Journal of Architecture and Planning (transactions of Aij) | 2019
THE HELLENISTIC SCENE BUILDING OF THE THEATRE AT MESSENE: Consideration of its original form and Roman reused blocks
Abstract
Much has been written about Greek Hellenistic theatres, and previous investigations of the most well-preserved Hellenistic theatres, such as those found in Priene1) and Epidauros2), have provided us with basic knowledge on Hellenistic theatre construction, especially on their stone scene buildings, which normally consisted of a high raised stage (proskenion/logeion) and a two-storied scene buildings (skene)3). In contrast, there is limited information on other Greek theatre forms in the east because of later period rebuilding, primarily dismantling and reforming during the time of the Roman imperial period. At that time, most Hellenistic scene building had been transformed from their original Greek traditional style to re�ect the Roman contemporary style. However, thanks to the recent excavations, new information on Hellenistic scene buildings regarding the theatres at Aigeira4), Eretria5), Delos6), and Apollonia7) has become available to scholars. As a result, attention is now being focused on the architectural context of the Hellenistic scene buildings8), with scholars paying particular attention to the dismantling and the rebuilding of the scene building9). In the case of the Hellenistic scene building at the Messene Theatre, it is particularly noteworthy that the majority of the foundation of the Roman scene building was constructed by reusing blocks from the previous building10). Based on our recent survey of 2016, these reused blocks appear to have been extracted, modi�ed, and incorporated into the new structure in a systematic manner. In this context, the present paper aims to report our recent observations of the original Hellenistic scene building, and to estimate its original form by considering the reused material with related Hellenistic scene buildings11). It should be noted that the present article has been partly appeared in the previous report*1).