Theatre of Miletus · Wikimedia Commons

Miletus Theatre

Theatrum Milesium

TheaterAsia · Balat, Didim, Aydin, TurkeyBuilt 300 BCE

About

A Hellenistic theatre reborn as one of Roman Asia's biggest stages. Trajan's engineers spent his whole reign rebuilding it to hold 15,000 spectators, triple the old Greek capacity, with a three-story columned stage front. One seat block on the fifth row still carries a four-foot-long inscription reserving that spot for Jews and God-fearers, physical proof of a Jewish community using the building. By 117 CE the vast Roman cavea dominated the skyline above the Theatre Harbor, its long rebuilding essentially complete after two decades of imperial funding.

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

Inscription (theatre seating block), Seat reservation, "Place of the Jews, who are also called God-fearers" 2nd c. CE
One row of theatre seats carries a carved label reserving that block for the local Jewish community - direct evidence of who sat where in Roman Miletus.