Search

Xanthus Theater is located on the west side of the city centre. Located between the Western Agora and the Lycian Acropolis, the building draws attention especially with its topographic and physical characteristics of the area. The theater, the first phase of which is dated to the IInd century BC, was badly damaged after the great earthquake in the IInd century A.D., and was almost rebuilt with major architectural changes and additions made during the Antonine and Severan periods. However, the capacity of the cavea decreased from 4628 to 2826 people, with the architectural changes implemented in the ima cavea, firstly the conversion of the theater into an arena in the second half of the IIIrd century A.D., and then the use of the seats removed from the summa cavea for the construction of the castron wall in the VIth century A.D. In addition to these changes, the vomitorium and the cavea support vaults in the east were demolished at a later period, which we do not know yet, and the cavea took its present form. In this study, the architectural structure of the Early Imperial Period cavea, about which we have limited information, has been tried to be reconstructed on the basis of detailed descriptions and evaluations.

During the Imperial Roman period, thousands of theatres were built. The theatres have three principal elements: the scene building (actor position), the orchestra and the cavea (spectator seating). The theatres were built without a roof, so they were open-air spaces. The theatres were abandoned afterward the barbarian invasions, and during the Middle Ages, homes were built inside the cavea. The theatres were rediscovered during the Renaissance period. Today, ancient theatres are the center of cultural events and are used for various kinds of shows. This work discussed the acoustics of the Roman theatre of Benevento, which was built during the Imperial Age. The theatre was destroyed after the barbaric invasion and it was rebuilt in the first half of the 1900s. The theatre was opened in 1957, and today it is the center of social and cultural activities. Acoustic measurements were carried out according to ISO 3382 standard, placing an omnidirectional sound source on the scene building and in the orchestra, with the measurement microphones along three directions in the cavea. The acoustic characteristics in various seating areas of the cavea were evaluated. Therefore, it possible to understand in which sectors of the theatre the acoustic characteristics are optimal for different types of theatrical performances.

A new species Saussurea talungensis S.K.Ghimire & H.K.Rana, sp. nov. (sect. Strictae), from Talung valley of Humla district, Nepal, is described and illustrated. Morphologically, this species resembles Saussurea roylei and Saussurea lanata in habit, though it can be distinguished in having longer leaf petioles, purplish leaf margin, 1 or 3 capitula, shorter phyllaries, shorter receptacle bristles and the same anthers, comparatively shorter corolla with shorter lobes. Phylogenomic analysis also supports S. talungensis as a distinct species of Saussurea. Here, we provide taxonomic note, distribution map and phylogenomic inference to distinguish the new species and its allied members.

International audience; Thousands theatres during the Hellenistic period in Greece and in its overseas colonies and during the period of Imperial Rome were built. The theatres were built to entertain people and create venues for the show. The theatres have two principal elements the stage (actor position) and the cavea (spectator seating). The Greek and Roman theatres differ in constructive elements, but in any case they were without a ceiling, in the open air. The theatres were abandoned afterwards the barbarian invasions and during the Middle Ages they were turned into houses, into fortresses or used to take materials to build buildings. So the theatres were forgotten for many centuries. In the Renaissance period the theatres were rediscovered and studied. Today ancient theatres are the heart of city events and are used for various kinds of shows. This paper reports the acoustic characteristics of the Roman Theatre in Benevento evaluated in different listening points in the cavea. The theatre was built in the second century A.D, it was destroyed after the barbaric invasion. The theatre was was renovated in the first half of the 1900s. Today the theatre is the centre of important social activities. Acoustic measurements inside the theatre were taken by placing an omnidirectional spherical sound source on the stage and in the orchestra, with the microphones in the cavea. The acoustic characteristics in the various seating areas were evaluated. So it possible to understand in which sectors of the cavea the acoustic conditions are optimal for listening to different types of theatrical performances.

In this paper, a typology of a building erected in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome is described: the Odeon. The Odeon is a covered building, but more modest in size than traditional open-air theatres without roofs. The Odeon could hold a few hundred spectators and therefore a smaller audience. The roof covering allowed the possibility of meetings even in adverse weather conditions. The etymology of the word of the Odeon (covered theatre) means the place of the ode, or of the songs. In this paper are discussed the architectonic and acoustic characteristics of the Odea of Pompeii and Posillipo. With commercial software (Odeon, Room Acoustics Software, Lyngby Denmark) we assess the acoustic characteristics of the Odea of Pompeii and Posillipo in the presence of an original roofing system and show that these buildings were well suited for music, songs and speech.

