• Photos and Panorama Movies • Theatre Archive Home • Glossary of Terms The Hellenistic Theater of Heraclea Minoa, (Italian: Eraclea Minoa):
What sets the ruins of the theatre at Heraclea Minoa apart from other mid-4th century BCE., Hellenistic theatres? Most noticeably, it has a 20th century roof, an oddly elongated orchestra, and, unlike most stone theatres, it is dissolving.
Heraclea (modern Eraclea) Minoa City History: the original city named, Minoa, was founded in the middle of the 6th century BCE as an outpost of the Greek colony of Selinus (modern Selinunte). The city was well sited on a limestone bluff located on the southwest coast of Sicily, 37 km northwest of Agrigentum (modern Agrigento). At a height of 75 meters above sea level, the location provided a commanding view of the Mediterranean to the South and the cliff provided ample protection from navel incursions.
Sparta occupied the city in 510 BCE and renamed it Heraclea after the demi-god Heracles who the Spartan leader, Dorieum claimed as an ancestor and the original founder of the city. From the time of the Spartan occupation, the city was renamed Heraclea, though coupled with that of Minoa to avoid confusion.
The Spartan occupation of the city was short-lived and over the next 400 years, Heraclea Minoa was controlled by Carthaginians, various Greek Sicilian colonies, and finally, Rome. Little is known of the Roman dominion of the city, but it appears to have suffered severely in the First Servile War (134–132 BCE) and soon afterwards it fell into decay. It never recovered and by the end of the 1st century BCE the city was abandoned.
Although the location of the city was identified by the 16th century historian Tommaso Fazello, excavations were not attempted until Professor Ernesto de Miro undertook a large-scale investigation of the ruins which revealed the remains of a small, Hellenistic theatre in 1953.
The theatre, ca 320 BCE: The Heraclea Minoa theatre is placed in the cavity of a small hill, 700 m from the edge of a limestone bluff overlooking the Mediterranean. The theatre faces the sea to the south in defiance of the Vitruvian recommendation which suggests a north-facing view. This orientation is certainly due to the nature of the terrain but it also offers spectators on the back rows a splendid sea view.
Koilon or theatron: The 50.6 m wide koilon or stepped seating is made up of ashlar marlstone (square-cut blocks of limestone). 10 rows of badly-weathered rows remain. The first, bottom row of seats (prohedria) once featured stone backs and arms and were reserved as seats of honor.
The 10 semi-circular rows of seats are divided into nine pie-shaped sectors (kerkides) by eight small staircases (klimakes). A diazoma (curved walkway) surrounds the upper most row of seats at a height of 8.9 meters above the orchestra. An additional curved walkway (0.7 m. wide) separates the prohedria from the rows of regular stone seats.
The Koilon (stone seating) is faced at both ends by 3.5 meter-high analemmata, (supporting walls) composed of squared blocks of marl masonry. The stone masonry is faced with brick, possibly as a conservation effort at a later date.
Orchestra: The horse-shoe shaped orchestra has a diameter of 16.7 m and considerable depth. No stage or skene (scene house) remains but holes preserved in the earthen orchestra floor suggest a temporary, wooden stage or scene house was once used. A full, 16 m circular orchestra can easily fit into the elongated space between the first row of seating and the rear of the space reserved for a stage. This elongated, horse-shoe shaped orchestra is unusual for both Greek and Roman theatres.
A 1.5 m wide euripos (water drainage channel) separates the orchestra from the row of prohedria seating. By euripus standards, this is excessively wide and is atypical of other Greek or Roman theatre designs.
The construction of the theatre can be dated to after the second half the 4th c. BC. The building was abandoned around the 2nd to 1st c. BCE when some structures of the Primo Strato settlement were built on the analemmata.
Degradation of exposed ruins: As previously mentioned, the excavations at Ancient Heraclea are located on a white limestone promontory (Capo Bianco) and are surrounded by a beautiful seascape with high vertical cliffs typical of the shoreline between Heraclea and Agrigento. These natural formations of soft limestone and blinding white marl have been sculped by time, water, and salty breezes into sinuous terraces with smooth surfaces and rounded corners, the most notable being Scala dei Turchi (the Stair of the Turks) which lies 26 km to the south.
The same natural forces that carved the Stair of the Turks, have also carved and dissolved the exposed remains of the theatre – it was, after all, constructed from the same material - soft limestone and marl. Or, more precisely, local biocalcarenite cemented by gypsum; and, water dissolves gypsum. According, when the mid-20 c. excavations removed the centuries of protective earth, the exposed ruins began to dissolve.
Preservation Attempts: The degradation of the theatre began as soon as the ruins were exposed to the elements in 1953. In an attempt to counter the effect of water damage, the Institute of Restoration proposed coating the unprotected stone with an acrylic resin to render it waterproof. Within a few years, the solution proved ineffective.
1964: A second solution was proposed by architect Minissi from Viterbo. He suggested encasing the koilon seating with a colorless, form-fitted plastic shell made from Perspex (a clear plastic sheeting 1 cm thick). The Vinissi solution was realized in 1964 but in a way that modified and damaged the original structure: in order to anchor the molded plastic covers, 800 holes were drilled into the koilon seating and iron bars attached the plastic to the stone. In addition to the plastic covers, many stairs were covered with concrete steps and a trenched channel was cut between the koilon and the upper earthwork to direct water drainage.
