Aspendos, Antalya / Turkey
According to the Greek Myth the City was constructed over the Acropolis that was defensible against every attack by the Akkadians on their turning back from the Trojan War in the 10th Century B.C. The name of Aspendos calls in mind its theatre. This monumental masterpiece was built in honour of the Emperor’s family and dedicated to the Gods by two wealthy nobles of the City according to the Greek and Latin text carved in the marble facades of the Stage-building was three-storied. The outside of the theatre was very simple but the inside was glorious like a palace, and embellished with 40 columns, and covered with marble-slabs. Among the columns there used to be shelf-like niches containing statuettes of the Gods, the emperors and of mythical persons. Over the niches there used to stand semicircular and triangular cornices, the sides of which were decorated with carved reliefs. In the middle of large cornice there is a graven image of Dionysus (God of wine).
Actors acted on the board-covered stage-floor and go in and out to change attires by means of 5 doors. There were two private side boxes, the entrances of which had no relation with the inside passage, for nobles and the Emperor’s family. The semicircular arc of seats for the public, (i.e. the citizens) consisted of first-tiers and second-classes.
One of the most important and extraordinary things is the acoustic of the building which no theatre of the world has. A very low voice uttered in from of the stage can be heard easily from the farthest corners of the construction. There is no need to use a loud-speaker. The theatre still stands there because it was built with conglomerate type of bricks, and also was restored by the Seljuks for using as a caravanserai.
Though the columns are fallen down and partly ruined because of the earthquakes, the pedestals of the statues carved of one block marble, almost 10 tons in weight, are so got fixed over the walls of the building that they are in their places today. This colossal and monumental masterpiece once had been a stage for passionate performances of the wine festival exercised in every spring in honour of Dionysus in the Roman Period and today for theatrical feasts as well.
Aspendos Theatre, Antalya / Turkey
This monumental masterpiece of the City has a capacity for 20,000 spectators and its stage is just like a many-storied apartment. The doors in the walls are outlets for the actors in order that they might change their attires. There used to be tiers on the right as balconies and on the left too. The right tiers belonged to the Emperor. It was restored in the Seljuk Dynasty and used as a palace. The walls were embellished with china-work (tiles). The sitting places for spectators were separated from the stage by a strolling space (Diazoma). The gallery on the upper part has been added later.