The Stadium at Aphrodisias

The Stadium at Aphrodisias Author(s): Katherine Welch Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 102, No. 3 (Jul.
, 1998), pp. 547-569 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/506401 Accessed: 15/01/2010 05:18
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The Stadium at Aphrodisias

KATHERINE WELCH
Abstract
This article presents the preliminary results of an ongoing campaign of architectural and archaeological documentation of the Stadium at Aphrodisias. A combination of stylistic and historical evidence suggests that the Stadium was part of the monumental building program undertaken in the city in the first century A.D. The Stadium has a peculiar form in that it has two sphendonai (curved ends) rather than one. It is one of a small group of such stadia in the Greek world that epigraphical evidence suggests had a specific name: oTd68ov ct(plOtaTpov ("amphitheatral stadium"). The unusually complete archaeological record at Aphrodisias indicates that throughout the Imperial period the Stadium was used not only for Greek athletic competitions, but also for Roman spectacles such as gladiatorial games and venationes. In Late Antiquity a small stone amphitheater was built into its eastern sphendone, obliterating part of the Stadium's running track. It is argued that this was a way of making permanent an arrangement that had always been temporary in past centuries. Gladiatorial contests had largely ceased by the time that the amphitheater was built into the Stadium, indicating that amphitheaters such as this one were intended not for gladiatorial games, as is often supposed, but for the venationes that seem to have flourished at the site well into the sixth century, long after they had been officially banned in all cities of the eastern Roman empire.* INTRODUCTION Since the early 19th century, travelers to Aphrodisias have noted the Stadium as one of the city's
most remarkable survivals.' Located at the northern edge of the site, at some distance from the ancient civic center, its imposing marble auditorium is 270 m in length and has 30 tiers of seating with space for 30,000 people,2 making it the single best-preserved ancient stadium and also one of the largest. The building exhibits a striking combination of both grandeur and austerity (fig. 1). In 1993, my collaborator, Andrew Leung of the University of Pennsylvania, and I began a thorough architectural and archaeological documentation of the Stadium. We have produced a plan of the building (fig. 2), and are now generating a series of detailed drawings, including a state plan (at a scale of 1:50) of the cavea, which comprises 40 wedges of seating (figs. 3-4). No accurate plans have previously been drawn nor has any type of publication on the Stadium appeared.3 In fact, stadia of the Roman period in general have been little studied, perhaps because so few of them are well enough excavated to make a detailed publication feasible. Although the Stadium at Aphrodisias has been above ground since antiquity, it has suffered surprisingly little damage. Unlike many other monuments at the site with more complicated histories, the Stadium is virtually untouched, making it an ideal candidate for a comprehensive study that will be useful for subsequent analyses of other stadia of the Roman period. This
* This article is a preliminary report on the Stadium, which will be published in detail as part of the new Aphrodisias monograph series. The Stadium Project has been funded by New York University, as well as by the Archaeological Institute of America (Kenan T. Erim Awards in 1993 and 1996), the American Philosophical Society, and the American Research Institute in Turkey. I would like to thank C. Ratte and L. Bier for their help in interpreting the architecture of the Stadium as well as its urban context; D. Romano for many useful discussions about the architecture of stadia in general; and E. Badian, A. Chaniotis, K.M. Coleman, E.R. Gebhard, C.H. Hallett, T. Kafer, A. Leung, and R.R.R. Smith for their helpful comments. The following abbreviations are used: Golvin J.-C. Golvin, L'amphitheatreromain:Essai sur la theorisation de saforme et sesfonctions (Paris 1988). J.M. Reynolds, Aphrodisias and Rowe Reynolds (JRS Monograph 1, London 1982). Robert L. Robert, Lesgladiateursdans l'Orientgrec (Limoges 1940). American Journal of Archaeology 102 (1998) 547-69 547
C. Roueche, Performers and Partisansat in the Romanand LateRoAphrodisias manPeriods (JRS Monograph 6, London 1993). 1L. Laborde, Voyage de lAsieMineure(Paris 1838) 97-98, in Asia Minor, pl. LV,108 and 109;W. Hamilton, Researches andArmenia I (London 1842) 529; C. Texier,DescripPontus, tionde lAsieMineure III (Paris 1849) 164, 167, pl. CLVII; C. and Researches in Asia Minor(London 1852) Fellows,Travels 251-52; Society of the Dilettanti,Antiquities of oniaIII (London 1840) 66-67, pls. X-XII. 2 This is the figure arrivedat if each spectator is allotted 0.50 m of linear space per seat. For a plan of the site, see R.R.R.Smith and C. Ratte,"Archaeological Researchat Aphrodisias in Caria, 1993,"AJA99 (1995) pl. I. 3 The building was discussed in passing by L. Crema, "Imonumenti architettoniciafrodisiensi," MonAnt 48 (1939) 240-44; and by K.T. Erim,Aphrodisias: Cityof Venus Aphrodite Results of (London 1986) 67-70; and Erim, "Aphrodisias: the 1968 Campaign,"TiirkArkDerg 17:1 (1968) 43-57.
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Fig. 1. View of the Stadium at Aphrodisias from the east article presents the results of our documentation to date and situates the Stadium at Aphrodisias in its wider architectural and cultural contexts. Stadia were rectilinear or U-shaped buildings that were used for athletic competitions (footraces, boxing, wrestling, the pankration, and the pentathlon).4 The building type first appears in the Archaic and Classical periods as a simple structure with a rectangular race course (dromos)and earthen embankments on the long sides for spectator seating (as at Olympia). In the Hellenistic period the banks of seating were built in stone (as at Priene), and in some cases a sphendone was added so that the building had one straight and one curved end (as at Delphi). By the second century A.D., Roman architectural practices had affected the form of stadia in the Greek East, so that most were now built partially or wholly on level ground by means of vaulting, as at Perge. These new monumental stadia had freestanding facades and analemmata (retaining walls) at the straight end of the building, as well as proportionally larger caveas with a sophisticated system of spectator circulation in the substructures, including annular vaulting and sometimes vomitoria typical of Roman spectator buildings in the West.5
DESCRIPTION
Plan and Dimensions The cavea is 270 m long and 59 m wide, and the track surface (dromos) is 238 m long. The track is a little wider than is usual in other stadia; it is 40 m wide at its widest point at the center of the building and 31 m wide at its narrowest point closer to the ends of the building. The long sides of the cavea are thus not parallel to one another, but curve noticeably toward the middle, giving the track a slightly
4 See D.C. Young, "Athletics," in M. Grant and R. KitGreece of theAncientMediterranean: zinger eds., Civilization and RomeII (New York 1988) 1131-42 with bibliography. On the mechanics of stadium races, see S.G.Miller,"Turns and Lanes in the Ancient Stadium,"AJA84 (1980) 159-66. 5 On the architectural history of stadia, see P. Aupert, "Evolution et avatars d'une forme architecturale,"in C. Landes ed., Le stade romainet ses spectacles (Lattes 1994) 95-106; DarSag 1449-56, s.v.Stadium (S. Dorigny); EAA 464-68, s.v.Stadio (P. Sommella); RE 3 A 2 (1929) 1967-73,
A.M. Colini, Stadium Domitiani(Rome 1943); C. Gasparri, ASAtene "Lostadio panatenaico" 52-53 (1974-1975) 313-92; et architecture: Le stade(Paris P. Aupert, FdDII: Topographie See 1979);S.G.Miller'sforthcoming NemeaII: TheStadium. in AncientCoand Mathematics also D.G.Romano, Athletics "Stadion" rinth:TheOriginsof the Greek (Philadelphia 1993);
P. Roos, "In Search of Ancient Stadia and Hippodromes in Anatolia," OpAth 20 (1994) 179-88; and Roos, "On the
Connection between Theatre and Stadium in Anatolian Cities,"in H. Malay ed., ErolAtalayMemorial (Izmir 1991)
165-68.
s.v. Stadion (der Bau) (E.R.Fiechter).For specific buildings, see: A. von Gerkan, Milet 1.1:Das Stadion(Berlin 1921);
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Fig. 3. Wedge 1, with tunnel. (A. Leung) elliptical shape (figs. 1-2).6 In plan the Stadium has two curved ends (sphendonai). Without the sphendonai, the length of the straight section of the running track (from wedge 4 to 18 on the north side of the building, and from wedge 24 to 38 on the south side of the building) is ca. 180 m. Using a foot measurement of 0.295 (the same foot measure used in the Temple of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias and probably also in the city grid),7 this dimension of 180 m corresponds closely to the canonical measure of one stade (600 ft, or approximately 177 m). Cavea The cavea is 10 m high, measuring from the top of the podium to the highest preserved row of seats (row 26). The lower third of the cavea was dug down below ground level, while the upper part rested on embankments of packed earth, above ground level. There are 40 wedges of seats (kerkides),which we have numbered 1-40 (fig. 2). Wedge 1 coincides with the western entrance to the running track, and the numbering moves clockwise, along the north side to wedge 21 at the eastern end and back again along the south side of the building. The largest wedges of seats at the short ends of the building (wedges 1 and 21) are 22.5 m wide at the top of the cavea, and the straight wedges on the long sides are 12 m wide. The seating has an architecturally severe appearance, with few but effective decorative features and design accents. The seats at the edges of the kerkides
6 Early travelersto the site, such as members of the Society of the Dilettanti, restored the sides of the Stadium as parallelin their drawings, assumingthat the convexshape was due to settling or to earthquakes.However,a mild swelling was intended in the planning of Greek and Roman stadia (it is evident as early as the fourth-centuryB.C.stadium at Olympia), probably because of the dynamic op-
tical effect that it generated. The use of this device in the Stadium at Aphrodisias is especially pronounced--a detail whose significance is addressed below. 7 On the foot measurement used at Aphrodisias, see Researchat AphR.R.R.Smith and C. Ratte,"Archaeological rodisias in Caria, 1995,"AJA101 (1997) 13.
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Fig. 4. Wedge 11, with tribunal seat. (A. Leung) are supported by lion's-foot moldings (fig. 5). Wedges 11 and 31, which are halfway down the long sides of the building, have high-backed tribunal seats (fig. 2: B). Wedges 1 and 21, at the east and west ends of the building, have barrel-vaulted tunnels 4 m wide (fig. 2: C; fig. 6), which lead from outside the building down into the dromos, sloping at an angle of 15?. Since these tunnels gave access not to the cavea but to the track, they were clearly used for performers, not spectators. The keystones of the arches of the tunnels that face inside the building were sculpted with busts of divinities: a winged Hermes is still visible on the keystone of the western tunnel (fig. 7); the keystone of the eastern tunnel is too battered for identification of the bust, but it is likely to have been Heraklesthe standard counterpart to Hermes in an athletic context. The running track is separated from the seating by a high podium (1.60 m), which has simple moldings at the top and bottom. The podium (fig. 2: D), which is still largely buried, had one square niche (fig. 2: E) or "refuge" for use by stadium personnel
