Ksanthos Theatre

Xanthos Theater was built in the 2nd century BC, between 150-125. Although the cavea of the Hellenistic Theater has a capacity of approximately 2500 people, the stage building has a single storey, not adjacent to the cavea, and a dor-ordered prosken. This first Theater structure was demolished in AD 141 and then a new theater was built in its place in the Early Antonine Period. The newly built Roman Imperial Period Theater; It has three different phases: Early Antonines, Severuses and Late Severuses. In the Early Antonine Period, the cavea and the stage building were positioned independently from each other, as in the Hellenistic Period. The new cavea has a capacity of approximately 4500 people with its very wide and full circle form with the support vaults added to both east and west. The vomitorium sections at both the east and west points reaching the diazoma were added to the structure during this period. The cavea of the old Hellenistic cavea was curved eastward when the agora direction was aligned, while the new cavea built in this period was built almost completely parallel to the agora in a semi-circle form. Although the stage building is not exactly parallel to the early building, it is positioned less at an angle. The building is arranged in two floors in the Corinthian order. During the Severan Period, quite important changes were made in the structure. However, the changes made during this period can be followed in two different phases as Early and Late Severus Periods. While some repair work was done only on the stage building of the building in the Early Severus Period, paraskene sections were added to the stage building in the Late Severus Period, and the cavea was combined with these sections by placing cradles and oblique vaults on the parodos in both directions. Thus, the capacity was increased by placing rows of seats on these vaults. In this way, the total capacity of the building was increased to 4650 people. In addition, the building became a single whole for the first time since the cavea and the skene were combined organically. Probably at the end of the 3rd century AD or the beginning of the 4th century, the last major change in the structure was made and the building was turned into an arena. During this period, when the front six rows of the caveas of the building were dismantled and reduced, the capacity of the building decreased to 2826 people. Ceramic findings uncovered from the top of the orchestra show that the last use of the building, apart from theatrical activities, was the 6th century AD. Keywords: Xanthos, Theatre, Hellenistic, Roman