Priene (modern Güllübahçe, Turkey)

300 BCE

Cavea Width: 53 meters
Orchestra Width: 16 meters

Summary: Theatre of Priene; Güllübahçe, Turkey; cavea width 57 meters; 47 rows of seats divided into three sections (ima, media, and summa cavea) with 5 cunei separated by 6 staircases vertically and 2 walkways horizontally; facing south; seating capacity over 6000 people; orchestra diameter 18.7 meters; initial construction ca. 300 BCE with major renovations in 2nd century BCE and 1st century BCE-2nd century CE; well-preserved lower 15 rows of seating, stage building foundations, and orchestra area with water drainage canal. Unlike many ancient sites that were continually built over, Priene was left largely undisturbed, preserving the theatre as one of the best examples of Hellenistic theatrical architecture in Asia Minor. (Sources: Sear, Roman Theatres: An Architectural Study, 2006; Perseus Digital Library; Wiegand and Schrader, 1904)

The Hellenistic Theatre at Priene

-Amanda Heffernan (student research assistant, Whitman College. 2003) 

THE HELLENISTIC THEATRE AT PRIENE

-Amanda Heffernan (student research assistant, Whitman College, 2003) -Revised with additional information from Frank Sear (2006) and Perseus Digital Library

Historical Context: The City of Priene

Priene was originally founded as an Ionian Greek city, likely in the 11th-10th centuries BCE during the Ionian migration to Asia Minor. The original settlement was located closer to the sea, but the exact site of this first Priene remains debated among archaeologists. As a member of the Ionian League, a confederation of twelve Ionian cities, early Priene held significant regional importance.

Around 350-330 BCE, Priene was relocated to its current hillside location on the slopes of Mount Mycale (Samsun Dağı). This move was necessitated by the silting of the Maeander (Menderes) River, which gradually pushed the coastline farther away from the original city. The new Priene was designed according to the Hippodamian grid plan by the architect Pytheos, who also designed the famous Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Despite the challenging hillside topography, the city’s streets were laid out in a systematic orthogonal pattern, making Priene one of the best examples of rational urban planning in the ancient world.

Priene flourished during the Hellenistic period following Alexander the Great’s conquest of Asia Minor in 334 BCE. Alexander himself contributed funds for the completion of the Temple of Athena Polias. The city enjoyed prosperity throughout the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, during which time many of its major monuments, including the theatre, were constructed or enhanced.

In 129 BCE, Priene was incorporated into the Roman Republic along with the rest of the Kingdom of Pergamon. Under Roman rule, the city continued to thrive, though it never achieved the prominence of larger centers like Ephesus or Miletus. The Romans made various modifications to public buildings, particularly adapting the theatre to Roman performance conventions.

As the Roman Empire transitioned to the Byzantine period, Priene became a Christian center with several churches. However, the continuing siltation of the Maeander River eventually rendered the city’s harbor useless, diminishing its strategic and commercial importance. By the 13th century CE, Priene was largely abandoned, with final occupation ending around 1400 CE.

Today, Priene is celebrated as one of the most complete examples of a Hellenistic Greek city, with the theatre representing one of its best-preserved and most significant structures.

The Theatre

The horseshoe-shaped theatre at Priene is situated in the northern part of the city, below the acropolis and above the upper gymnasium. Built into the natural slope of Mount Mycale, the theatre faces south and provides audiences with a spectacular backdrop of the Maeander River valley, which was much closer to the city in antiquity. The theatre’s orientation follows the city’s grid plan, though interestingly, the eastern seating support wall (analemmata) deviates slightly from the strict north-south alignment that characterizes the rest of the city.

Chronology of Construction and Use

The theatre was constructed soon after the city’s relocation to its new site around 350 BCE. While the exact dating of the initial construction remains controversial, excavations suggest the theatre’s earliest phase occurred around 300 BCE. An early document from the city, dated to ca. 330 BCE, refers to seating rights, suggesting the theatre may have been planned by this time.

