Carla Harren

This structure with an extraordinarily perfect acoustics hosts every year international and local concerts and festivals.

The king of Aspendos announces that he will organize a competition to see who will serve much for the city and says that the winner will marry with his daughter. The artisans who hear this immediately start studying. Finally, when the deadline comes, the king analyses everyone’s effort one by one and chooses two candidates. First candidate successes to bring water to the city from far corners of the city by the help of water canals.

The second candidate builds a theatre. When the king is about to decide on the first candidate he wants to analyse theatre for the last time. While he is walking about the top floor of the gallery he hears a voice calling from deep and continuously saying: “the daughter of the king must be mine”. Amazed by the event he searches for the voice but is unable to find where it comes from. This person is absolutely the architect of the theatre who is so proud of the acoustic of his masterpiece and talking on the scene in a feeble pipe. At the end, the architect wins the beautiful daughter and the wedding ceremony is held on this theatre.

This story is about the most important antique work of Aspendos, Aspendos Antique Theatre. Going to the eastward of Antalya, one can reach Serik Borough in 39 km, and from there to Eurymedon river in 7 km. Aspendos, situated near Eurymedon river is founded by Aka civilization in 10 BC. and is one of the richest cities of the antique age. The theatre in here is built up by Roman in 2 AC. The city is founded upon two hills one is small and one is huge.

The amphitheatre in Aspendos, that is wanted to be conquered by many for ages since being connected to Kucukcay river to the harbour is the one which is most secured till today and therefore is an important open-air theatre.

This theatre is the most ancient and solid sample of the Roman Theatres in Anatolia. On an epitaph on the south parados it is written that the theatre was built by the architect Zeno, the son of an Aspendian called Theodoros in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AC). According to this epigraph, Aspendian people appreciated Zeno and awarded him with a great garden near the stadium.

The structure is built on a hillside according to Greek tradition.

Today the visitor entrance to the building from the door on the front face which is added later on. In fact, the original entrance is from the vaulted paradoses situated on the two sides of the scene. Caeva is shaped as half circle and is divided into two with a vast diazoma.

There are 21 seats above and 20 below. In order for the audience not to have difficulty when they are seated stairs were made spreading to the top, while the stairs beginning from the orchestra stage below is 10, this number is 21 at the top beginning of the above diazoma.

The gallery with 59 stairs which thought to be made later on lies from the beginning of the top caeva to the end. Looking from an architectural perspective the vaulted gallery of the diazoma is in a supporter texture of top caeva. As a general rule of protocol; the lodges which are placed at the two entrances of the caevas are reserved for the family of empire and for the sacred virgins who has devoted themselves to the Roman God Vesta.

Beginning from the orchestra, the first line is reserved for senators, judges, ambassadors, second line for the other notables of the city. Other seats are open for common people. Women were usually having seat at the top of the gallery. From the names caved on the seats of the top caeva it is clearly understood that these seats were reserved for certain people.

The most attractive element of the theatre is it structure. On the first floor of this double-storied building which is made of piled stone there are five doors for the players to come on the scene. Of these doors, the big one in the middle is known as porta regia, and the other four- placed two on the left and two on the right is known as porta hospitals. The small doors lined on the orchestra are belongs to the corridors of the cages of wild animals. From the remaining stones, it is understood that triangle and half-circle shaped small sculptures and niches for the walls were placed on the ornamental walls.