The aim of this research is to deepen the knowledge of the urban plan of the Roman city of Carteia, in particular its central sector. The origin of this settlement dates back to the 4th century B.C and in 171 B.C became the first Latin colony outside Italy, getting the name of Colonia Libertinorum Carteia. In 2005, exhaustive three-dimensional cartography at scales 1:1000 and 1:500 and a high resolution orthophotography surveis carried out on the site. The analysis of the paleo-relief provided by the previous images suggested the possible location of a Roman chariot racing circus inside the walls of the city. In order to prove it, in 2016 a geophysical exploration was done over this geomorphological anomaly. We used georadar (GPR), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and magnetic survey to contrast the results. The resulting anomalies were tested on 2017 with the archaeological tranches that allowed us to confirm the existence of an intramural circus.

Erken Roma Dönemi Bouleuterionu Smyrna Agorası’nın kuzeybatı köşesinde konumlanmaktadır. Yapı aynı alanda daha önce tespit edilmiş olan Hellenistik ve Geç Roma Dönemi Bouleuterionlar’ı haricinde ayrı bir bina olarak 2016 yılında keşfedilmiştir. Bu dönem Bouleuterionu’nun Smyrna Antik Kenti yapılaşma faaliyetleri içerisinde MÖ 1. yüzyılın sonlarına doğru Roma imparatoru Augustus ya da Tiberius Döneminde inşasının tamamlandığı ön görülmektedir. Aslen Smyrna Kent Meclisi’nin yerel toplantıları için tahsis edilen yapının Antik kaynaklardan bu işlevi dışında hitabet çalışmaları gibi farklı amaçlarla da kullanıldığını öğrenmekteyiz. Aynı kaynaklardan yapının MS 177/178 yılında gerçekleşen bir depremden dolayı zarar büyük oranda gördüğü anlaşılmaktadır. Olasılıkla onarılamaz bir şekilde harap olan yapı, bu olayla birlikte işlevini de kaybetmiştir. Yapıya dair ilk araştırma ve tespit çalışmalarının ardından 2018 yılında büyük oranda kazıları da tamamlanarak tüm yapı bölümleri gün ışığına çıkarılmıştır. Güney cephesinde giriş için tasarlanmış bir portikonun varlığına dair kalıntılar da tespit edilen yapı bu bölümü hariç 36,25 x 22,5 m ölçülerinde bir alanı kaplamaktadır. Düz bir arazide planlanan Bouleuterion, podyum benzeri bir şekilde düzenlenmiş olan teras duvarları üzerinde yükselmektedir. Klasik Yunan tiyatrolarını andırır bir formda inşa edilmiş olan cavea bölümü moloz taş duvarlarla desteklenen yapay dolgu bir alt yapıya sahiptir. Yapının arkeolojik belgeleme anlamında iyi korunmuş durumda olan bölümü ise orkestrasıdır. Yarım daireden biraz fazla genişlikte 6,88 m çap genişliğine sahip bu bölümde farklı renk ve damar dokularına sahip mermer plakalarla opus sectile teknikte bir döşeme yer almaktadır. Bu makalede arkeoloji dünyasının son yıllardaki keşiflerinden olan Smyrna Erken Roma Dönemi Bouleuterionu’nun; güncel tespitler ışığında mimarisi, yapı bölümleri ve kullanım özelliklerine dair inceleme ve değerlendirmelere yer verilerek bilim dünyasına tanıtılması hedeflenmektedir. Early Roman Bouleuterion is located on the northwest corner of the “State Agora of Smyrna”. The City Council, a different phase building in the same spot apart from the Hellenistic and Late Roman council buildings, has been found during the excavation season of 2016. It is thought that the council house has been built during the reign of Augustus or Tiberius towards the end of the first century BCE. It is understood that the building, used to house the council meetings of the city, was also used for other activities such as practicing declining, similar to its original purpose. From ancient sources it is understood that the building was damaged in a big earthquake in AD 177/178. The building was probably beyond repair and so it was disused after this date. The building has been fully excavated during 2018 excavation seasons after its initial identification and research. Traces of a portico has been identified in front of the building; the building covers an area of 36,25 m to 22,5 m excluding this portico. The bouleuterion has a half circle (hoof shaped) cavea reminding classical Greek theatres inside a rectangular façade and is built on a raised terrace with walls. The substructure for the cavea was built on a flat land with artificial filling without a slope. The well preserved part of the bouleuterion that is the orchestra. The orchestra is slightly bigger than a half circle and has a diameter of 6,88 m. The orchestra has an opus sectile decoration made of marble plaques in different colour and texture. This article aims to present this building, a recent discovery, to the scientific world with the study and evaluation of its architecture, building parts and usage properties.

