Aspendos

The second part of our 1/2 day excursion to Perge & Aspendos was, obviously, Aspendos. This was an exuisitely preserved Roman classical theatre. Not an amphitheatre as it is only a half circle, not a full circle. The long straight part of the half circle was where the stage was, under the shadow of many many statues looking down on the actors and the gladitorial action. Our guide told us some terribly shocking news - if the theatre play involved someone being killed throughout the piece, they used to actually kill a slave. I found this very hard to believe but I suppose they used to bait the gladiators until there was only one left standing so it's probably true. But terribly upsetting. The theatre itself was wonderful. So complete. [Although, when they begain excavating it in the '40s, they couldn't find any of the statues: stolen they think by the conquering Christians in the 4 century].

We climbed to the top. Like in Tunisia when we visited El Jem, you are allowed to go where you can reach. No Health & Safety to worry about. The top was where the women sat. The front row at the bottom was reserved for priests and shamen. When animals were fighting each other, they used to put up a removable protective barrier to stop those in the front rows being mauled themselves.

They still hold concerts in Aspendos, although recently they took the decision to make them acoustic concerts only. Archaeologists advised that the vibration from amps and speakers was having a detrimental effect on the structure. So they mainly use the theatre for wrestling (big in Turkey, the real kind, not the Amercian soap opera kind) and ballet performances. The acoustics are amazing so large noises are not required for everyone to achieve a great experience.

The first and last photographs are of the wall where the statues would have stood in the arches there. At the top of the theatre, looking down on all of them, carved in stone, is Dionysus, God of Theatre.