8
and performers, located in wedge 10,just west of the central wedge with the tribunal seats (fig. 8).8 Exterior On its north and west sides, the exterior of the Stadium is covered by the city wall, which was built up against it. Part of the Stadium's facade is still visible, however, in the eastern sector of the building (fig. 1; fig. 2: F), where it has a fine marble ashlar facing crowned by a stout cyma molding (fig. 9). On the long, south side of the Stadium, the building's exterior is mostly buried. The visible remains suggest that it consisted simply of an earthen rampart supported by blind barrel vaults (fig. 2: G) situated perpendicularly to the long axis of the Stadium, and a series of retaining walls (made of roughly hewn limestone and schist blocks, fieldstone, and coarse mortar) that run parallel to the long axis of the Stadium. Wall 1 (fig. 2: H) marks the back of the cavea and functioned as a retainer for the highest row of seats.
Dimensions of the niche: H. 1.60 m, W. 1.0 m, D. 1.20 m.
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Fig. 5. Stadium seat with lion's-foot molding, wedge 21
Fig. 6. Wedge 21, with view of the tunnel
1998]
THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS
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Fig. 7. Wedge 1 tunnel, with detail of the keystone It follows the slightly convex contour of the cavea all along the south side of the Stadium. The distance between this wall and the top preserved row of seats
(row 26) is approximately 5 m, leaving room for perhaps four more rows of seats above and an ambulatory for spectators approximately 3 m wide. (It is probable that each wedge originally had 30 rows of seats, and that the upper four rows of seats were removed and used in the construction of the Late Antique city wall, where many reused Stadium seats can now be seen.) A second wall (wall 2, fig. 2: I) is located approximately 5 m south of wall 1 and runs parallel to it. Like wall 1, it follows the mild entasis of the seating. Another retaining wall (wall 3, fig. 2: J) that was exposed in a large trench dug in 1968 (fig. 2: K) has two apses that were cut into it in Late Antique times. In 1996 a careful study of the architecture in the 1968 trench was undertaken, which revealed a ramped vault (fig. 2: L) supported by a retaining wall (wall 4, fig. 2: M) and a layer of marble chips in the scarp above. The ramped vault and the layer of marble chips have the same degree of slope, suggesting that both this vault and the earthen embankment above it were part of the original construction of the Stadium. This arrangement of built features and earthworks together functioned to retain the outward thrust of the embanked cavea.
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Fig. 8. Wedges 10 and 11. Niche in podium in wedge 10 at the left.
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Fig. 9. East facade The evidence suggests, then, that the long south, and probably north, sides of the Stadium consisted simply of an earthen rampart strengthened by a skeleton of walls and vaulting. The building seems to have had a finely constructed facade of marble ashlar blocks only on its short ends, a feature of the building's architecture that was probably dictated by the need for access tunnels (fig. 9). The Stadium has no substructures for spectator circulation, as exist in many other Roman stadia. Spectators had to climb up to the top of the building from outside from where they would descend to their seats, much as in a theater (except that in theaters, spectators could also enter through the orchestra and ascend to their seats, whereas in the Stadium spectators could not enter the cavea from the track level). There seem to have been five main access points for the audience, which were aligned with the major northsouth streets in the residential section of the site just south of the Stadium (as revealed by the 1995 geophysical survey).9 These access points are today marked by five prominent mounds regularly spaced along the south flank of the Stadium. From the civic center of Aphrodisias to the south, the exterior of the Stadium would probably have had the appearance of a low, grassy hill, much as it does today.
DATE
The date of the Stadium is difficult to, determine because, unlike many other monuments at Aphrodisias (the Theater, for example), there are no sur9 See Smith and Ratt6 (supra n. 7) figs. 9 and 13. For the results of the 1996 fieldwork, see R.R.R.Smith and C.
viving inscriptions associated with its construction. Nevertheless, stylistic and historical criteria allow us to arrive at a probable date for the building. As mentioned above, there are several well-preserved stadia of Asia Minor datable to the second century A.D. on the basis of their architectural style and their similarity to other types of more securely dated buildings, such as theaters. These have vaulted substructures that provide for spectator circulation beneath the cavea (as at Aspendos, Sardis, and Sillyon), as well as monumental facades and analemmata on at least one side of the building (Ephesos, Aizanoi, and Antioch on the Meander). The stadium at Perge is the best-preserved example of this High Imperial type of stadium, built on level ground, in a wealthy city of the second century A.D. At Perge the whole cavea is built up on vaults, and every third vault has a vomitorium that allows spectators to enter and exit the stadium without having to climb up to the top of the building and back down again. By contrast, the Stadium at Aphrodisias, which was also built on level ground, lacks a monumental facade and uses only minimal vaulting for structural purposes. The lower part of the cavea was dug down into the ground, and the upper part of the cavea was supported by earthen embankments, a method of construction typical of Hellenistic stadia, for example, those at Priene and Miletos. These architectural features might indicate that the Aphrodisian stadium was built before the second century A.D. A more specific date for the building may be sugRatt6, "ArchaeologicalResearch at Aphrodisias in Caria,
1996," AJA 102 (1998) 225-50.
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gested on other grounds. The Stadium at Aphrodisias is part of a small group of stadia that are quite similar in both architectural form (all have two sphendonai) and construction technique (all have caveas dug out of the earth, and lack monumental facades on their long sides). One of these stadia is situated close to Aphrodisias, at Laodikeia in Phrygia,'1 and the second is located farther away at Nikopolis, in northwestern Greece." A third possible example, the stadium at Nysa in Caria, is probably to be discounted.12 The stadium at Laodikeia was dedicated to the emperor Titus in A.D. 79.13 The stadium at Nikopolis is earlier- probably Augustan - since Strabo (7.7.6, C 325) mentions it, and says that it was built for the Actian Games (which were instituted imme-
diately after Octavian's victory in 31 B.C.).These two stadia, similar in architectural form to the one at Aphrodisias, are externally dated to the Early Imperial period, suggesting that the Stadium at Aphrodisias could also date to sometime in the first century A.D. Another piece of evidence that points to an Early Imperial date for the Stadium is an inscription that mentions a sacred contest at Aphrodisias in the first century A.D. called the 'A(ppo6iota 'IooXL6tila.14 The Aphrodeisia Isolympia presumably formed part of the main festival of Aphrodite of Aphrodisias. In a city whose fame rested on its cult of Aphrodite, this contest would have required an appropriately grand architectural setting. It might then be sug-
10The stadium at Laodikeia, which has never been properly surveyed, is well preserved but is overgrown and buried to a height above its podium. It has two barrelvaulted tunnels at either end, like the Stadium at Aphrodisias, and it is approximately the same size as the Stadium at Aphrodisias, if slightly smaller. See the Society of the Dilettanti, Antiquities oflonia II (London 1797) 31-32, pl. XLVIII; W.M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia I (London 1895) 45, 72-73; J. des Gagniers et al., Laodicee du Lykos:Le Nymphee (Paris 1969); G.E. Bean, Turkeybeyond the Maeander (London 1971) 247-57. 1 The little-known stadium at Nikopolis is discussed by E Krinzinger: "Nikopolis in der augusteischen Reichspropaganda," in E. Chrysos ed., Nikopolis I (Preveza 1987) 109-20, esp. 117. It had a dromos that was dug down into the earth, and its seating (which no longer survives) was supported on vaulted substructures of concrete. 12 The stadium at Nysa was restored with two sphendonai in W. von Diest in Nysa ad Meandrum(Berlin 1913) 42-44, pl. VI, and this plan has been widely reproduced. The restoration does not seem to be based on good archaeological evidence, however. This building, which straddles a torrent bed with a barrel vault below the running track for canalization, is clearly the structure referred to by Strabo (14.1.43, C649) as an "amphitheater": "[Nysa] is a double city, so to speak, for it is divided by a torrential stream that forms a gorge, which at one place has a bridge over it, joining the two cities, and at another is adorned with an amphitheater, with a hidden underground passage for 8' 6OatiEp the torrential waters"(CoTIt s6intoXt, ttaip?i ya p aTiV REvy?cpupav El7rKs8tvItVV Xapd8pa tIT, n7ioiooa qpdpayyya, i TO eXEs, ouvdnTuouoav T6S; 60 t6XEstq, T6 8' &(pitOsdTpq T TIV Ui'6ppuoIv Tc6V KEKOoqtiTal, KPUOTlV XapaSpoEXOV 8Sv 6SdTcov). Recent excavation has demonstrated that the north end of the stadium at Nysa was curved: V. Idil, "Nysa (Sultanhisar)," Rehberce,Ankara Profesyonel Turizim Rehberleri Dernegi yayin organ 4 (1996) 28-38 (see plan 4, p. 35). The south end of the stadium, however, has been completely washed away by the torrent; nor was it visible at the time of the German campaign at Nysa, which generated the plan of the building. There is nothing to rule out that the stadium had a conventional plan, with only one curved end. Indeed, the restoration of the building with two curved ends may have been based on an acquaintance with the nearby Stadium at Aphrodisias, which has two curved ends, and on Strabo's use of the term "amphitheater."
Two recent articles have demonstrated that in the Early Imperial period the terminology for Roman entertainment buildings (especially the oval building that we would later know as the "amphitheater") was still in flux; it was not until the second century A.D. that this word became more narrowlydefined. In the first century A.D., the word signified a building with seats all the way around (in contrast with the theater where the seats were arranged in a semicircle). For example,Josephus (AJ15.341)uses "amphitheater" to refer to a building at Caesarea Maritima that clearly functioned as a hippodrome (it is 300 m long, has carceres and a barrier down the center); see Y. Porath, "Herod's'amphitheatre'at Caesarea:A Multipurpose Entertainment Building," in TheRoman andByzantine NearEast (JRA Suppl. 14, Ann Arbor 1995) 15-27;J.H. Humphrey, "'Amphitheatrical'Hippo-stadia," in A. Raban and K.G. Holum eds., Caesarea Maritima: A Retrospective MilafterTwo lennia (New York 1996) 121-29; and R. Etienne, "Lanaissance de l'amphitheatre:Le mot et la chose,"REL43 (1965) 213-20. 13An earthquake destroyed Laodikeia in A.D. 60 (Tac. Ann. 14.27; Oros. 7.7.12).The stadium was probably constructed after the earthquake, either as an entirely new structure or as a replacement of an earlier stadium. Inscriptions attesting to the building are as follows: IGRR
