relativamente desapercibido a los ojos de la Arqueología, pues cuando aparecen los dos elementos clave —edificio de espectáculos e iglesia—, salvo contadas excepciones, se consideran por separado en caso de ser objeto de algún tipo de estudio.

Maria Antonietta Rizzo, Leptis e il suo anfiteatro
PARTE I
Maria Ricciardi, L'anfiteatro di Leptis magna
Premessa
Introduzione
I. Storia degli studi e delle indagini archeologiche
Le notizie dei viaggiatori
Le spoliazioni, la cart...

Anno di Edizione: 2018
Edizione: L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER
Collane: Monografie di Archeologia Libica, 43
ISBN: 978-88-913-0982-2
Rilegatura: Rilegato
Pagine: 400, 180 ill. B/N, 1 ill. Col.
Formato: 21 x 29,5 cm

In search of the unfinishedness of the theatrical place

Based on that the origin of the word “performance” means "to complete", this article offers a proposition that the spaces where the performing arts are performed, namely the theatrical places, are "unfinished" but complete, even "liberated", when the audience enters and watches the performance. This article discusses this proposition through examples both designed but not built and realized since the 1970s. In the context of the notion of atmosphere in architecture, where the emotions felt while being in “here” and “now” by focusing the bodily presence, it is concluded that the atmosphere of the found spaces contains more of the unfinishedness than the designed ones. The article ends with the question of whether one of the ways to achieve unfinishedness in the theatrical places designed from scratch is through creating atmosphere.

Book edited by R. Frederiksen, E.R. Gebhard & A. Sokolicek (Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens, vol. 17)
Released on Nov. 6, 2015
The book also includes my paper "Architecture and Romanization: The Transition to Roman Forms in Greek Theatres of the Augustan Age"

""This volume deals with the buildings for public spectacles (theatres and odeia) in the Roman province of Achaea. Through the analysis of all the available evidence, the work aims to highlight the importance played by the theatrical culture in this area. As such, it not only focuses on the architectural development of the theatrical buildings over time and space, but it also takes into account the character of both the spectacles and other events which were carried out inside them, as well as their decorative elements. Outside Achaea, theatres of other provinces of the Roman Empire are dealt with as meaningful comparanda under several respects. The examination extends from the creation of the province of Achaea in 27 BC through the late 4th c. AD, the time to which the latest restoration work and the last additions of decorative elements are attested.
The first part of the volume reviews the archaeological evidence, examining a total of 32 theatrical buildings. These include both constructions built ex novo and earlier edifices, which were either altered under the Empire or were occasionally preserved in their original condition. Additional buildings, which are only referred to in the literary sources or were not in use in the Imperial period, are dealt with in the appendix (232-236).
The second part is an interpretation of the evidence. Chapter 1 focuses on the architectural development of the theatres in Greece, from the Classical age through the beginning of the Imperial period. The peculiarities of this building typology, born in Greece and spread over time to Magna Graecia and Sicily, are emphasized.
Chapter 2 deals not only with the spectacles held inside the theatres of Achaea, but also with the uses of such buildings, which included different kinds of events, such as agones, political assemblies and performances of a Roman type: mimes, pantomimes, ludi, and aquatic dances. Such a wide variety of functions accounts for several architectural peculiarities of the theatres of Achaea, highlighting major shifts and innovations against a framework of substantial continuity.
Chapter 3 analyzes the theatres of Roman Greece from the perspective of their architecture. The uninterrupted use of several theatres, which were but minimally altered from the late Classical through the late Roman period, is particularly emphasized. Conversely, most theatres of the Classical and Hellenistic age underwent modifications, which were usually limited to the stage, while the cavea was left unaltered. A few of them were newly built in the Imperial period, following trends of the core of the Empire. Drawing on this architectural analysis, a few tendencies can be singled out, rather than an encompassing evolutionary model. In fact, the coexistence in Achaea of traditional and western elements in both new and older buildings is a major feature that prevents one from generalizing and conversely invites a bottom-up approach.
Chapter 4 deals with the odeia, roofed buildings commonly of smaller size than the theatres. Their location both in sanctuaries and cities, the information provided  by literary sources, and the comparison to similar buildings in other provinces underscore a variety of destinations, of both a political and an artistic nature. The various uses are reflected in both architecture and in the decoration of such buildings. It is also suggested that the odeia were used in the frame of the imperial cult.
Chapter 5 examines in detail the sculptural decoration of the theatrical buildings in the province of Achaea. Both sculptures and inscriptions documenting the presence of sculptures are taken into account. The decoration related to the architecture of the theatres includes both supporting figures, appearing mostly in the 2nd c. AD at the time of the Second Sophistic, and slabs decorated with reliefs, which play a central role in highlighting the self-representation and identity of the local civic communities. Ideal sculptures depict mostly Dionysian imagery, thereby underlying the substantial continuity with the past. Unlike the theatres of the western provinces of the Empire, opera nobilia and personifications are extremely rare and iconic statues are more numerous than ideal representations. The former group not only includes images of members of the imperial family and local benefactors, but also a category specific to the province of Achaea: outstanding personalities of the past (generals, philosophers, poets, scholars). Undoubtedly, this group of sculptures stresses the celebration of the past, a founding element of the definition of Greek identity under the Roman Empire.
Chapter 6 focuses on the relation between the theatre and the imperial cult in the province of Achaea. The festivities in honour of the emperor were centered on the procession (pompe) across several locations in the cities and celebrations inside theatres, which also included the exhibition of the portraits of the emperor and of members of the imperial family. The latter are not to be seen as proper cult images, but rather as a symbol of the tangible presence of the emperor and his family, thereby hinting at the solidity of the Empire. They include statues and portraits, as well as smaller busts that were carried during the processions on the occasion of the celebrations.
Chapter 7 concentrates on the decoration of three major theatres of Achaea in its whole: the theatre at Corinth, which represents an balanced synthesis of local tradition and exaltation of the imperial power; the theatre of Dionysus at Athens, where the connection with the past and the importance of tradition are emphasized; and the theatre at Messene, which functioned as the venue where members of the local family of the Saithidai celebrated themselves.
Finally, the epilogue of the volume focuses on the contribution of the theatre, under the point of view of architecture, decorative elements, and functions, to the study of the process of Romanization in Greece. The theatres of Achaea under the Empire represent an unrivalled source of information to evaluate the cultural impact of Rome on a Greek architectural type par excellence. To put it differently, the study of the theatres of Roman Greece enable one to grasp the cultural negotiation between Greek and Roman culture, as they were conceived as places where the central Roman authority confronted the provincial élites. Meanwhile, another aspect of the process of Romanization is documented in the theatres, namely, the self-representation of the local communities, both through the production of decorative programs, the carrying out of feasts and processions, and the modalities by which the spectators were distributed within the buildings. In Roman Greece, which is studied through the paradigm of the province of Achaea, theatres represent a place of confrontation and delicate balance between the local Greek and the Roman element. Confrontation is marked by the continuity of the Greek element and the preservation of specific features that create an expression of the purported respect of tradition. In the delicate balance between tradition and innovation, it is tradition that in most cases seems to have prevailed over innovation.""

