Carved detail, North Theatre, Jerash · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

Odeum Gerasae

North Theatre

TheaterArabia Petraea · Jerash, JordanBuilt 135 CE

Not standing in 117 CE

About

Gerasa's council met here from about 135 CE in a roofed chamber whose lower seats carry Greek inscriptions naming the city's voting tribes. Builders converted it into an odeon for music and recitation in 165 CE, then enlarged it again in 235. Every phase, the original council house included, postdates the 117 CE snapshot. Carved theatrical masks and acanthus from the collapsed stage wall still litter the orchestra floor.

What happened here

Seating is the message: the front rows are reserved by law for the town council, and everyone can see who is sitting where. The building is a half-circle against a tall stone backdrop that also serves as a permanent set, and the acoustics are good enough that an actor can be heard without effort. The programme is mime and pantomime more than the old tragedies — bawdy, topical, sometimes politically sharp enough that performers get exiled. Audiences are loud, partisan, and quite prepared to shout a piece down. Awnings and perfumed water sprays are laid on when the sponsor is generous. Shows are attached to religious festivals and paid for by a magistrate who wants the credit, and his name is on the seating.

In ancient writing

Anonymous, Greek architrave inscription of the North Theatre, Gerasa late second century CE
Names the building an odeon and ran along the stage front.