This second attempt to protect the excavated theatre failed as well. First, the form-fitted shell did not prevent water seepage. Rather than keeping the unprotected stone dry, it trapped water, thus promoting further degradation. Second, the clear plastic cover created a continuous greenhouse effect and promoted the growth of vegetation accompanied by a strong superficial deterioration of the stone of the theatre. Third, weed control with mechanical plant removal equipment and yearly cleaning of the plastic cover further compromised the excavated stone. And, in addition, ultraviolet light soon turned the clear plastic sheeting brown and cloudy preventing visitors to the monument from seeing the underlying stone surface.
In 1995 the Superintendent responsible for the preservation of the theatre ordered a review of the conservation effort to date by removing the Perspex from one sector of the theatre, thereby making possible appropriate laboratory studies and in situ treatment tests. An exhaustive and detailed evaluation of the monument and the effect of the previous conservation efforts was undertaken and completed by Alaimo, Giarrusso, Lazzarini, Mannuccia, and Meli, and the results of their evaluation were published in a paper, “The Conservation Problems of the Theatre of Eraclea Minoa (Italy), in 1996. A brief summary of their findings determined that: 1) the previous conservation solutions were deemed ineffective if not detrimental to the monument; 2) water was by far the greatest enemy of exposed ruins; and 3) treating the exposed stones with ethyl silicate would delay decomposition of the stone but would not stop nor reverse damage from the elements. The report concluded that the Perspex covers and all supporting hardware be removed; exposed surfaces be cleaned and treated to stabilize the decaying marlstone, and an external cover or roof be installed to shield the monument from the effects of rain.
Accordingly, the Superintendent of Preservation authorize the removal of all Perspex cladding and its network of iron support posts. The now exposed stonework of the koilon was cleared of vegetation and cleaned. And, a new design for a protective cover was authorized; one that shielded the monument from rain but whose structure would not further damage the fragile stonework of the theatre. (This author has not found evidence that an ethyl silicate solution was applied to the exposed stone).
By 1999, the recommended preservation work was completed. Workers installed a new fan-shaped roof composed of multiple independent panels of steel framed fiberglass. A network of Rota-Lock and steel pipe scaffolding supported the roof around the perimeter of the theatre thus eliminating the need for internal supports. The finished installation reflects the koilon’s wedge-shaped seating sections. This is the current state of the theatre as of September of 2019.
It should be noted that all is not well with the current preservation. In March of 2014, Stella, Gian Antonio wrote in the Corriere della Sera: “… in '99 they chose to cover the whole theater with a kind of rain cover that followed the shapes of the auditorium with a horrendous mass of innocent pipes and panels until such time for the workers to do all the repairs and protection with a new type of "ethyl silicate". Except that, like so many things in Italy and especially in Sicily, the temporary is still there….”
Stella Gian Antonio went on to say, “In short, there is not one who still defends that monster of steel and fiberglass. It must be removed. But then what?” His recommendations are threefold: “The first: remove the atrocious rain cover of today and launch a large international competition to protect what remains of the theater with a new container (a half dome wide open towards the sea?). The second: redoing the theater auditorium, with love and grace, in marble choosing (to the horror of the more orthodox purists) to give priority not to the intangible sacredness of the original marl now reduced to solidified mush but to the ancient idea of "that" theater, built in "that" place, in front of "that" panorama. The third: to bury everything and leave it there until our children or grandchildren have studied well what to do.” (Stella, Gian Antonio. "Eraclea, the jewel-theater crumbles prisoner of steel and fiberglass". Corriere della Sera. March 17, 2014.)
Bibliography:
Alaimo, R., R. Giarrusso, L. Lazzarini, F. Mannucci, and P. Meli. 1996. The conservation problems of the Theatre of Eraclea Minoa (Sicily). In Eighth International Congress on Deterioration and Conservation of Stone, ed. J. Riederer, 1085. Berlin: Moller Druck und Verlag.
Sear, Frank. Roman Theatres: An Architectural Study. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography: "Heracleia", London (1867).
Stanley-Price, Nicholas & Jokilehto, Jukka. (2002). The decision to shelter archaeological sites Three case-studies from Sicily. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites. 5. 19-34. 10.1179/cma.2002.5.1-2.19.
Stella, Gian Antonio. Eraclea, the jewel-theater crumbles prisoner of steel and fiberglass. March 17, 2014. https://www.corriere.it/cronache/14_marzo_17/eraclea-teatro-gioiello-si-sbriciola-prigioniero-acciaio-vetroresina-6f9d25ae-ada5-11e3-a415-108350ae7b5e.shtml?refresh_ce-cp
“The theater of Eraclea Minoa is at risk, mobilization of the Park managers, Agrigento”, Caltanissetta and Enna of today's Giornale di Sicilia. Jan. 2, 2020.
Wilson, R. J. A., and A. Leonard. “Field Survey at Heraclea Minoa (Agrigento), Sicily.” Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 7, no. 2, 1980, pp. 219–239. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/529760. Accessed 27 Jan. 2020.
Wikipedia contributors. "Heraclea Minoa." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 12 Jan. 2020. Web. 27 Jan. 2020.
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Copyright © 2019 Thomas G. Hines, Department of Theatre, Whitman College. All Rights Reserved. The Ancient Theatre Archive is a non-profit, educational project, located at Whitman College, USA. Research and Publication Partially Funded Through Grants from Whitman College, The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, The Benson Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Humanities.
- © This website is copyright protected. Pages may be downloaded, printed, copied, and distributed as long as they remain unchanged and The Ancient Theatre Archive is given due credit.Last Update 1/20/2020.