Page 88 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

74 Archaeological Review

Inside the Walls

The Theater

The remnants of the Herodian and Roman theater in Caesarea were comprehensively
examined in the nineteenth century by the members of the Palestine Exploration
Fund (PEF) expedition, and in the years 1959–1963 the theater was uncovered in
its entirety by an Italian expedition led by A. Prova. More limited excavations,
with emphasis on preservation and development, were conducted by Yosef Porath
and Peter Gendelman of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The theater was built
adjacent to the Herodian wall, remnants of which were exposed south of it. Later, a
Roman cemetery was established opposite this wall, with cremation burials exposed
by an excavation of the Israel Antiquities Authority headed by Yosef Porath.
Inside the entry gate to the site is a relief map in stone displaying Caesarea and its
structures; that is the point where the tour should begin. A few marble statues that
were found in the excavations are exhibited alongside the path leading from there
to the theater.

The Herodian theater was one of the venues where the inauguration festival of
Caesarea was established as games to be held every four years in honor of Augustus.
In 44 CE, King Agrippa I, covered in a golden robe and accompanied by a royal
entourage and other dignitaries, attended a great festival. On its second day he felt
ill, and five days later died in the Caesarea palace.

A Roman Theater and Its Performances

The seats in a Roman theater occupied a semicircle closed in its open side by the proscaenium and the stage (in a
Greek theater the seats occupied more than half of the circle, and there was no physical connection between them
and the proscaenium). Stone theaters in Rome were preceded by wooden theaters, which were still common in the
time of Augustus. The seats were usually set upon a system of vaults and not built against the hill, as in the Greek
theater. Vaulted passages (vomitoria) led from outside to the rows of seats, which were divided into sections by
steps that ran radially. In the orchestra there were 3–4 slightly graded rows of comfortable seats for the dignitaries.
The stage was over a meter high. The proscaenium was adorned with niches. To the rear, the scaenaefrons rose
to the full height of the seats (2–3 stories). It was shaped like a round exedra with a central entrance, and at its
sides were two rectangular exedras, each of which had another entrance. It was decorated with tiers of niches,
with columns supporting the entablature (architrave, frieze, cornice) made of polychrome marble and even gray
and red granite (as in Caesarea). On the whole, each city boasted at least one theater.

The performances in a Roman theater were no longer the typical tragedy and comedy of Greek drama, but rather
light mime performances with phrases derived from everyday life, which included social satire as well as parody
touching upon themes of mythology and religion. Pantomime was among the performances as well, and it also
dealt with historical and mythological stories. It was performed by a single dancer, who changed masks and played
all the roles while incorporating movement and finger drumming to the sound of music and choral singing. There
were also comic entertainers, clowns, acrobats, and jugglers.