Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Chapter · 2019

Le théâtre romain de Salamine : Les phases chronologiques et la fonctionnalité du bâtiment de spectacle

A. Antoniadou

In Salamis of Cyprus: History and Archaeology from the Earliest Times to Late Antiquity, 693-705. Waxmann

A chapter on the theatres of Cyprus and on the Roman theatre at Salamis, its construction, successive alterations, architecture and uses.

Antoniadou surveys the ancient theatres known in Cyprus, among them those at Nea Paphos, Kourion, Soloi and Salamis, and then concentrates on the Roman theatre at Salamis. She places the beginning of theatre architecture in Cyprus in the Hellenistic period and relates theatrical buildings to performance traditions, urban settings and changing architectural forms, presenting Cypriot theatres as adapting over time to Roman forms and new kinds of spectacle. For Salamis she draws on excavation results, inscriptions, architectural remains and sculptural finds.

The Salamis theatre was built on level ground and changed several times, with repairs after the earthquakes of 76/77 CE, damage in 332 and 342, and Byzantine alterations. Its excavators date it to the Augustan period, although Antoniadou notes that the surviving epigraphic and archaeological evidence does not go back before the Flavian period (pp. 697–699).

Her description of the cavea, orchestra, circulation spaces and stage building gives measurements, construction materials, surviving features and later reuse. She argues that the evidence does not establish a fixed local theatre plan, and that the surviving remains of Cyprus's four excavated theatres are too poorly preserved to show their exact forms or the origins and civic functions of Cypriot theatre architecture (pp. 700, 704).

What it records

  • The Salamis theatre lies in the centre of the city, in the district of Roman public monuments north of the site, about 100 m south of the gymnasium.p. 697
  • The Department of Antiquities of Cyprus began preliminary soundings at the Salamis theatre in 1959 under Vassos Karageorghis, and excavation continued until 1974.p. 697
  • The orchestra was remodelled in the third century CE, probably as a basin, which Antoniadou supposes was for aquatic spectacles.p. 698
  • Limestone blocks from the cavea and marble columns from the stage façade were reused in repairs to the colonnade of the gymnasium palaestra.p. 699
  • The theatre appears to have been abandoned after the earthquake of 342, and its use ended in the seventh century, when Salamis was burned by the Arabs.p. 699
  • The semi-circular cavea of the Salamis theatre had a total diameter of 105 m and a capacity of about 15,000 spectators.p. 700
  • The orchestra of the Salamis theatre was semi-circular, slightly extended beyond a half-circle, with a diameter of 27.50 m.p. 701
  • The Department of Antiquities of Cyprus began restoration and presentation work at the Salamis theatre in 1961 under the architect-archaeologist John Travlos.p. 703

Where to read

  • Theatre sites and theatrical traditions in Cypruspp. 693–696
  • Construction phases and later uses of the Salamis theatrepp. 697–699
  • Architecture and dimensions of the theatrepp. 699–703

Contents

  • Le théâtre romain de Salamine : Les phases chronologiques et la fonctionnalité du bâtiment de spectacle693
  • Les théâtres de Chypre693
  • Le théâtre de Salamine696
  • Phases de construction et modifications697
  • Description architecture699
  • Conclusion704
  • Bibliographie704
  • Crédits photographiques705

People, places and institutions

People

  • Servius Sulpicius Panclès Véranianuslinked to building or rebuilding the theatre
  • Hadrienhonoured in theatre inscriptions
  • Antistius Sabinusdedicated inscriptions to emperors

Institutions

  • Département des Antiquités de Chypreexcavated and restored the Salamis theatre

Places

Also named: Vassos Karageorghis, John Travlos, Commode, Constance Chlore César, Galère, Julia Domna, Plutarque, Kition, Lapéthos.

Extent pp. 693–705, 4 figs, plan of the theatre (fig. 3); bibliography

HellenisticRomanLate AntiqueMedievalModernArchitectureChronology and DatingMusicHistory of Archaeology

Cited on Ancient Cyprus

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