IV, 845: [AUTOKp]d[Topt] TiTCo Kaioapl E?sp3aor C' TO O0eoOsoicaO1tavoO O0uo7iaotavc(,ojTrdTc AVToKpdaopoS TCO) NetKOOTpdTOu uiG, Kair 61t(, NEtKbOTpaTOq AUKioU TOV EKTCOV isi/oV a&v01Kev, XeUK6XotOV T[6 oTrdsov &l(pt]09eaTpov TOO T/x7tpooXsiW/ava TOO Ne1KooTpdTro EpyouTeXet6boavTroS MdpKou O6TktiouTpatauTOO, KaOt9pep(oavTO X,11pov6gLou avoO ToOd&vOurdTou. IGRR IV, 861: 'H poOuii Kai 6 6iToq TaTiav NetKooTpdrouTOO vgav ip(oiSa, H&plKXtOUS rT?irtloav Ts Kai es[T][oupyiaS i8t Ts T[dS T]oO7zaTp6ba6Trnzi a&PX6d Kai lpy[stt]oTaoia; Kti 86t T[6]v 7p6estov1 aOTr; [Net]K6clv 7a6[p;o]sEVispd6TEsuov oTparov, 6S, [4]s[Td T]6V adXXv [Ts] Trni;i6XsoS; Kai [av]]091KSv T6 TEoTd[6iov] avcpqt0aTpov
[XKoK6Xt]0OVKaoiT.
14
....
Rhodes,' ArchEph1966, 108-18; Roueche 163. The designation iooX63nLtia means that the contest was modeled on those of the Classical circuit in Greece.
The inscription, which is from Rhodes and records the victories of a runner in a series of sacred contests, has been dated by L. Robert to the first century A.D. on the basis of the script: "Deux inscriptions agonistiques de
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KATHERINE WELCH
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gested that the building of the Stadium was associated with an increased importance of this contest inJulio-Claudian times when it proved timely to promote Aphrodisias's connections with the gens Julia through Aphrodite. In short, one can see both the Aphrodeisia Isolympia and the Stadium as part of Aphrodisias's rise to prominence in the Early Imperial period. In addition to the festival of the goddess, the new cult of the emperors would have required new kinds of events such as venationes for which, as we will see, the Stadium provided an ideal venue. An Early Imperial date for the Stadium makes most sense in historical terms, and it coincides well with the stylistic evidence outlined above.
URBAN CONTEXT
The Stadium is situated at the northern edge of the site and is oriented due east-west.15 The building is not oriented exactly along the lines of the orthogonal city grid, however, but is turned about 3? to the east from this alignment. The city grid, which was used for the major streets, private housing, and most public buildings at Aphrodisias (such as the two Agoras and the Bouleuterion), probably dates, at the latest, to the end of the first century B.C., when a new civic center was constructed, perhaps after the city was sacked by the army of Labienus in 40 B.C. The Stadium's slightly different alignment (due east-west) could simply indicate that, because it was located at the edge of the city, no effort was made to align it exactly with the street grid. More probably, though, the different alignment indicates that the Stadium was laid out at a different time from the main city grid-either later or earlier.16 How much earlier or later is difficult to say, but we may suggest one possible scenario. 15See the plan published in Smith and Ratt6 (supra n. 2) pl. I. 16 On the city plan of Aphrodisias, see Smith and Ratt6 (supra n. 7) 13-14, with n. 27 where the Stadium is disResearch cussed by Ratt6; and R.R.R.Smith,"Archaeological at Aphrodisias, 1989-1992," in Aphrodisias Papers3 (JRA Suppl. 20, Ann Arbor 1996) 45-49. On the sack of Labienus, see Reynolds 99-103, nos. 11 and 12. 17See Reynolds 1-6, 26-32, 101-103, nos. 5, 12. 18See DJ. MacDonald,"SomeProblems in Aphrodisian Numismatics,"in R.R.R.Smith and K. Erim eds., Aphrodisias Papers2: TheTheatre, a Sculptor's Workshop, Philosophers, and Coin-Types (JRA Suppl. 2, Ann Arbor 1991) 169-75. 19 App. B Civ. 1.97 (C453-54); hence Sulla'ssubsequent special connection to Venus/Aphrodite;see E. Gabba ed., bellorum civilium (Florence1958) 265-67. Appiani liberprimus 20 See Smith (supra n. 16) 46; J. de la Geniere, "Premieres recherches sur Aphrodisias pr6romaine,"and D. inJ. de la Geniire Theodorescu, "LeTemple d'Aphrodite,"
While there is no explicit evidence for organized athletic festivals at Aphrodisias earlier than the first century A.D., there is no reason to think that they were not taking place in the Hellenistic period as part of the festival of the goddess. Epigraphical, numismatic, and archaeological evidence indicates that before the Early Imperial period Aphrodisias was a developed Hellenistic polis with a well-known The temple, a theater, and meetings of the ekklesia.17 town was known for its cult certainly by the end of the second century B.C., when we first hear of the name Aphrodisias in inscriptions and on coins carrying the image of Aphrodite.'8 The cult was important enough in the early 80s B.C. for Sulla, at the behest of the Delphic oracle, to have dedicated an ax and a golden crown in the sanctuary after the First Mithridatic War.19On these general grounds, therefore, it is likely that a festival of Aphrodite was being celebrated already in Hellenistic times. Such a festival required three structures: an altar for religious rituals, a theater for acting and musical events, and a dromos for athletic competitions. There is evidence for a Hellenistic predecessor of the Theater and also for the Temple of Aphrodite.20 This presents the possibility that the Stadium also had a Hellenistic predecessor- a Greek-type dromos marked out with a 600-ft long running track with banks of earth for spectator seating, as was usual for stadia before the Roman period. Indeed, we know that there was a gymnasium at Aphrodisias (of uncertain location) in the Late Hellenistic period,21 and this indicates that there may have been a running track as well.22 We may suggest that the Stadium, like the Theater and Temple, had a less monumental predecessor in the Hellenistic period, which was rebuilt on a grander scale in Early Imperial times.
de Carie(Paris 1987) 53-67 and and K. Erim, Aphrodisias 87-97, respectively. 21 The gymnasium is attested in an inscription that records a prominent citizen having been buried there; see Reynolds 151-53, no. 29. 22Gymnasia were often built quite close to stadia, or even adjoining them (see the plans in J. Delorme, Gymnasion,Paris 1960).This is the case, for example, at Laodikeia, which has a stadium (comparable in architectural form comto the Stadiumat Aphrodisias)with a gymnasium-bath plex just to its southeast: see Bean (supra n. 10) fig. 46. Recent geophysical work at Aphrodisias in 1995 revealed a large, rectangular enclosure, surrounded by shops, just southeast of the Stadium that might be interpreted as part of a gymnasium, though its function is by no means certain, since only a small part of the structure has been excavated: see Smith and Ratt6 (supra n. 7) figs. 9-11, with discussion of trench AN 1, pp. 10-12.
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It may be no coincidence, then, that the three buildings at Aphrodisias that have slightly different axes than the main city grid (the Theater, Temple, and Stadium) constitute the essential architectural components required by any town that had a sanctuary and cult festival.23
FUNCTIONS
Athletics The primary purpose of a stadium was to provide a venue for athletic competitions and for spectators to watch these competitions. A variety of athletic contests are known to have taken place at Aphrodisias. The earliest attested athletic contest is the Aphrodeisia Isolympia in the first century A.D., known from the Rhodian inscription mentioned above. The Aphrodeisia Isolympia contest does not seem to have been internationally important enough, however, to appear with any regularity in Greek inscriptions outside Aphrodisias (the Rhodian inscription contains the only attestation). We also hear of a "city contest" (7Tro,EtxK6q;aycv) in an inscription from Aphrodisias, dated to the early 180s A.D.24It is possible that the term "city contest" was meant to indicate this contest's lesser status with respect to the international Isolympic festival. The title of this "city contest" implies that the money used to pay for it came from civic funds (that is, from the temple treasury, instead of private sources), as would also have been the case with the Aphrodeisia Isolympia. The Aphrodeisia Isolympia and the "city contest" are both poorly known (each being attested in a single inscription), probably because the epigraphical record of Aphrodisias consists principally of private benefactions.
The athletic contests at Aphrodisias about which we know the most were those mentioned on statue bases of prominent individuals who paid for them in the context of lively local euergetism. In the 180s we hear of the Lysimachea,established by M. Flavius Antonius Lysimachus, who was "sophist, high priest, gymnasiarch, stephanophoros,neopoios, and agonothetes in perpetuity of the Lysimachean contests."25There was also a contest called the Philemoniea, held for the first time in 182, which was evidently for young male athletes, as suggested by eight statue bases that honor local boys for victories in this contest: three Boy Boxers, four Boy Runners, and a Boy Pankratiast.26 In the mid-third century the emperors Gordian and Valerian awarded sacred status to two new contests at Aphrodisias: the Attalea Gordianea Capetolia and the Valeriana Pythia.27The Attalea Gordianea Capetolia and the Aphrodeisia Isolympia are the only Aphrodisian contests mentioned in victors' lists from sites other than Aphrodisias. This suggests that few contests (apparently only the Aphrodeisia Isolympia) had international status until the mid-third century, when the city became the capital of the new province of Caria-Phrygia.28 The scale and infrastructure of such festivals may be gleaned from two remarkably detailed lists of prizes for contests at Aphrodisias. Prize money was given to the winners in a series of contests including: heralds, writers of encomia, poets, harp players, harp singers, pyrrhic dancers, trumpeters, pythic flautists, comedians, tragedians, adult long-distance runners, young stadium-runners, pentathletes, wrestlers, boxers, and pankratiasts, adult pentathletes, boy stadium-runners, colts, chariots with horses, and chariots with colts.29 The substantial sums of money
23The Theater, Temple, and Stadium at Aphrodisias all have different alignments, suggesting that they were laid out at different times. Such a situation was usual in Greek sanctuaries, whose urban layout was generally agglomerative, rather than being based on a uniform grid: examdes Hellenisples include Olympia (H. Lauter, Architektur mus [Darmstadt 1986] fig. 20), Pergamon (Lauter fig. 9), Delos (Lauterfig.21),Epidauros(Lauterfig.24), Samothrace (Lauter fig. 25), Corinth (R.E. Wycherley,How the Greeks Built Cities[NewYork1962] fig. 14),Elis (Wycherleyfig. 15). Sanctuaries laid out according to a uniform grid, such as Priene (Lauter fig. 3), were rarer. 24 Roueche 176, no. 51, lines 15-16. 25 Roueche 174-75, no. 54. 26Roueche 177-78, 212-21, nos. 79-86. The statue bases, all similar in style and proportions, were found in the same sector of the site: the "WaterChannel"area, northeast of the civic center.Roueche suggeststhat this might havebeen the location of the gymnasium for boys; it was common in prosperous cities to have different gymnasia for differ-
