Milos Camping in Evia

OUR CIVILIZATION

Eretria has a history of thousands of years.

 

The theater is the most impressive of the monuments of ancient Eretria. Located in the western sector of the city, between the west gate of the stadium and the upper school, while in the southwestern tip revealed the temple of Dionysus. This is one of the oldest known sites of its kind. According to indications given by the architectural remains of the stage, should be constructed early in the 5th century BC, after the Persian destruction and rebuilding of the city, while the period of greatest prosperity was the fourth century BC It is noteworthy that the auditorium was not capitalized on its natural slopes of the acropolis, but built on an artificial hill and filling many retaining walls. In the first phase construction of the building was the scene looked like a palace, had five consecutive rectangular rooms and was flush with the circular orchestra, which communicated with three entrances. In the heyday of the 4th century. BC, the theater underwent alterations and was largely in the form we see today. The auditorium had eleven rows, separated by ten scales, leading to the upper part. The circular band moved north of 8 m and 3 m deep was constructed from earlier. The scene reinforced, had two wings and a portico with Ionic facade that connected, however, was now at a higher level than the orchestra. This height difference was covered by creating a vaulted underground gallery which led from the scene in the center of the orchestra, and probably was "charoneia scale;, serving an appearance in the orchestra of the gods of the underworld and the dead in the performances. For the construction of the theater used local limestone and limestone foundation in the lanes, the lanes, in fact, were inclined to the orchestra, to reduce thereby the difference of the auditorium. Its capacity is estimated at 6,300 spectators and the form resembles the theater of Dionysus in Athens, after the modifications it underwent in 330 BC The theater, after the destruction of Eretria by the Romans in 198 BC, rebuilt with more cheap materials and it appears that the passage south rooms were decorated with colored plaster of the first Pompeian style. Today, unfortunately, most of the rows of seats have grab. Strikingly, however, remain the remains of the stage and above the vaulted underground passage leading to the center of the orchestra. The monument was excavated by the American Archaeological School and the local Archaeological Service is making significant efforts to restoration.