classicalmonuments:Theatre of PalmyraPalmyra (Tadmor), Syria2nd century CEThe second-century CE thea
classicalmonuments:Theatre of PalmyraPalmyra (Tadmor), Syria2nd century CEThe second-century CE theatre was built in the center of a semicircular colonnaded piazza which opens up to the South Gate of Palmyra. The seating area is ninety-two meters in diameter, but only the lowest section of twelve rows survive. It is argued that additional rows of seating would have been constructed from wood, and were therefore not preserved. The seating faces north-northeast. The stage of the theater is particularly impressive, with a beautifully decorated façade. The stage measures forty-five and a half by ten and a half meters. It features three doorways in its façade, with one additional doorway on each end. The columns on the stage are decorated with Corinthian capitals. Emperor Nero is known to have placed his statue in the niche above the main entrance of the stage. The 82-by-104-metre piazza was located to the south-west of the main colonnaded street. The unfinished cavea is 92 metres in diameter and consists only of an ima cavea, the lowest section of the cavea, directly surrounding the orchestra. The ima cavea is organized into eleven cunei of twelve rows each[3] and faces north-northeast towards the cardo maximus. The theatre’s aditus maximi, its main entrances, are 3.5 metres in width, and lead to a stone-paved orchestra with a diameter of 23.5 metres. The orchestra is bounded by a circular wall with a diameter of 20.3 metres. The proscenium wall is decorated with ten curved and nine rectangular niches placed alternately. The stage measures 45.5 by 10.5 metres and is accessed by two staircases. The scaenae frons had five doors: the main entrance, or valve regia, built into a broad curved niche; two guest doors on either side of the valve regia, or valve hospitalis, built into shallow rectangular niches; and two extra doors, at either end of the stage.Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6The theater was harmed by Islamic Terrorist organization ISIS after being used to execute soldiers in 2016. -- source link
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