Le théâtre du sanctuaire antique de Gisacum (Le Vieil-Évreux, Eure) a fait l’objet d’une première campagne de fouilles après plusieurs études préliminaires engagées par la Mission archéologique départementale de l’Eure. Les questions soulevées par la confrontation des données anciennes et récentes trouvent ici quelques réponses. Le monument présente deux états distincts, malheureusement non datés mais qui permettent néanmoins d’affirmer qu’il constitue un exemple particulier de l’évolution de l’architecture théâtrale en Gaule. The theatre of the ancient sanctuary of Gisacum (Vieil-Évreux) was the site of an initial excavation campaign following several preliminary studies conducted by the Archaeological mission of Eure. The issues raised by the comparison of the old data with the recent data have begun to be resolved. The monument presents two distinct construction phases that are not dated unfortunately, but still clearly indicate that the monument is a unique example of the evolution of theatre architecture in Gaul.

Seuls deux états du théâtre du sanctuaire du Vieil-Évreux ont été identifiés lors de la campagne précédente. Les fouilles effectuées cette année permettent de mettre en évidence un nouvel état, antérieur à ceux observés précédemment. Si l’évolution du second édifice se caractérise par un remaniement original des structures internes, le passage d’un premier à un second théâtre s’effectue de façon plus conventionnelle. In the previous archaeological study, only two phases of the theatre at the Vieil-Évreux sanctuary were identified. The 2011 excavations revealed a new phase, earlier than those which had been observed previously. While the evolution of the second building is characterised by redesigned internal structures, the transition from the first to the second theatre was more conventional.

The ancient theatres are used in modern age for different kinds of shows. Today the ancient theatres have been returned to be the center of cultural activities during the summer seasons. Although many shows do not achieve the success of the critics and of the audience due to the weak acoustics of the theatres. Often the audience criticizes the acoustics, because they consider them lacking for the spoken comprehension and for the weakness of the music. An important aspect is the presence of the audience in the cavea, so it is important to understand whether this has a negative role in the overall acoustics of the theatre. The presence of the audience in the cavea involves variations of the room’s acoustics characteristics. The acoustic measurements are very difficult to carry out when there are people in the theatre. So it is possible to simulate the presence of the audience, in a virtual way, by using a software for architectural acoustics, in which the presence of the audience is simulated changing the value of the absorption coefficient of the surfaces of the cavea. The analysis of the numerical simulations show that the influence of the audience on the acoustics of theatres varies depending on the geometry of the theatre, and by the fraction of area of the cavea occupied by the audience.

This thesis proposes to study the history of ancient theatre in Roman Gaul. It takes up the long historiographical debate highlighting the cultural and social stakes represented by the first theatres discovered in France. The synthesis that follows deals with the appearance, diffusion and adaptation of theatrical architecture in the north-western provinces of the empire. It is based not only on a corpus of some fifty buildings, but also on the epigraphic and iconographic data associated with them. The study provides a new approach to the cultural landscape of Roman Gaul, in which the theatre is an important place where the cultural, social and religious practices of the city converge.; Cette thèse propose d’étudier l’histoire du théâtre antique en Gaule romaine. Il reprend le long débat historiographique soulignant l’enjeux culturel et social représenté par les premiers théâtres découverts en France. La synthèse qui suit traite de l’apparition, de la diffusion et de l’adaptation de l’architecture théâtrale dans les provinces nord occidentales de l’empire. Elle s’appuie non seulement sur un corpus d’une cinquantaine d’édifices, mais aussi sur les données épigraphiques et iconographiques qui leur sont associées. L’étude menée dresse une approche renouvelée du paysage culturel de la Gaule romaine dans lequel le théâtre constitue un important lieu de convergence des pratiques culturelles, sociales et religieuses de la cité.

Il s'agit d'un corpus rassemblant tous les documents, qu'ils soient littéraires, épigraphiques, papyrologiques, archéologiques, ou iconographiques ayant trait au public de théâtre dans l'Antiquité classique. Chaque document est présenté et analysé. Pour les textes littéraires, épigraphiques et papyrologiques, ils sont également présentés dans leur langue d'origine et traduits.Ce travail est celui des membres du GDR 3271 "THEATHRE " (Théâtre antique : testes, histoire et réception), dirigé par Brigitte Le Guen.

International audience

The Bouleuterion/Odeion of Aizanoi is situated in the center of the ancient city. The rectangular structure has a semicircular cavea/koilon. Research conducted has shown that it remained in use from the first century AD into the Byzantine period, and that it served as a bouleuterion in the first phase and as an odeion in the second phase. Understood to have hosted important meetings and various events of the city the building was transformed for various functions in the later periods and the rows of seats in the cavea/koilon were dismantled for burning in kilns to make lime. This article deals with the layout, architecture, building phases and functions with preliminary assessments based on excavations.