IL LATERIZIO NEI CANTIERI IMPERIALI. ROMA E IL MEDITERRANEO Atti del I workshop "Laterizio" (Roma, 27-28 novembre 2014) a cura di Evelyne Bukowiecki, Rita Volpe, Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt Dopo l'ultimo grande convegno sul laterizio organizzato a Saint Cloud nel 1995, la proposta di un workshop internazionale su Il laterizio nei cantieri imperiali. Roma e il Mediterraneo voleva promuovere un nuovo dibattito, su scala mediterranea e alla luce di nuovi studi e nuovi approcci metodologici, intorno al materiale da costruzione emblematico dell'architettura romana. Il convegno, svoltosi a Roma il 27 e 28 novembre 2014, ha visto coinvolti gli spe-cialisti della costruzione romana in laterizio in un ampio dibattito che si proponeva di capire in particolare se e come il laterizio ha servito il potere imperiale; se e come ha influenzato i processi di romanizzazione; come è stato prodotto e diffuso attraverso l'Impero; come ha condizionato l'organizzazione dei cantieri imperiali ed infine come ha partecipato all'inno-vazione e alla trasmissione del sapere tecnico romano. Questo volume raccoglie i contributi proposti al workshop, rivisti e integrati sulla base delle discussioni. Venticinque contributi sono presentati per aree geografiche (Roma, penisola italica, Mediterraneo occidentale e Mediterraneo orientale), mentre i cinque finali riprendono i temi e l'essenza delle discussioni. Archeologia XX 2015 dell'Architettura

Comme les cirques, stades, théâtres et odéons, l’amphithéâtre de Nîmes appartient à la catégorie des édifices de spectacle que les Romains construisent dès la période républicaine et multiplient jusqu’à la fin de l’Empire. Héritiers des modèles grecs ou innovations de l’architecture romaine, ces monuments adoptent des fonctions et des configurations différentes, livrant chacun une histoire qui leur est propre.

The excavations of the theatre at Stobi in the past 12 years have brought to light many new discoveries regarding the construction, use and abandonment of the building. Particularly interesting are the masons’ marks discovered on the walls. They were created during the construction process in the first and second phase of the building. The dipinti from the first phase (end of 1st century or beginning of 2nd century AD) are in the form of multiple red lines and Roman numerals. The graffiti from the second phase (first half of the 2nd century AD) are incised in the mortar joints and they represent floral and stylized motifs. The paper discusses the masons’ marks in the context of similar discoveries and offers an interpretation of their occurrence on the walls of the Roman theatre at Stobi.

