Access

You are not currently logged in.

Access your personal account or get JSTOR access through your library or other institution:

login

Log in to your personal account or through your institution.

If You Use a Screen Reader

This content is available through Read Online (Free) program, which relies on page scans. Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.

The Roman Theater at Carthage

Karen E. Ros
American Journal of Archaeology
Vol. 100, No. 3 (Jul., 1996), pp. 449-489
DOI: 10.2307/507025
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/507025
Page Count: 41
  • Read Online (Free)
  • Download ($12.00)
  • Subscribe ($19.50)
  • Cite this Item
Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.
The Roman Theater at Carthage
Preview not available

Abstract

Even when it was discovered in 1904, the Carthage theater was not well preserved; nor has time dealt kindly with the exposed remains. In spite of two excavations, many aspects of the building's plan, elevation, and history have remained unclear. This article draws on a variety of evidence, including the preserved remains, plans from both excavations, early photographs, comparisons with other theaters, and Vitruvius's rules for theater planning. The results include an improved understanding of the theater's substructures, a restored plan of the building, and the identification of a number of the marble architectural elements from the colonnades of the scaenae frons. The evidence suggests a date for the construction of the extant theater around the middle of the second century A. D. For a theater of this date, its plan is surprisingly Vitruvian. This fact, together with a variety of other indirect evidence, suggests that Carthage might have possessed a theater as early as the time of Augustus. The stage of the extant theater was richly decorated with sculpture. It is here proposed that the colossal statues of Apollo and Hercules, which stood above two of the three doors of the scaenae frons, were erected in connection with the instigation of the Pythian Games at Carthage in the early third century A. D.

Page Thumbnails

  • Thumbnail: Page 
449
    449
  • Thumbnail: Page 
450
    450
  • Thumbnail: Page 
451
    451
  • Thumbnail: Page 
452
    452
  • Thumbnail: Page 
453
    453
  • Thumbnail: Page 
454
    454
  • Thumbnail: Page 
455
    455
  • Thumbnail: Page 
456
    456
  • Thumbnail: Page 
457
    457
  • Thumbnail: Page 
458
    458
  • Thumbnail: Page 
459
    459
  • Thumbnail: Page 
460
    460
  • Thumbnail: Page 
461
    461
  • Thumbnail: Page 
462
    462
  • Thumbnail: Page 
463
    463
  • Thumbnail: Page 
464
    464
  • Thumbnail: Page 
465
    465
  • Thumbnail: Page 
466
    466
  • Thumbnail: Page 
467
    467
  • Thumbnail: Page 
468
    468
  • Thumbnail: Page 
469
    469
  • Thumbnail: Page 
470
    470
  • Thumbnail: Page 
471
    471
  • Thumbnail: Page 
472
    472
  • Thumbnail: Page 
473
    473
  • Thumbnail: Page 
474
    474
  • Thumbnail: Page 
475
    475
  • Thumbnail: Page 
476
    476
  • Thumbnail: Page 
477
    477
  • Thumbnail: Page 
478
    478
  • Thumbnail: Page 
479
    479
  • Thumbnail: Page 
480
    480
  • Thumbnail: Page 
481
    481
  • Thumbnail: Page 
482
    482
  • Thumbnail: Page 
483
    483
  • Thumbnail: Page 
484
    484
  • Thumbnail: Page 
485
    485
  • Thumbnail: Page 
486
    486
  • Thumbnail: Page 
487
    487
  • Thumbnail: Page 
488
    488
  • Thumbnail: Page 
489
    489