ent age groups:young men, adults, and older men; see Delorme (supra n. 22); D. Magie, RomanRule in Asia Minor (Princeton1950)585,854-55, 1446n. 49; P.Gauthier,"Notes sur le role du gymnase dans les cites hellenistiques," in M. Worrle and P. Zanker eds., Stadtbildund Biirgerbild in Hellenismus (Munich 1995) 1-11. number of local athletes gained an international reputation, most conspicuously the Olympic and Pythic victor Aurelius Achilles, on whom see C.P.Jones, "TwoInscriptions from Aphrodisias," HSCP 85 (1981) 107-29; and Rouech6 202-206, no. 72. On the provinceof Caria-Phrygia, see C. Rouech6,Aphrodisias in LateAntiquity (London 1989) 1-4. 29 Reimbursementalso went to the and to those xystarch, responsible for the supplying of straps, the releasing of the pulleys, the sand-pit and the mud-pit, and for oil: Rouech6 168-74, nos. 52 and 53.
27Roueche 179-82. 2s Aphrodisias was not a major athletic center, but a
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involved (5,000 denarii of prize money went to a pankratiast, for example) are an indication of the civic importance of such contests.30 Of the events listed, the musical and acting events took place in the Theater and the gymnastic events in the Stadium. Bareback horse-racing could have been held in the Stadium, but it is less likely that races with chariots were held in this building. Chariot-racing needed a wide track for turns and is likely to have been held in an open field rather than in the Stadium, which the central as recent excavation has shown-lacks barrier commonly found in hippodromes, and whose track was only 40 m wide (by contrast, hippodrome/ circuses have tracks measuring between 50 and 70 m in width).3 Processions Cult festivals comprised three essential elements: a procession (70torfi), a sacrifice (ucaia), and contests (ay6veq;). Greek religious processions ended at the main shrine or temple of the honored god where a sacrifice was made. That stadia were used for processions during cult festivals is suggested by the account of the Procession of Ptolemy II, which, along with an athletic contest, was part of an elaborate festival in Alexandria in the third century B.C.32 According to Athenaeus, part of the procession took place in the city's stadium.33 It included fourwheeled carts in which stood statues, followed by a procession of priests, priestesses, and sacred guilds, and then a showering with sweetmeats of the populace assembled in the stadium.34 At Aphrodisias, the oblong shape and large seating capacity of the Stadium would have made it a natural candidate for viewing the pompe of Aphrodite, as would the barrel-
vaulted tunnels (4 m wide) at either end of the building, which could have been used for entry and exit of those marching in the procession. At Aphrodisias, the goal of the pompe would have been the Temenos of Aphrodite. I suggest, on the basis of analogy with Alexandria, the possibility that the starting point of the goddess's procession was somewhere close to the Stadium. Imperial Cult Festival The unusually complete architectural and epigraphical record at Aphrodisias provides important insight into the archaeology of the imperial cult festival. An imperial cult festival typically featured Roman forms of entertainment (gladiatorial games, wild beast shows, and executions), as well as traditional Greek athletic events (races, boxing, wrestling, etc.). The evidence indicates that at Aphrodisias both of these types of performances were held in the Stadium. While it is well known that Roman spectacles were held in theaters in the Greek East, it is not well known that stadia were also used for such spectacles. I have discussed elsewhere the evidence for Roman games having been held in stadia.35 The following is a brief summary of the Aphrodisian evidence for this practice. That the Stadium at Aphrodisias was used for gladiatorial games and venationes is suggested first by the architecture of the building itself. Its podium is 1.60 m in height, which is excessively tall if the building had been used only for athletic displays (the Theater's podium after the orchestra was converted for Roman spectacles is comparable in height: 1.50 m; fig. 10). In addition, the podium had one square "refuge"(fig. 8), such as are found in the podia
30 See further M. Worrle,StadtundFestim kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien(Munich 1988) 151-82. 31It has recently been suggested by Humphrey (supra n. 12) that stadia such as those at Aphrodisias and Laodikeia were used for chariot-racing,in addition to athletic events. He argues that these buildings with two sphendonai were designed to be longer and wider than the Classical stadium precisely to accommodate a wide range of events,especially equestrian ones. There are some difficulties with his suggestion. First, the stadium at Laodikeia is not 380 m long, as stated by Humphrey and in the standard reference works on stadia (supra n. 5); it is approximately 270 m in length (the same length as the stadium at Aphrodisias). Second, recent excavation (in 1996) inside the dromos of the Stadium at Aphrodisiasrevealedno trace of a central barrier (the possibility remains, however,that a temporary wooden barrier could have been used for chariot races, if such were held in this building). Third, while the stadia at Aphrodisias and Laodikeia have performance floors that are longer (230 m) than the canonical Greek stadium (190 m), it is not clear if this increased
length was motivated by functional or purely formal considerations (that is, the aesthetic effect of two sphendonai; on which, see infra). 32 Ath. 5.197-203; &y?vw4q associated with this festival: Ath. 5.203a. See E.E. Rice, Grand Procession Philof Ptolemy (Oxford 1983);and, recently,K.M.Coleman, "Ptoladelphus emy Philadelphus and the Roman Amphitheater,"in WJ. Slater ed., RomanTheater andSociety: E. Togo Salmon I Papers (Ann Arbor 1996) 49-68. 33Ath. 5.197c:7otilo61Xe0a Kaitiv xf nopniq'c, i'ymOIv.
T& v t6XItv orasiou. Rice (supra n. fyero y&p 8ti ToGKarLa
32) 34-35 hypothesizesthat the procession mustered somewhere close to the stadium, which functioned as a prime viewingstation for distinguished spectatorsbefore the procession traveled through other parts of the city. 34Ath. 5.200b: i7dvT?;KOOli(o ?yXUKavuiVOlav oi kv Tr
oraSiop.
35K. Welch, "RomanSpectacles in Greek Stadia: Asia, Athens, and the Tomb of Herodes Atticus, forthcoming inJRA 11 (1998).
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Fig. 10. Theater at Aphrodisias. View of orchestra from the northeast. of amphitheaters, where gladiatorial games were held in the Roman West, and in theaters in the Greek world whose orchestras were converted for this purpose (for example, at Magnesia on the Meander and Miletos).36 Both the podium and the refuge seem to be original features of the Stadium. Moreover, in areas where there are integral stretches of podium in the building, one can discern a system of regularly spaced cuttings for ropes in the podium's crowning molding. These cuttings, which exist in the central sector of the building as well as in both curved ends, are easiest to see in the western sector of the building where the original podium is best preserved (fig. 11).37The holes, which are spaced about 2 m apart and whose openings are 4 cm wide, were for ropes that suspended a system of nets during venationes (fig. 12).38 Their fairly regular spacing and uniform appearance suggest that they are original, not secondary, features of the structure. Given Aphrodisias's close connection with Rome and its particular interest in the imperial cult, gladiatorial displays probably began here early in the first century A.D. That the imperial cult festival was taking place at Aphrodisias in the Early Imperial period is suggested by two inscriptions, both dated to the first century A.D. on the basis of the style of the script. The first is a statue base honoring one Papylos, who was agonothetes of the "contests of the Augusti" (ay Veqv EspaoTiv).39 The second is an TCOv
36See Golvin 239-42, 319-20, and, e.g., pl. VIII.5 (amphitheater at Lucera). 37In the eastern sector of the Stadium, the original podium is mostly obscured by the Late Antique amphitheater that was built over it. Nevertheless, one can see that the cuttings existed here too. 38There are also holes 0.10 m in diameter at periodic intervals; these were for larger wooden posts used to an-
chor the net system tightly. The drawing in fig. 12 is by A. Leung and was based on a reconstruction drawing of the podium of the theater at Stobi by EP.Hemans III (E.R. Gebhard, "ProtectiveDevices in Roman Theaters,"in D. Mano-Zissi and J. Wiseman eds., StobiII [Beograd 1975] fig. 4). 39Roueche 161-62, no. 48.
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WELCH
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Fig. 11. Stadium. Top of podium (wedge 39) with cuttings for ropes. View from above.
Fig. 12. Reconstruction of the podium of the stadium with wooden post and net system, 2.5 m in height. (A. Leung)
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inscription of afamilia of gladiators and condemned criminals (lovoidXol, KataGiKol) belonging to one Ti. Claudius Paulinus, a high priest of the imperial cult.41 Since the orchestra of the Theater at Aphrodisias was apparently not converted for gladiatorial games until the mid-second century,41 Paulinus's gladiators of the first century would have performed somewhere else: most likely in the sphendone of the Stadium, where boxers and pankratiasts generally performed. Apart from gladiatorial games, the oblong shape of the Stadium at Aphrodisias made it a natural venue for wild beast shows. At Aphrodisias there is both epigraphical and sculptural evidence for such venationes.42 An inscription (dated on prosopographical grounds to the late first/early second century A.D.) reads: "Of Zeno Hypsikles, son of Hypsikles the natural son of Zeno, high-priest, the familia of single combatants, convicts and bull-catchers."43 Bull-catching (which involved pursuing the bulls on horseback and then mounting them) would seem to be out of the question in the Theater, whose orchestra, even when converted for gladiatorial shows, was still only 25 m wide. Again, the stadium is the most likely venue for such events. In addition to gladiatorial games and venationes, there is epigraphical evidence that damnatio ad bestias took place at Aphrodisias. Two of the inscriptions mentioned above attest to katadikoi (condemned people) as part of familiae owned by priests of the imperial cult.44 One of the inscriptions is dated on the basis of letterforms to the first century and the other on prosopographical grounds to the early sec-
ond century. It is safe to say that both date well before the mid-third century when Aphrodisias was made provincial capital and became subject to the jurisdiction of a Roman governor. This suggests that damnatio ad bestias was being practiced as part of the imperial cult festival in Aphrodisias before there was any question of direction or suggestion from Roman authorities.45 Public executions at Aphrodisias, when they occurred, may have been held in the Stadium; Christian martyrologies indicate that stadia functioned as a venue of public executions in the Greek East.46 At Aphrodisias, then, the Stadium seems to have been a main venue for gladiatorial and wild beast shows until the orchestra of the Theater was converted in the Antonine period. Wild beast contests (especially large-scale ones) probably continued to be held in the Stadium even after the Theater's conversion,47 since the Stadium's oblong shape was well suited to such contests. A striking conclusion to emerge from this survey of the evidence for the imperial cult festival at Aphrodisias is that the Stadium was regularly used for Roman spectacles for nearly a century before the Theater was converted, and for centuries before a permanent amphitheater was built into its east end in Late Antiquity (a feature of the building discussed below).48
