Epidaurus Theater

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The theater of Epidaurus (2007)

The Theater of Epidaurus is a theater within the archaeological site of Epidaurus in Greece . Since there is another (smaller) ancient theater within the municipality of Epidauros in the district of Archaia Epidauros , it is also referred to as the great theater of Epidauros .

description

Artist's impression of the landscape from the stands (1891)
Layout
Look at the ranks

Today the theater is considered to be one of the best preserved theaters of antiquity . It was founded in the 4th century BC. BC (~ 330 BC) with a view of the mountainous landscape of the Argolis . According to Pausanias, the late classical building is said to be the work of Polyklet .

The round orchestra is framed by a circle made of marble, the floor is made of tamped clay. Behind it was a large stage building (skene) , of which only the foundations have been preserved today. The skene was once used as a changing room, for storing theater props and - after a change in performance practice at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. BC - also as a performance and performance location for the actors. The stage wall was hung with panels that served as a backdrop for the respective play.

Acoustics

The theater has excellent acoustics so that every word can be heard from the top rows. The theater acts as an acoustic filter for low-frequency tones, since background noises mainly consist of low tones.

Another factor is the flow of warm air from the bottom up.

In the middle of the stage there is a cylindrical stone slab in the floor. Visitors to the excavation site can test the acoustics by dropping a coin on this slab, for example. The coin can still be heard even in the lower ranks. Another test is tearing a sheet of paper.

use

Before a theater performance

It was built on the slopes of Mount Kynortiou in the 4th century BC. BC, and it served the relaxation and pleasure of the patients of the Asklepieion , the adjoining sanatorium. The semicircular grandstand (koilon) only held 9,000 spectators and after an expansion by around 170/160 BC. Up to 14,000. There are neither delimitations between the seating positions, nor particularly prominent seats, so that no conclusions could be drawn about the social status of the visitor, only the first row had backrests for structural reasons.

During the occupation of the Peloponnese by the Goths in 395 AD, the sanctuary was damaged, in 426 AD Theodosius the Great banned activities in this holy place with a decree and the theater also ceased operations.

The Athens Archaeological Society carried out excavations from 1870 to 1926 under the direction of Panagiotis Kavvadias .

In 1938 the theater was put back into operation, the first performance was the tragedy “ Elektra ” by Sophocles . Due to the war, the performances were stopped two years later. Before operations resumed in the 1950s, it was restored, and since 1952 there have been regular performances again in the summer months. Since 1955 the theater has been the venue of the Festival of Epidaurus, which is now called the Athens & Epidaurus Festival and also includes the theater of Herodes Atticus .

Web links

Commons : Theater of Epidaurus  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

Reviews:
  • Savas Gogos: Remarks on the theaters of Priene and Epidauros as well as the Dionysostheater in Athens. In: Annual books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Vienna. Beiblatt No. 67, 1998, pp. 66-106.
  • Savas Gogos: The Theater of Epidaurus. With a contribution to the acoustics of the theater by Georgios Kampourakis. Phoebus-Verlag, Wien 2011, ISBN 978-3-85161-051-2 (originally published as Σάββας Γώγος: Ο Αρχαιολογικός χώρος του θέατρου. In: Κώστας Γεωργουσόπουλος, Σάββας Γώγος: .. Επίδαυρος Το αρχαίο θέατρο Οι παραστάσεις. ΜΙΛΗΤΟΣ, Athens 2002).
  • Lutz Käppel : The theater of Epidaurus. The basic mathematical idea of ​​the overall design and its possible meaning. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute . No. 104, 1989, pp. 83-106.
  • Eleni Protonotariou-Deilaki: To θέατρoν της πóλεως της Eπιδαύρoυ. In: Aρχαιoλoγικά ανάλεκτα εξ Aθηνών. No. 5, 1972, pp. 347-358.
  • Rolf CA Rottländer: On the design of the first phase of the Epidaurus Theater. In: Dieter Ahrens, Rolf CA Rottländer (ed.): Ordo et mensura. I. International interdisciplinary congress for historical metrology from September 7th to 10th, 1989 in the City Museum Simeonstift Trier. (= Material tradition and history. Volume 8.) Scripta Mercaturae, St. Katharinen 1991, ISBN 3-9226-6136-X , pp. 132–159.
  • Pierre Sineux: Le théâtre d'Epidaure. Un théâtre comme les autres? In: Mètis. Revue d'anthropologie du monde grec ancien. No. 11, 1996, pp. 133-150.
  • Helge Svenshon: Measuring (d) e planning. Babylonian Mathematics, Heron of Alexandria and the Theater of Epidaurus. In: H. Svenshon, F. Lang, M. Boos (eds.): Werkraum Antike. Contributions to archeology and ancient building history. Darmstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3-534-25607-5 , pp. 85-102.
  • Stamatis Vassilantonopoulos, Panagiotis Hatziantoniou, Nicolas-Alexander Tatlas, Tilemachos Zakynthinos, Dimitrios Skarlatos, John N. Mourjopoulos: Measurements and Analysis of the Acoustics of the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus . In: The Acoustics of Ancient Theaters Conference Patras, September 18-21, 2011.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Research work by Nico Declercq at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the online edition of the journal "Nature" - see [1] , last accessed on October 3, 2019
  2. ↑ Even more current: John Mourjopoulos: The Origins of Building Acoustics for Theater and Music Performances ; in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America; Issue 137 (4); Melville, NY, April 2015 - see [2] , last accessed October 3, 2019