Page 91 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 77

it was stone built at a time when most theaters in Rome were still constructed of Fig. 72
wood.
Cross section of the theater
The lower seats were rock-cut, while the upper seats were made out of stone and seats. The seats of the
rested upon artificial fill. The external diameter of the theater was c. 90–100 m Roman-Imperial phase overlie
and it held 3,500–4,000 spectators. The Herodian orchestra floor, with a diameter the seats of the Herodian
of c. 35 m, is some 0.70 m lower than the marble orchestra floor, 30 m in phase
diameter, from the second and third centuries that is visible today. Beneath the
floor, parallel to the symmetrical axis, ran a narrow vaulted passage. The floor
of the Herodian orchestra was of colorful plaster that was often and repeatedly
renewed. The uppermost layer was decorated with a multicolor geometric pattern
of rectangles, circles, and rhombuses within squares, arranged in parallel strips – a
pattern imitating marble panels of various colors. A strip with a similar pattern
encompassed the orchestra circumference. The principal colors were blue, red, and
white (Fig. 71). The layers beneath it bore a pattern imitating colorful feathers
(opus pavonaceum).

The Herodian front wall of the stage (proscaenium) and the stage itself (pulpitum)
are not those currently seen, since they were redesigned in the time of Septimius
Severus. The height of the stage is one meter and it is seven m deep. The space
underneath (hyposcaenium; 35.90 m long and 5.5 m wide) was divided lengthwise
by ten pillars supporting arches, into two unequal naves. Access to it was from both
ends. The elaborately decorated back wall of the stage (scaenae frons), in the shape
of a semi-circular exedra flanked by two rectangular exedras, was made of kurkar
and adorned with marble pillars and granite in shades of red and gray.

The rows of the lower seats from the Herodian period (ima cavea) were overlaid
by the later ones; some of them were rock-cut into the small hill. The later seats, the
ones visible today, were divided into six seating sections (cunei), while the seats of
the upper tribune (summa cavea) were divided into seven. The two tribunes of seats
were separated from each other by an open horizontal passage (praecinctio), from
which issued six vomitoria that led inside from an external, surrounding vaulted
corridor. There is some evidence attesting to a third tier of seats above which was
a roofed gallery. The arrangement of the Herodian seating blocks was different, but
only the three lowest rows and one radial staircase were exposed in part at a depth
of c. 2.30 m beneath the later seats (Fig. 72)