SEATING ARRANGEMENTS
The seats of the Stadium have inscriptions on them that reserve space in the building for particular groups and individuals. They are thus an important source of information about the composition of the
40Robert 170, 318-19, no. 157; Roueche 62, no. 13, pl. VIII.13. 41 The Theater'sorchestraseems to have been converted during the reign of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 139-161) by Ti. Claudius Zelos, high priest of the imperial cult; seeJ. Reynolds, "EpigraphicEvidence for the Construction of the Theatre,"in Smith and Erim (supra n. 18) 19; also Golvin 237-46. It is conceivable that the orchestra of the Theater was used for gladiatorial games before it was converted specifically for this purpose. However, the smaller performance space (an orchestra of less than 20 m in diameter) and the difficulty of protecting the spectators would probably have made it a less desirable venue for violent spectacles. 42Roueche nos. 14 and 15 (inscriptions commemorating familiae including gladiators, wild beast fighters, and condemned criminals);nos. 40 and 41 (pl. XI: reliefs showing venationes); no. 44 (epitaph of bull-rearer). (p6ot Zijvvoq 'YWVIKto uq &apxtsepcq !ovok6tXov Kai
KaTasiKoV Kai TaupoKa[0a7zTCv....
44Roueche 62-63, nos. 13 and 14. 45The other instances of damnatio ad bestias attested by inscriptions took place in cities that did not have such free status:Aprus,Thessalonica,Amastris,Smyrna,Kibyra, Ephesos, Miletos, Hierapolis; see Robert 58-59, 320-21, and L. Robert, HellenicaVII (Paris 1949) 141-47. 46Polycarp (in the second century) and Pionius (in the third century) were both burned alive in the stadium at (Washington,D.C. 1994) 114-15. 47 Some epigraphical support for this supposition is provided by two inscriptions on the seats of the Stadium possibly to be restored as pItoKUViy(ov ("loverof venationes"),one in wedge 20 at the east end of the Stadium in the areaof the LateAntiqueamphitheater, and one closer to the middle of the building in wedge 12; see Rouech6 80, 85, 88; Robert 323. The inscriptions on the seats of the stadium are difficult to date, but it is safe to suppose that the bulk of them come from the High Imperial or Late Antique periods.
48
Smyrna; see L. Robert, Le martyrede Pionios pretre de Smyrne
43 1acltXia Zijvov[o(] TOO TOO 'YWtK:.ou4 TO 6'YW1KX,OUS Robert 170, no. 157;
Infra 565-69.
Roueche 63, no. 14.
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stadium-attending populace and social stratification at Aphrodisias. Many of the inscriptions are now quite worn and only visible early in the morning when they are illuminated by raking light. Because of the increase in tourism at Aphrodisias in recent years, many of the inscriptions are now in danger of being effaced entirely. Our state plan is intended in part to capture a permanent graphic record of these inscriptions, the epigraphical character of which can help to determine the relative chronology of the different types of inscriptions and to clarify aspects of the sociology of seating distribution at Aphrodisias, such as the degree to which seating reservations were casual or official. The best preserved of these inscriptions were studied and published by Charlotte Roueche in 1993.49 Since then more inscriptions have been found. Some of the texts are private graffiti such as game boards and pictures (e.g., an animal confronting a net in wedge 1, row 25, as noticed by Roueche; see fig. 3). Some suggest official allocation of seats, such as those spread out over a whole row reserving it for an official body: for example, a syntechnia(guild) of Gardeners in wedge 28. More ephemeral, probably, were the seating reservations for individuals (e.g., "Place of Stratonikos"). Some, however, give more information, such as "Place of Apollonios the Sculptor" (wedge 15) and "Place of Attalos the Senator" (wedge 29). There are also references to delegations from other cities: for example, the citizens of Antioch on the Meander (wedge 28), and probably Kibyra (wedge 27) and Miletos (wedge 10). The majority of the attested groups, however, are local: Goldworkers (wedge 23), Tanners (wedge 10), and Sacred Ephebes and neoi (wedge 32).50 Some preliminary conclusions may be drawn from the inscriptions published by Roueche. The best wedges of seats were those halfway down the long axis of the building where the tribunal seats were located (wedges 11 and 31) and where the spectators had the best view of the footraces. This is the sector of the building in which the most important people, including priests, archons, and the agonothetes (contest presidents andjudges), had their seats. In wedge 11 on the north side of the Stadium are a number of inscriptions attesting to seats for oikonomoi (see
plan of this wedge, fig. 4), city officials charged with the administration of public money to pay for public contests and to arrange for sacrifices.51 As the oikonomoi were in charge of civic funds, their prominence in the cavea of the Stadium may be connected with the use of this building for the agones (contests) associated with the publicly funded festival of Aphrodite. Also conspicuously seated were a group of sacred oikonomoi and sacred ephebes in wedge 32 (the wedge just east of the wedge with the tribunal seat, on the south side of the building). In the wedges surrounding those with the judges' boxes were seated visiting dignitaries from other cities, some of whom had better seats than others. Visitors from Miletos were seated prominently in the wedge next to that of the oikonomoi, while the more local Antiocheans (Antioch on the Meander, modern Ba?aran) and people from Mastaura (near modern Nazilli) were seated further down the length of the building. While spectators do seem to have been seated by guild in the Stadium, there is no clear evidence that the populace was seated by tribe in this building, as they probably were in the Theater.52 This is probably because the Theater was regularly used for meetings of the demos while the Stadium was not. In addition, the Theater had a seating capacity of about 8,000, whereas the Stadium could seat up to 30,000. There may have been more concern that seating be regulated in the Theater than in the Stadium, which had more than enough space for the inhabitants of Aphrodisias as well as its neighboring communities. The presence of women's names on some of the seats is significant. Two women (Ignatia and Hypsikleis) were seated in the prestigious part of the stadium where the judges sat (wedge 11), but at the back of the cavea as was usual for women's seats (see fig. 4).53 In the adjoining wedge 12, another woman's name-Klaudia at the back of Seleukeia-appears the seating. In the Greek world women had never been allowed to attend athletic games, while in the West women were banned from attending athletic festivals from the time of Augustus (Suet. Aug. 44.3; Nero 12.4).54 It may be suggested that the presence of women's names in the Stadium at Aphrodisias is connected with the Stadium's use as a venue for Roman spectacles during the yearly imperial cult fesGeschichte der Stadt Hierapolis in Phrygien:Die Phyleninschriften im Theater,"ZPE 15 (1974) 255-70.
50 Roueche 84-99.
51 RE
49Roueche 119-28. See also E. Rawson,"DiscriminaOrdinum: The Lex Julia Theatralis,"BSR 55 (1987) 83-114; J. Kolendo, "Larepartition des places aux spectacles et la stratification sociale dans l'Empireromain," Ktema 6 (1981) 301-15; D.B.Small, "SocialCorrelations to the Greek Cavea in the Roman Period,"in S. Macreadyand EH. Thompin theGreek son eds., Roman Architecture World (London 1987) 85-93; E Kolb,"Sitzstufeninschriftenaus dem Stadion von Saittai (Lydia)," EpigAnat15 (1990) 107-19; and Kolb,"Zur
17 (1937) 2118-19, s.v.Oikonomos (E. Ziebarth); Magie (supra n. 26) 61. 52Roueche 44-47, 121-23. 53Rawson (supra n. 49) 83-114, esp. 89-90. 54The evidence for women having been excluded from athletic festivals is fully presented in Welch (supra n. 35).
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tival. In an unpublished inscription of the third century from Aphrodisias, there is a record of one Klaudia Seleukeia Tibereina, who was High Priestess of Asia (priestess of the imperial cult festival in the province of Asia).55 The family of a woman who served as High Priestess of Asia is likely to have maintained the same troupes of gladiators and wild beast fighters that performed in the Stadium. If this Klaudia Seleukeia is the same woman, or a relative of the woman, whose seating inscription appears in the stadium (the name is not a common one at Aphrodisias), her prominent seat in the building may be connected with its use for the games of the imperial cult.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STADIUM-AMPHITHEATER FORM
It should be emphasized that in terms of function the Stadium at Aphrodisias was probably no different from other stadia of the Roman period: it was the venue for both Greek and Roman spectacles. In terms of architectural form, however, it was unusual. We may now ask if the uncommon architectural form of the Stadium at Aphrodisias had any broader cultural significance. As stated above, most Romanperiod stadia are U-shaped in plan with one straight end and one curved end. The Stadium at Aphrodisias, which has two sphendonai, is part of a small group of stadia that have the same plan as well as a similar construction technique. Two of these stadia are situated quite close to each other (Aphrodisias and Laodikeia) and the third is in northwestern Greece, at Nikopolis. This unusual type of stadium seems to have had its own particular name: inscriptions from Laodikeia refer to the stadium there as rT oardlov at(plt0aTpov ("the amphitheatral stadium").56 The stadia at Laodikeia and Nikopolis are buried and overgrown to the extent that one cannot study them in great detail. But in certain respects, it is clear that they resembled the Stadium at Aphrodisias. They are approximately the same size (ca. 270 m in length) and they have two sphendonai as well as a pronounced swelling in plan that gives them the visually dynamic effect of an ellipse. They have a similar construction technique (monumental 55Inscription: Aphrodisias inv. no. 77.124. High priesthood of Asia: SJ. Friesen, Twice Neokoros: Asia,and Ephesos, theCultof theFlavianImperial (Leiden 1993) 76-113; Family M.D. Campanile, I sacerdoti del koinond'Asia(I sec. a.C.-III sec. d.C.)(Pisa 1994); S. Sahin, Die Inschriften von Arykanda 7 (Bonn 1994); P. Herz, "Asiarchenund Archierai,"Tyche (1992) 93-115; also L. Robert, OperaminoraselectaVI, 38; C.P.Jones and R.R.R.Smith, "TwoInscribed Monuments of Aphrodisias,"AA 1994, 468.