The building history of the theatre spans several centuries, mirroring the city’s development through Hellenistic and Roman periods:

• 350-300 BCE: Initial construction of the auditorium and orchestra, likely with a temporary wooden stage building
• 200 BCE: Addition of marble seats around the orchestra circumference
• Mid-2nd century BCE: Construction of stone proscenium and reconstruction of the stage building in stone
• 135 BCE: Statue bases placed in front of the proscenium provide dating evidence
• 1st century BCE (ca. 50-25 BCE): Roman modifications to the stage area
• 2nd century CE: Further articulation of the stage building with a two-story facade

Architectural Features: The Cavea (Seating Area)

The seating area (theatron) has a diameter of approximately 57 meters and faces south. The forty-seven rows of seats were arranged in three sections:

• Ima cavea (lower section): 22 rows divided into 5 cunei (wedge-shaped sections)
• Media cavea (middle section): 8 rows in 5 cunei
• Summa cavea (upper section): approximately 25 rows in 4 cunei

These sections were divided by six staircases vertically and two walkways (praecinctiones) horizontally. The praecinctio at the top was accessible from doorways in the rectilinear walls and continued as a corridor between the top of the media cavea and these walls.

The seats themselves were marble slabs (25-30 cm wide with a 19 cm projection) resting on blocks of marble set approximately 1.20-1.80 meters apart. The height of the seats was approximately 0.40 m. Square holes in the marble seating are cited as evidence of posts that once supported temporary shade awnings.

The Orchestra and Prohedria

The orchestra had a diameter of approximately 18.7 meters and featured a floor of beaten earth. Around 300 BCE, five marble armchairs (prohedrai) were built around the edge of the orchestra as seating for distinguished guests. These thrones bear inscriptions with the name of the agonothetes (contest organizer), Nysius, son of Diphilus.

The lowest row of seats is separated from the row of prohedrai in the orchestra by a 1.85 m-wide water drainage canal that is covered with smooth stone slabs. At the western end of the water canal, there is a rectangular pedestal with hollows on top. Identified as a water clock (clepsydra), it serves as evidence that political meetings were once held in the theatre, and the water clock timed speeches.

A marble rectangular altar was found in the orchestra, near its circumference. It is decorated with an Ionic entablature and carries an inscription to Pythotimus, dated to the early second century BCE.

The Stage Building Complex

Proscenium (Lower Front of Stage)

The proskenion, which is longer than the skene (21.5 m vs. 19 m), has a height of 2.72 meters and features Doric half-columns attached to rectangular piers, supporting an architrave and Doric frieze. Of the eleven intercolumniations, three contained doorways and eight spaces for pinakes (painted wooden panels for scenery).

Numerous traces of polychromy indicate that the proscenium elements were painted with blue and red. An interesting architectural detail is that “the face of the proscenium stylobate coincides with the side of a theoretical square inscribed within the circle created by the orchestra, as prescribed by Vitruvius in his description of the Greek theater” (Vitruvius De Arch. 5.7.1).

Skene (Main Stage Building)

The two-story skene was 19 meters long and 6 meters wide, divided into three rooms (4.40-4.55 m long and 4.78-4.97 m wide). A staircase (0.77 m wide) was located between the west and central rooms. The scene wall had one door in the first phase according to von Gerkan, though Bulle suggests there were three doors. In the Hellenistic period, the second story had three doors (thyromata), which opened onto the stage.

Two cylindrical statue bases at either side and in front of the proskenion can still be seen: the western one once bore a statue of Apollodorus, son of Poseidonius (160 BCE) and the eastern one in honor of Thrasybulus, son of Pylius (150 BCE).

Theoretical Significance

Bieber credits the popularity of “New Comedy” and its emphasis on the actor with the raised stage and the de-emphasis of the orchestra as a primary performance area. This interpretation is supported by the architectural evidence, which shows that “a change in the presentation of dramatic action, due to the influence of New Comedy, occurred: the roof of the proscenium became the ‘stage’, instead of the central orchestra.”

The Theatre in Context

The theatre at Priene should be understood within the broader context of the city’s social and cultural life. As in other Greek cities, the theatre served multiple functions beyond dramatic performances. It was a venue for political assemblies, religious ceremonies, and civic gatherings, as evidenced by the water clock used to time political speeches and the altar in the orchestra.

The theatre’s exceptional state of preservation is largely due to Priene’s gradual abandonment as the Maeander River’s siltation rendered the city increasingly isolated from maritime trade routes. Unlike many ancient sites that were continually built over, Priene was left largely undisturbed, preserving the theatre as one of the best examples of Hellenistic theatrical architecture in Asia Minor.