"This study focuses on the resemblance between the theatre facades and the facades of monumental
nymphaea. The discussion concerns mainly the so called façade nymphaea, which are directly
compared with the scaenae frons of a roman theatre. Research is based on four parameters: a. the
form and the structure, that is the comparison of specific architectural features that are common to
both kinds of monuments, b. the function and the use of these public monuments within the city
landscape, and in conjunction with the social, political and cultural life of the citizens. c. the
Iconography. The study of the sculptured decoration which deploys on the monumental facades both
of theatres and nymphaea has revealed that both these monuments include similar sculptural display
programs. These programs follow certain display rules, intending to project certain messages. d. the
sacral symbolism conferred to both theatres and nymphaea. Both the decoration and the location of
the monument consist of two major factors that provide theatres and nymphaea with sacrality. A large
number of theatres and nymphaea are built within or close to sanctuaries, while many theatres host
nymphaea within their grounds. On the other hand, nymphaea are considered sacral through their
connection with water."

There is a rather dense network of Roman (indicated) amphitheatres in the Eastern Adriatic seaboard which testify to the civilizational level of individual Roman cities. However, a relatively small number of these Roman cities have been archeologically researched, and among them there is an even smaller number of preserved structures that inherited these inscriptions, which directly pertains to the aforementioned Roman amphitheatres.* Therefore, this work shall only encompass those epigraphic monuments which testified to public construction
in the deep past, based on the example of Eastern Adriatic Roman
amphitheatres (inscriptiones publicae). This epigraphic material has been thematically and topographically classified according to the relevant archaeological sites. This material will also be of exceptional importance to the chronological attribution of certain amphitheatre in the Eastern Adriatic seaboard. Nevertheless, indicated amphitheatres such as those in the Roman colonies of Iader and Aequum and the legion camp Tilurium will not be considered in this work, since there is no entirely firm basis for a precise dating of the structures because they are under-researched.** According to the data available to this author, thus far no inscriptions have been found in the area of the Pola amphitheatre from the era of Roman rule that would speak
to the architectural aspect of this structure.

This paper classifies Roman theatre buildings in Iberian Peninsula by their state of preservation as part of the larger physical and socio-cultural context. The result is a range from written record and trace in the natural and urban landscape to physical remains in various states of preservation within extra-urban archaeological sites, near modern settlements and in modern towns. This typology forms a basis to test correspondence, with the resulting distribution, of the variety observed in intervention types and scales ranging from excavation and publication to consolidation, conservation, restoration, and reconstruction. As elsewhere in the Mediterranean, the latter two intervention types would seem to parallel the establishment of local festivals in extra-urban locations and near modern towns while the middle two accompany site-scale museumification in both urban and extra-urban contexts. As such, the proposed contextual classification aims to contribute in a more comprehensive assessment of modern interventions in ancient theatre buildings.

The paper presents a homogeneous group of marble figured capitals, found among the material of the scaenae frons of the Theatre in Hierapolis; a monument investigated since 2004 by the author, in the frame of the Italian Archaeological Mission’s activities.
The elements belong to the Asiatic-Corinthian type and divided into column and pilaster capitals. They host, at the centre of each face, the relief of an Eros supporting a garland. The garland is held behind the Eros by means of a broad knotted vitta, replacing the fleuron, and runs diagonally below the volutes of the capital, reconnecting to that held by the figure carved on the adjacent face.
These capitals are part of a monument known for its vast relief cycles representing mythological and celebrative subjects, dating back to the Severan age: among these it’s worth mentioning the figured wind-blown capitals from the first storey, the Blattmasken capitals from the upper storeys and - for the strong formal similarities – the two well-known friezes with Erotes/geniuses holding garlands.
The model is not unusual in Hierapolis: it is also used in a smaller capital from the Theatre, in some capitals from the central propylaeum of the Antonine age Stoa-Basilica and in a more complex capital, of uncertain origin, preserved in the storehouse of the local museum. Particularly significant is the analogy with a group of capitals from the scaenae frons of the Theater in Perge (Pamphilia), whose close relationship with the Theatre in Hierapolis - both in the architectural solutions and the decorative models - has been recently highlighted.
Comparisons with Eros figured capitals from other areas of the Empire appear to be less appropriate; thus demonstrating an Asian matrix of this particular model which, deriving from the Hellenistic age, had its spread during  the Late-Antonine and Severan age.t"
Organization: ASMOSIA X INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, Association for the Study of Marble & Other Stones In Antiquity; Sapienza University in Rome - Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità

During the Roman imperial period, the theatres of Greece underwent changes in respect not only to their architecture, but also to their uses and functions. Such changes are mirrored in their sculptural decoration, too. Three monuments are taken into account: the theatre at Corinth, the theatre at Messene, and the theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus in Athens. The study of their 2nd-century AD sculptural decoration and the comparison to other contemporary examples throw light on the peculiarities of the theatres of Greece during the Roman imperial period and constitute a good paradigm for investigating aspects of Romanisation in this area

This paper aims to draw attention to a comparatively recent paradigm shift in studies on ancient theatre architecture that has resulted in a transformation of the rather familiar theatre typology based on Greek-Roman binarism to one which stresses a multiplicity in the ancient performance building types that escapes a representation by the binary model; and explains this change by a parallel shift of emphasis from the idea of commonness to that of plurality in the conceptualisation of European cultural identity. Such contextualisation of the modern historiography on ancient theatre architecture in contemporary Europe, where we find the origins of archaeology as a discipline, would conform to the idea that ‘archaeological interpretation is necessarily a subjective process which is influenced by the socio-political context in which it takes place’ (Jones and Graves-Brown 1996: 19). I argue that the early scholarship on ancient theatre architecture, and its focus on Greek rather than Roman theatres, is inextricably bound to the emergence of the idea of Europe as an imagined community, and the attempt to find the unitary origin and early development of European cultural identity in ancient Greece. I observe that the German school of art history and archaeology played an important role in this developmental course, in a period of struggles between English, French, and German speaking powers in Europe when ‘Romanisation’ implied forced acculturation for the latter. I trace the implications of this for our understanding of Roman theatre architecture by portraying it as ‘the other’ for the Greek one (Hartog 1988), which implies its inferiority to the earlier achievements in Athens and elsewhere that have, thus, long been worthy of more attention. However, drawing on recent research which has transformed ‘Romanisation’ into an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of processes depending on the peculiarities of the affected societies, scholars have begun to challenge the idea of a unilinear development in theatre architecture from a unitary origin and early development in Athens, and to stress the variety of performance building types. The need to represent this recently-acknowledged variety has already started to transform the tree-like classificatory model based on Greek-Roman binarism into a rhizome, which I suggest is a better model that can represent the multiple identities apparent not only in contemporary Europe but also in the ancient Mediterranean.

References:

Hartog, F. 1988. The Mirror of Herodotos: the Representation of the Other in the Writing of History. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Jones, S. and P. Graves-Brown 1996. Chapter One - Introduction: Archaeology and cultural identity in Europe. In P. Graves-Brown, S. Jones and C. Gamble (eds.) Cultural Identity and Archaeology – the Construction of European Communities. London and New York: Routledge.

In the framework of the study of Christian buildings in the ruins of amphitheaters, theaters, stadiums and Roman circuses, becomes appropriate to develop some reflections mainly aimed helping to explain the symbolic dimension acquired by the ludic background in which a far from negligible part of the Christian martyrdoms took place, as outlined on the preserved sources. Although this ludic substrate is not the only factor to be considered, it’s the one
that allowed the hagiographers composing stories – some with more historical veracity than others – with architectural settings charged with symbolism, where the victory of the martyrs as “athletes of Christ” was equated to the victory in secular games. All this greatly contributes to explain the subsequent relationship between Christian building and playful architecture occurred from the late 4th and early 5th centuries, and detected in the late antique and early medieval topography of some Roman cities. However, this issue has gone relatively unnoticed for Archeology, and when the two key elements – building and church – appear, with few exceptions, they are considered separately in case of being subjected to some kind of study.

Pompeii’s Casa degli Amorini Dorati (VI.16.7) is noteworthy for the opulent and theatrical treatment of its wall decorations, sculpture and architectural layout of the garden. Typically, however, interest in this house has concentrated on the theatrical elements of the Fourth Style wall paintings found inside. This paper argues that the patron of this domus, possibly a member of the gens Poppaea, chose an architectural layout for the garden area suitable for performances such as pantomime and other small-scale productions that generated interest amongst spectators, especially in the time of the emperor Nero. The paintings, sculptural program, and the elevated western end of the garden area of the Casa degli Amorini Dorati are not only appropriate for the decor of the domus as a whole, but, more importantly, have a more functional element: they may serve as a suitable theatrical backdrop for both performers and audience alike.

While explaining colonialism within a shared cultural milieu, Chris Gosden highlights the possibility that colonies may have altered the homeland as well as the colonised if operating in a period when identities were in the process of creation, as in the fluid world of the Mediterranean before the establishment of a centre with the Augustan pax romana. This paper presents supporting evidence from early Roman theatre architecture and urbanism both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Rome, as a challenge to domination-andresistance in the centre-periphery model for conceptualizing Roman involvement in the Peninsula up to the Early Empire.