facade only at the short ends, earthen embankments on the long sides), a type of construction that is characteristic of amphitheaters of the Late Republican and Early Imperial periods.57 The podia of the stadia at Laodikeia and Nikopolis are buried, but on analogy with the Stadium at Aphrodisias (which is 1.6 m high), they probably also had unusually high podia (most Roman-period stadia have podia of about 1 m in height).58 These architectural features imparted something of the appearance of a Roman amphitheater to a traditionally Greek type of building. That the individuals responsible for building the Stadium at Aphrodisias could have been acquainted firsthand with amphitheater architecture in Italy is suggested by the senatus consultum de Aphrodisiensibusof 39 B.C. in which we hear that "the ambassadors of the ... Aphrodisians should be allowed to sit as spectators in the area reserved for senators at contests and gladiatorial combats, also hunts and competitions of athletes, should any occur in the city of Rome or within one mile of the city of Rome."59The traveling back and forth of these ambassadors during the Late Republic encouraged a free flow of ideas between Rome and the provinces. In the case of the Stadium at Aphrodisias, such exchange manifested itself, one might argue, in the subtle borrowing of the forms of one Roman building type-the amphitheater. The Stadium at Aphrodisias can be seen, then, as a marriage between the standard U-shaped Hellenistic stadium and the oval Roman amphitheater. That this conflation of stadium and amphitheater was the result of considered planning is further suggested by the evidence of other Greek-Roman architectural conflations at Aphrodisias: for example, in the Sebasteion, which in plan is reminiscent of the Forum Iulium in Rome, and in the Theater built by C. Iulius Zoilos (a freedman of Octavian), which combines both a Hellenistic proskenion (raised stage) and a Roman scaenaefrons (a wide, tall back wall with columnar and statuary decoration).60 Other such buildings of Greek-Roman type occur at Ephesos in the Augustan period. The Basilica at Ephesos, for example, is effectively a combination of a Hellenistic stoa (it is elongated, and open on one side) and a Roman basilica (it has two aisles and a nave). The
56IGRRIV, 845 and 861, quoted above (supra n. 13). 57Golvin 32-44, pl. XXII. 58 The podia of true amphitheaters range from 1.7 to 3.5 m in height: Golvin 314-16. 59Reynolds no. 8, lines 76-77. 60N. de Chaisemartinand D. Theodorescu, "Recherches du theatre,"in Smith and preliminaires sur lafronsscaenae Erim (supra n. 18) 29-66.
564
KATHERINE WELCH
[AJA 102
monument of C. Memmius, too, has been seen as a conflation of a Hellenistic mausoleum-style tomb and a Roman triumphal arch.61 Such amalgamations are understandable in cities that had close Roman connections (Ephesos was the provincial capital of Asia). That Aphrodisias chose to build a hybrid stadium-amphitheater probably reflects its close relationship with Rome. The "amphitheatral stadium" was a building that conveyed the suggestion of Roman architectural forms, while allowing Greek cultural identity to remain intact. As argued above, architectural style as well as historical probability suggests that the Stadium at Aphrodisias was built in Early Imperial times. Its conflation of both Greek and Roman architectural forms provides additional support for this Early Imperial dating. The Stadium may well have been part of the monumental building program that was initiated at Aphrodisias by C. Iulius Zoilos and that continued into theJulio-Claudian period. The Stadium, along with the new Temple, Theater, the North and South Agoras, and Sebasteion, would have provided a suitably monumental backdrop for civic life in a town that had come into prominence in the triumviral period due to Roman patronage. Where might this "amphitheatral stadium" type have originated? Aphrodisias has the best preserved such stadium, but it was perhaps Nikopolis that witnessed the creation of this new architectural type.
First, the stadium at Nikopolis was built for the prestigious Actian Games, instituted by Augustus.62 Second, Nikopolis was a city that was unusual in being a genuine Greek-Roman hybrid.63 The city was founded by Augustus in commemoration of his victory over Antony and Cleopatra in 31 B.C., and its population, drawn from surrounding towns in Epiros and from the veterans of Octavian's army, comprised roughly equal numbers of Greeks and Romans. It seems fitting that this novel, stadium-amphitheater type should have been created for Nikopolis, a city whose populace had both Greek and Roman cultural agendas. It is possible, then, that the stadium at Nikopolis, with its associations with Octavian's imperial victories, provided architectural inspiration for Aphrodisias's stadium, where associations with imperial victory will certainly have been welcome.64 Taken together, these facts allow us to hypothesize a scenario for the conception and diffusion of the "amphitheatral stadium" building type: it was created for Nikopolis in the late first century B.C./early first century A.D., was then taken up in the Early Imperial period at Aphrodisias (like Nikopolis, a Greek city with strong connections to Rome), and was subsequently adopted in the Flavian period at a city near Aphrodisias: Laodikeia.65 While this exact scenario cannot be proven, one can say with confidence that there are only a few known examples of stadia of this particular type, and two of the three of them
61 W.
1974) 16-20, fig. 2 (Memmius Monument), 26-37, fig. 17 (Basilica);also U. Outschar,"ZumMonument des C. Memmius,"OJh 60 (1990) 57-85; A. Bammer et al., Das Monu62That the stadium at Nikopolis was conceived and planned in Rome,ratherthan locally in Greece,is suggested by its construction technique. It is made of concrete faced with a type of brickwork (opustestaceum) that is typical of Early Imperial Rome, but unparalleled in other buildings at Nikopolis and anywhere else in Greece, as far as I am aware. The bricks are uniform in size and are set into a fine concrete matrixwith tight interstices. The appearance of the brickwork is comparableto that of the Tiberian phase of the CastraPraetoriain Rome, the earliest securely dated Roman building constructedentirelyin brick:seeJ.B.Wardfig. 18. This would seem to indicate that the work crews responsiblefor the constructionof the stadium at Nikopolis had come from Rome and in turn suggests imperial involvement in the building's construction. 63 N. Purcell, "The Nicopolitan Synoecism and Roman Urban Policy,"in Chrysos (supra n. 11) 71-90. 64Imperial victory began to be commemorated at Aphrodisias in the triumviralperiod, when a statue of Victory was set up by a prominent citizen of Aphrodisias who was ambassador to the authorities in Rome and a priest of Roma. Its inscription (fragments of which were found reused in a field wall north of the Stadium) reads:"I,VicPerkins, RomanImperialArchitecture (New Haven 1981) 46-48, ment des C. Memmius (Ephesos VII, Vienna 1971).
Alzinger, AugusteischeArchitekturin Ephesos (Vienna
" tory,am alwayswith Caesar,of divine descent.. (the stimulus for the Victory monument may have been Caesar's victory at Pharsalus in 48 B.C. or Octavian's at Actium): Reynolds nos. 28-32. The theme of imperial victory occurs also in the scaenae frons of the Theater at Aphrodisias (dedicatedin 28 B.C.), whichwasdecoratedwith three, or perhaps four, pairs of acroterial Victories. The largest pair of these statues,which stood in the Ionic second story, each carried trophies, indicating that the statues alluded to military victory (probably those of Octavian-Augustus); see R.R.R.Smith, "Sculpturefrom the Theatre: A Preliminary Report,"in Smith and Erim (supra n. 18) 74-79. The reliefs of the Sebasteion, which isJulio-Claudian in date, contain a similar profusion of Nike figures: K.T.Erim, "R6centesdecouvertes a Aphrodisias en Carie, 1979-80," RA 1982, 166 fig. 8; and Erim 1986 (supra n. 3) fig. 159a; Smith, "The Imperial Reliefs from the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias,"JRS77 (1987) 98. 65Laodikeia'sconnections to Rome were also considerable. In the firstcentury there were Romans living at Laodikeia: see des Gagniers et al. (supra n. 10) 265-66, 325-26; the city had been the seat of a conventus in the time of Cicero, who watched a gladiatorial show there in 50 B.C. (Att. 5.21.9,6.3.9);and M. Antonius had awarded Roman citizenship to many Laodiceans in the 40s, after the city resistedLabienus(hence the prominence of names at Laodikeia beginning with "M.Antonius"): see A.H.M.Jones,The n. 53; Magie (supra n. 26) 986-87, n. 23.
Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces (Oxford 1937) 63-64,
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565
Fig. 13. Late Antique amphitheater at the east end of the Stadium. View from the southwest. (Nikopolis and Laodikeia) date from the Augustan and Flavian eras, respectively. This would suggest that this type of building was a short-lived architectural experiment, specific to a time of shifting selfdefinitions in the Early Imperial period.66 The "amphitheatral stadium" is best seen as the result of a specific set of cultural circumstances of the early Empire, an architecturally dynamic period when Greece was first adapting to Roman rule.
THE APHRODISIAS STADIUM IN LATE ANTIQUITY
In Late Antiquity the west, north, and part of the east sides of the Stadium were enveloped by the northern circuit of the Late Antique (mid-fourth century) fortification walls (fig. 2).67 The construction of the north face of this city wall involved a considerable engineering effort as it necessitated cutting Compare another spectator building of this era (built by Juba II at Caesarea in Mauretania) that has architectural elements of both the amphitheater and the stadium: it is 100 m long and has two curved ends like an amphitheater, but it has straight long sides like a stadium): Golvin 112-14, pl. XXVII. 67Date of the city wall: Roueche (supra n. 28) 35-45. 68The subject of conversion of stadia into amphitheaters has not yet been studied. It is cursorily mentioned, for example, in a recent article on the architecture of Roman stadia by Aupert 1994 (supran. 5) 102. Since few stadia in Asia Minor are exposed down to the track level, it is difficult to know how widespread the phenomenon of conversion of stadia was in the Greek East (for example, the Hellenistic stadia at Miletos and Priene, and the Roman
66
back the massive earthen embankment that supported the cavea on the north side of the Stadium. The western entrance tunnel in wedge 1 was blocked, while the eastern tunnel in wedge 21 was left open, presumably so that it could be used as a fortified gateway. In addition, at some point in Late Antiquity the eastern sphendone of the Stadium was converted into a small oval amphitheater (fig. 13). Other Roman stadia have small amphitheaters at one end, but the Aphrodisian example is unusually well preserved and its chronology is better understood than that of any of the other examples, making it an excellent candidate for an investigation of this important feature of stadium architecture in the Late Antique period.68 The amphitheater was created by building a semicircular wall (fig. 2: N) that connected the two sides stadium at Aizanoiwere not converted into amphitheaters). On the Greek mainland it was apparently quite rare (Athens being the only known example). For the known conversions (Athens, Laodikeia, Aspendos, Perge, Ephesos), see Gasparri (supra n. 5) 335, fig. 12; Travlos498, fig. 632; Society of the Dilettanti (supra n. 10) 31-32; R. Pococke, oflonia II (London 1797) 72, pl. XLVIIIand 104; Antiquities Laborde (supra n. 1) 97; Texier (supra n. 1) 164;J. Keil, (Vienna 1955)50-52. As suggested by Crema (supra Ephesus of stadia into amphitheaters n. 3) 244, such transformations may have been the inspiration for the elliptical enclosure (probably a decorative fishpond) built into the south end of the "gardenhippodrome"of the Flavianpalace in Rome in the fifth century.