Today, the theatre at Priene stands as a testament to the architectural ingenuity of the Hellenistic period and provides invaluable insights into the evolution of theatrical spaces from Greek to Roman times. Its design, construction, and subsequent modifications reflect broader cultural and political changes as Priene transitioned from an independent Greek polis to a city within the Roman Empire.

Roman Renovations

Roman modifications to the theatre during the 1st century BCE (approximately 50-25 BCE) included the widening of the stage by building a wall halfway across the basement of the scene building to support a new scaenae frons. This was set back from the line of the old thyromata, thus doubling the depth of the stage. The new scaenae frons was rectilinear with probably four podia between three doorways, supporting a columnatio (arrangement of columns).

In the Roman Imperial period, in the second century CE, the stage building was enhanced by a two-story facade with three doors and two niches. The Romans also integrated the five stone thrones around the orchestra into a row of bench seating. During the early Roman period, a bench of special seats terminating in lion’s feet was added near the bottom of the central cuneus of the ima cavea, and rows of seats with continuous stone back-rests were built between the thrones around the orchestra.

Excavation History

The ruins of Priene were discovered in 1673 by two English merchants trading in Smyrna (modern Izmir), about 400 years after the city’s final abandonment. Based on their report, the Society of Dilettanti in London sponsored three expeditions to the site:

1. First Expedition (1764-1766): Led by Richard Chandler, Nicholas Revett, and William Pars, this team aimed to document the visible ruins through measurements and drawings. They produced the first published account of Priene and created initial site plans, identifying the theatre as one of the best-preserved structures.
2. Second Expedition (1811-1812): Conducted by William Gell and John Peter Gandy, this expedition sought more detailed architectural documentation. They created precise drawings of the theatre’s cavea and orchestra, contributing significantly to understanding its original design.
3. Third Expedition (1868-1869): Directed by Richard Popplewell Pullan, this project conducted limited excavations to reveal more of the structure. Pullan uncovered portions of the proskenion and documented the painted decoration on architectural elements.

In 1895, the German Archaeological Institute and the Berlin Museum began comprehensive excavations under Carl Humann, with the goal of systematically uncovering the ancient city. After his death in 1896, Theodore Wiegand and Hans Schrader continued the work until 1898. Their excavations revealed the complete theatre structure, including the stage building and surrounding areas. They documented the chronological development of the theatre and identified multiple construction phases.

In the early 20th century, Armin von Gerkan conducted specialized research on the theatre (1921), developing new theories about its architectural development and function. His work established that the theatre underwent significant modifications during the transition from Greek to Roman usage. Martin Schede’s studies in the 1930s clarified the dating of various architectural elements based on construction techniques.

By 1992, the German Archaeological Institute, in cooperation with Turkish authorities, initiated a restoration project to address deterioration. This project successfully stabilized the structure and reconstructed key elements based on archaeological evidence, including the proskenion columns and prohedrai seating. Recent research (2013-2018) by the universities of Kiel and Frankfurt has documented the theatre’s acoustic properties, revealing how its design created exceptional sound projection for ancient performances.

Bibliography / Resources:

Akurgal, Ekrem. Ancient Civilization and Ruins of Turkey. 9th ed. Istanbul: Net Turistik Yayinlar, 2001.

Bean, George. Aegean Turkey: An Archaeological Guide. London: Earnest Benn Ltd., 1966.Bieber, Margarete. The History of the Greek and Roman Theatre. Princeton University Press, 1961.

de Bernardi Ferrero, Daria. Teatri classici in Asia Minore. L’Erma di Bretschneider, 1970, pp. 9-20.

Dinsmoor, William Bell. The Architecture of Ancient Greece: An Account of its Historic Development. Reprint of 1950 rev. ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1975.

Gerkan, Armin von. Das Theater von Priene, als Einzelanlage und in seiner Bedeutung für das hellenistische Bühnenwesen. Munich: Schubert, 1921.

“Perseus Digital Library: Priene, Theater.” Perseus Project, Tufts University, www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Priene%2C+Theater&object=Building.

Rumscheid, Frank. Priene: A Guide to the ‘Pompeii of Asia Minor’. Istanbul, 1998, pp. 161-177.

Sear, Frank. Roman Theatres: An Architectural Study. Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 349-350.

Wiegand, Theodor, and Hans Schrader. Priene: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen in den Jahren 1895-1898. Berlin, 1904, pp. 235-257.