Aydın, Selçuk
The theatre in Ephesus is the largest ancient amphitheatre in Anatolia. The theatre has a total number of 65 rows arranged in three levels separated by two circular walkways. The first level is reached via the walkway on the slope to the right, and there is access to the end of the two circular walkways both from the right and from vaulted passages of stairs inside the left hand support wall. As the auditorium of this theatre rests on the hill, unlike Miletos Theatre, the vaulted passages open directly onto the ends of the circular walkways rather than continuing under the spectators’ rows of seats.
The theatre was designed and built in the early period, and although it was restored and enlarged in the Roman era, the auditorium was left at a little greater than 180 degrees in radius. As the stage building was constructed separately from the spectators’ section, if the auditorium had remained 180 degrees, the sound would not have reached the spectators due to the vacuum created by the space between the two structures. By making the auditorium a little greater than 180 degrees, it was thought that the ends of the cavea would embrace the stage building like the ends of a fan and thus enable the sound produced on the stage to be projected to the auditorium without being dispersed. For this reason, the radius of the rows of seats is always greater than 180 degrees. Moreover, as this measure alone did not suffice, niches were made in the wall behind the central walkway, into which, in accordance with canon rules of music, bronze cubes open on one side were placed, each of which produced a different timbre of sound. Roman engineering improved on this and came up with the simpler solution of arranging benches with backboards all around the edge of the circular walkway to help the sound echo. The bronze cube system, which was difficult to implement anyway, was done away with. In the theatre of Aspendos can be seen a perfect example of a 180 degree closed auditorium with the stage building built onto it.
The theatre, which may have been designed as a single level theatre in the early period, was enlarged as Ephesus grew into a wealthy trading city. The structure was renovated and enlarged a few times, and the edge of the orchestra pit was increased in height in preparation for gladiator fights. The lower walkways leading to the orchestra brought spectators to the benches of the first echelon via an inclined plane. When commercial fights became popular the visual spectacle was more important than sound resonance.
The marble columns holding in place the stage floor in front of what was originally a three-storey edifice are still in place. The basement floor below is still partially preserved. Most of the water catchment ditch along the edge of the orchestra has lost its marble covering and is open to the elements. The ditch is two feet across the bottom. Few but fine examples of stone carved with lions’ claws at the row ends connecting with the radial walkways have survived on the right hand side. These stones resemble the ones at the edge of the stairs in the lower theatre at Pergamon and the Metropolis Theatre in Torbalı. As in the theatres at Pergamon the seats here are covered with fine marble. Under this cladding the base of the benches consisted of large stones in some sections and mortar made of a mixture of materials in others.
The circular walkway is seven feet wide. The breadth of the cavity this produced necessitated the placement of benches with backboards at the front edge of the walkway. It can be understood from traces that benches with backrests were placed at the edge of the circular walkways. In the first echelon there are 12 radial ways, and there are 23 radial ways in each of the second and third levels. The radius of the orchestra is 56 feet and 13 inches. The stage edifice is calculated as being approximately 74 feet when it was still standing.
The southwest facing theatre is on a gradient of 30 degrees. It has a capacity of around 19,000 people.