566
KATHERINE WELCH
[AJA 102
Fig. 14. Detail of niche in the podium of the Late Antique amphitheater. Cuttings for ropes are visible at left. of the auditorium, creating a roughly oval space. This wall is made of rubble, spolia, and mortar, and it has a door (made of reused cornice blocks) at its center that is 4 m wide (the door was designed so that its width was the same as the barrel-vaulted entrance into the Stadium in wedge 21, on the opposite side to the east). A new podium 1.80 m in height was added in front of the lowest row of seats of the Stadium and at least three square niches or "refuges" (made of reused stadium seats) were included in the podium along the north edge of the arena (figs. 2: O and 14). In addition, the crowning blocks of the Late Antique podium exhibit a series of cuttings for ropes (fig. 14). The cuttings were for tension ropes, which were used to support nets that protected the spectators. They are practically identical in form to the earlier cuttings found in the crowning molding of the Stadium itself, discussed above, except that they are not as regularly spaced. Taken together, the high podium, the "refuges,"and the cuttings for ropes in the podium of this Late Antique structure indicate that Roman arena spectacles were held here. There is also a barrel-vaulted tunnel (fig. 2: P), which was cut through the cavea under the seating, that gave access (for arena personnel and combatants, not for spectators) to the arena of the amphitheater from the city side of the Stadium to the south. Finally, there is a curtain wall of arcaded recesses (fig. 2: Q) built in straight sections at the summacavea level of the Stadium along the line of the city wall (figs. 13, 15). The date of the amphitheater built into the Stadium at Aphrodisias may be reconstructed from several pieces of evidence. First, the arcade and the masonry used for the amphitheater are built of the same type of rubble and coarse mortar matrix (a more haphazard type of construction than that used for the city wall, which consists in its outer face of reused marble blocks). Second, the portico of arcaded recesses at the summa cavea of the Stadium exists only where the amphitheater exists, that is, only at the east end of the building. Just to the west of the amphitheater the arcaded portico ends (at wedge 16) and the regular city wall construction begins to the west. These observations make it likely that the arcaded portico was constructed together with the amphitheater. Moreover, one can discern a horizontal seam in the construction of the north face of the city wall just at the point where this wall with blind arcades on its inner face begins to rise (fig. 16), indicating that it and the associated amphitheater were constructed after the city wall was built, after the mid-fourth century A.D. The purpose of this arcaded portico was to provide a monumental backdrop for the amphitheater. Its stylized architecture was a distant reflection of the columnar porticoes that crowned the caveas of the great amphitheaters of the High Empire, such as the Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum) in Rome. The insertion in Late Antiquity of an amphitheater into the eastern sphendone of the Stadium has important cultural implications. Since the new struc-
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Fig. 15. Late Antique portico of arcaded recesses at the top of the Stadium. View from the southeast. ture obliterated the starting lines at the eastern end of the Stadium and shortened the 600-ft long dromos by approximately 70 ft (20 m), such an architectural change was only possible at a time when athletic festivals had declined. It is difficult to determine exactly when athletic festivals ceased at Aphrodisias; the latest securely datable evidence for athletic festivals at Aphrodisias comes from the reigns of Gordian and Valerian in the mid-third century A.D.: several new athletic festivals were introduced when Aphrodisias became capital of the newly created province of Caria-Phrygia. It is uncertain, however, how long these festivals continued to be held.69 The date of the Late Antique amphitheater in the Stadium at Aphrodisias can give us some notion of when these particular festivals ended, however. Since the amphitheater dates to the mid-fourth century or later, this suggests that by the mid-fourth century, athletic
Fig. 16. City wall at the east end of the Stadium (wedge 20). View from the northeast.
69 Indeed, the chronology of the decline of athletic festivals in different parts of the Greek world in general is not well understood because of a scarcity of evidence. Festivals seem to have continued longer in the East than they
did on the Greek mainland. For example, the original Olympic festival at Elis was abolished in A.D. 392 but the Olympia at Antioch in Syria continued until its abolition by Justinian in A.D. 521 (Cedrenus 323D; Malalas 417).
568 festivals-which
KATHERINE WELCH
[AJA 102
for centuries had been such an important component of civic and cult life at Aphrodisias-were probably in decline. A terminus ante quem for the Late Antique amphitheater is suggested by inscriptions mentioning circus factions (blues and greens) on its seats.71 Such inscriptions do not signify that chariot-racing took place in the Stadium; they are instead related to a major expansion of the activities of the circus factions that took place during the later fifth century when they extended their responsibilities to include not only chariot-racing but the provision of all other forms of entertainment (athletics, plays, and venationes).71 By the time that these inscriptions were incised onto the seats of the Stadium (end of the fifth century or early sixth century), the amphitheater had already been built. I suggest, then, a terminus ante quem of the early sixth century for this structure.72 That the surviving inscriptions attesting to blues and greens occur only at the east end of the Stadium and not elsewhere in the building suggests that by the early sixth century only the east end of the Stadium, where the amphitheater was located, was being used. This by extension suggests that the running track of the Stadium was no longer in use and that athletic contests, even of a vestigial sort, had ceased altogether. It is commonly supposed that amphitheaters such as the one at Aphrodisias were built into stadia for the purpose of staging gladiatorial shows.73 While it is true that in Rome there is considerable evidence for gladiatorial games continuing into the fifth century,74outside of Rome gladiatorial combats are not mentioned in the literary sources after the reign of Arcadius (A.D. 383-408)- a combination of expense and Christian disapproval seems to have been responsible for their disappearance. A useful indicator of
the prevalence of gladiatorial games in the Greek East in Late Antique times is the work of Libanius, who frequently mentions venationes in the provincial capital of Antioch, but mentions gladiators only once in a description of his youthful activities of A.D. 330.75 On the basis of this evidence, it is safe to suppose that in the Greek East gladiatorial contests had become rare by the mid- to later fourth century. This in turn suggests that the amphitheater in the Stadium, which dates to sometime after the mid-fourth century, was constructed not for gladiatorial games (as is popularly thought), but for venationes. This fact has relevance for the issue of the decline of venationes. In A.D. 498 Anastasius passed an edict suppressing wild beast shows in all cities of the Greek East.76 Consular diptychs and literary sources, however, indicate that at least in Rome and Constantinople venationes continued until the early sixth century. The chronology of the amphitheater in the Stadium at Aphrodisias and the presence of inscriptions attesting to factions on its seats suggest that venationes flourished well into the sixth century (after the official ban)-not only at Constantinople and at Rome, but at the provincial level as well. Finally, it may be suggested that the insertion of an amphitheater into the east end of the Stadium was simply a way of making permanent an arrangement for wild beast shows that during past centuries, because of the importance of athletic festivals (which required the whole dromos), had to have been temporary. Building a permanent stone amphitheater became desirable in Late Antique times because it was less expensive than putting on animal shows in a temporary venue whose barriers and nets had to be constructed anew every year. True amphitheaters (oval in shape, and a quintessentially Roman archi-
these, see Rouech6 86-87. first definite evidence that factions were responsible for entertainments other than chariot-racingis a reference to pantomime dancers of the four colors at Constantinople in 490 (Procop. Bell. Pers.24.2); see Roueche
71 The
70 For
129-40; and A. Cameron, Circus Factions: Blues and Greens
at Romeand Byzantium (Oxford 1976), who argues that the change was a state-sponsored consolidation of responsibility for entertainments. 72 The seventh-century date suggested for the amphitheater by Erim 1986 (supran. 3) 69 is too late. The archaeological and inscriptional records indicate that civic life at Aphrodisiaswasrelativelyimpoverishedby the mid-sixth century A.D. (Roueche [supra n. 28] xxv-xxvii). 73Aupert 1994 (supra n. 5) 102; Sommella (supra n. 5). It has also been suggested that the amphitheatersbuilt into stadia were the venue for the execution of Christians as
Die Kontorniat-Medallions (Berlin 1976) 204; G. Ville, "Les
part of the imperial cult festival:Robert (supra n. 46) 115. This is unlikely since the killing of Christians ceased under Constantine, long before such amphitheaters began to be built into stadia in the Greek East, as the Aphrodisian evidence now suggests. 74The latest evidence for gladiatorial shows is a contorniate ofValentian III of the mid-fifthcentury.See A. Alfoldi,
jeux de gladiateurs dans l'empire chretien," MEFRA72 (1960) 273-335, esp. 331; and the discussion in Rouech6 76-79. 75Lib. Or. 1.5.
76 The ChronicleofJoshua the Stylite (London 1882) 23; A. (Bonn 1966) Chastagnol, Le senat romainsous le regned'Odoacre 60-62; A. Cameron, Porphyriusthe Charioteer(Oxford 1973)
228-30.
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tectural form) had been very rare in the Greek world throughout the Imperial period, being built only in cities with the strongest Roman connections, such as Roman colonies or provincial capitals.77 The amphitheater finally "arrived" in the Greek world only in Late Antiquity, when stadia in many Greek cities, such as Aphrodisias, were outfitted with permanent oval arenas. The compromising of the Greek dromos that this involved represents the final step in the evolution of Roman spectacles in the Greek world from a foreign practice in the Early Imperial period, to
a Graeco-Roman cultural institution with a status equal to that of athletics in the High Imperial period, and finally to a type of entertainment that supplanted Greek-style athletics altogether in Late Antiquity.
INSTITUTE OF FINE ARTS NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 1 EAST 78TH STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10021 [email protected]
77See K. Welch, "Negotiating Roman Spectacle Architecture in the Greek World: Athens and Corinth,"forthcoming in B. Bergmann and C. Kondoleon eds., TheArt
(Studies in the History of Art, Washingof AncientSpectacle ton, D.C.).

