Theater Stage

View looking northeast at the interior of the theater at Aphrodisias, and beyond that, in the upper center of the image is the "Tetrastoön."  Crossing horizontally the center of the picture is the stage area and behind it, the first of the three levels of the (reconstructed) skene is visible—with Doric columns.

The green semicircle is where the orchestra was located.  Note the high wall ringing it.  The orchestra was remodeled during the reign of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180) and turned into a venue for animal and gladiatorial contests.

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Originally the theater could 10,000 people.  The lower portion of the cavea is preserved.  Note the staircases that the divide the cavea into sections (cunei).

The theater was originally built by Ioulos Zoilos, a slave that was freed by Octavian who became a benefactor of the city— in the first century BC.  An inscription on the stage wall describes this.

Around 1960, the "modern" village of Geyre, which was built on the theater and acropolis, was moved to a different location and the excavation of some 120 ft. of debris was excavated away to reveal the theater.