Philadelphia's Roman Theater

Philadelphia's Roman Theater

 Philadelphia’s Roman Theater

A Courtyard View of the Roman Theater  Photo:supplied

The second century Roman Theater in the Jordanian capital, Amman was built during the Roman period when Amman was called Philadelphia (brotherly love) after Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Macedonian ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. It was renamed Amman in the 7^th century during the Islamic era.

The Roman Theater is a famous landmark in Amman.  It is located in the old city called downtown.

The first look is from a hill­—a sunken masterpiece against a background of sun-bleached yellow buildings.          

A large,open courtyard precedes the theater. Before the entrance gate is a long sequence of columns of various heights.The signboard put up by the Department of Antiquities at the entrance reads that the Roman Theater was built during the time of Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD).This antique theatre is a meeting point of three A’s—Architecture, Act (theatrical) and Acoustics. 

Architecture

Generally the exterior of Roman theaters depended on Orography (physical geography dealing with mountains).Since this theater was built against a hill the site had an added advantage because it seemed that the most important rows were directly fixed on the ground, that is on the slopes of the hill. The upper seats looked as if they were carved out of the living hill. This 6,000-seater theater, like most Roman creations, is gargantuan, sloping towards the audience. It is oriented north to protect the spectators from the sun. 

Architecture of the Roman Theater consists of the sloping cavea (enclosure/seating arrangement), the flat stage for the chorus (the orchestra) and the stage building with the raised stage for the actors. There were three defined areas for action: scaenae (stage building), orchestra/arena for spectacle /entertainment and cavea (seating arrangement).

A view of the Media Cavea,Summa Cavea,Vomitoria and Praecinctio

The cavea was divided in three horizontal sections according to the social class of people. The ima cavea is the lowest section and directly surrounds the orchestra. It was the most desirable seating and was usually reserved for the higher class of society. Right above the ima cavea is the media cavea, the middle section of seating reserved for soldiers and respectable citizens, mostly men .The summa cavea is the highest tier of audience seating and was usually open to foreigners, women, children and urban poor/commoners. The front row was called the prima cavea and the last row was called cavea ultima. The lower and upper rows of seats were further divided vertically for easy access. There are small cave-like openings on the zone of rows of summa and media cavea.   They are called Vomitoria or passageways and they are situated below or behind a tier of seats through which big crowds could exit rapidly and for actors to enter on and off the stage. They formed an efficient network for audience traffic. Praecinctio or walkways between the upper and lower tiers of seats are also visible.  

Due to the semi-circular shape of the cavea every seat had a view of the stage. The highest sections of seats in this theater, even though far from the stage offer excellent sightlines.

The side entrances   exist at ground level, one leading to the orchestra and the other to the stage. The rooms behind these entrances now house The Jordan Museum of Popular Tradition on the east side and the Jordan Folklore Museum on the west side.

 The scaenae frons is the elaborately decorated, permanent architectural background of the Roman theater stage and it enhanced the visual impact because it was all the time before the eyes of the spectators. The ornamental frieze and decorated cornice of the entablature on the scaenae frons add to the beauty.It has a central gateway called porticus through which we entered the main area of the theater housing the pulpitum (raised platform stage), cavea and orchestra.

Porticus, Scaenae Frons and Proscenium

 The stage building is bleached yellow in color, the same as the structures in Amman.A proscenium or a low wall separates the stage from the audience.

The Wooden Floor of the Stage Building

 There is a closed, yellow door on one side of the theater. Our guide told us that during gladiatorial matches lions would be sent through that door.  

Closed Door,Ima Cavea and The  Jordan Museum of Popular Traditions on the Pulpitum

The cavea is further divided by scalae or flight of steps. The steps leading to the different sections of the cavea are high and steep but they are climbable to the top.

Since this theater was carved from a hill, series of arches are missing.  

Act (Theatrical)

The actors required a very unfussy atmosphere—a stage building with the raised stage (or scaena) for the actors to perform, the flat stage area for the chorus where the action takes place and of course the audience in the cavea.

Each acting company had a handful of qualified actors. Among them only 2-3 of the actors in the band would have speaking roles in a show while other actors in the ensemble with non-speaking roles would be present on the stage as assistants to the performing actors.

The stage was used only by the actors who entered the playing space from the side entrances.   

Since the audience was not quiet and would discuss everything under the sun—from the weather to other plays, the actors developed the art of pantomime or acting without words. The actors had to wear masks and costumes (which denoted their roles) and played their parts with appropriate gestures to get across the meaning to the spectators; they (actors) had to sing and dance in this huge open-air theater. All this required great stamina and agility on their part. Men wore brown masks. Since women were not allowed to act their parts, the female parts were normally played by men or young boys wearing white masks.

Acoustics

This Roman theater built thousands of years ago had such advanced system of acoustics that even modern theaters use those functions for the presentation of musical or theater performances. Not only are the seats good for straight lines of obstacle-free vision between the spectator and the spectacle from various points but they are also good for acoustics. Even a whisper in the performing area would be projected to the entire stadium, right to the topmost seats.

1) Geometric Shape: The curved cavea enhanced natural acoustics. It quickly directed most of the reflected sounds towards the audience sitting in every section. The actors could be clearly heard because of the steepness of the cavea.

2) The dimension for seating, the risen height of the rows (of seats) and the sloping cavea ensured minimal blocking of sound by the lower tiers, and resulted to the fine tuning of the strong, direct and reflected sounds.

3) Strong acoustic reverberation was produced by the hard materials of the theater surface which generated sufficient reflected and scattered sound energy. The sound was bounced off the highly porous stone surface and created an echo.  

5) Sound was further reflected by the large wall behind the cavea which acted as an obstacle and prevented the sound from being dispersed.   

A View of the Cavea with the Boundary Wall

There is a point in the center of the performing area or orchestra where the actor’s voice would echo so that the person sitting in the last row at the top would be able to hear the actor clearly.

The Echoing Point

Jordan Museum of Popular Traditions

It is located within the eastern section of the Roman theater .It has five exhibition halls each displaying different items. The first hall  displays traditional costumes of the east bank; the second  showcases traditional jewelry and cosmetic items of the various regions of east and west banks; the third hall displays Palestinian costumes and head dresses; the fourth displays collection of  pottery and wooden cooking pots and food preparation vessels; silver ornaments and bridal dresses from the west bank. The fifth hall is interesting. It is in a vault of the Roman theater and it houses a collection of mosaics from Byzantine churches in Jerash and Madaba.

Traditional Costumes,Cooking Utensil and Handicraft (photo:supplied)

An Upper-Class Lady (photo:supplied)

Costume and Traditional Utensil (Photo:supplied)

The Roman Theater is a popular getaway because we found lots of people sitting on the steps, even on the uppermost rows and enjoying themselves. It is a cultural hub for hosting various programs. The International Amman Book Fair was held here.

The theater was badly damaged by earthquake and it was restored in 1957.Some of the original columns are very much in place. The visit to the theater , steeped in history, was an enchanting experience.

An Expansive View of the Roman Theater

 photo: supplied

Photographs:Bulbul Sur

Tags: Philadelphia, Amman, Roman Theater, Cavea, Pulpitum,Vomitoria, Praecinctio,Scaenae Frons,Jordan Museum of Popular Traditions