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The Stadium at Aphrodisias Author(s): Katherine Welch Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 102, No. 3 (Jul.

The Stadium at Aphrodisias

A. LEUNG SL URVEYED, L BIER V. DRUGA

DIRAWN, A. LEUNG,199 A.L., 1996 EV., RE

Fig. 2. Plan of the Stadium

[AJA 102 [AJ 102

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS c~4~czQLo

, Df 0 fL.^^^^^^ D - i-q ;^. -W^O^^^: e:,d

Dimensions of the niche: H. 1.60 m, W. 1.0 m, D. 1.20 m.

Fig. 5. Stadium seat with lion's-foot molding, wedge 21

Fig. 6. Wedge 21, with view of the tunnel

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

i-i-:__-::: _:ii -?--,

Fig. 8. Wedges 10 and 11. Niche in podium in wedge 10 at the left.

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

Smyrna; see L. Robert, Le martyrede Pionios pretre de Smyrne

Roueche 63, no. 14.

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

Alzinger, AugusteischeArchitekturin Ephesos (Vienna

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

129-40; and A. Cameron, Circus Factions: Blues and Greens

Die Kontorniat-Medallions (Berlin 1976) 204; G. Ville, "Les

THE STADIUM AT APHRODISIAS

(Studies in the History of Art, Washingof AncientSpectacle ton, D.C.).

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