Iaitas Theatre Ruins. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Iaitas Theatre Ruins. Photo: Photo: T Hines 2019.
Iaitas (latin "Ietas") was an ancient town in the beautiful upper valley of Jato. Ruins can be found right on top of Monte Iato (852 m above sea level) that looks over the whole valley.
Aerial view of Iaitas theatre looking south. Note: contrary to Vitruvius, not all Greek theatres face north.
The Iaitas ruins are located 10 kilometers northeast of San Cipirello, 42 kilometers southwest of Palermo, and only 20 kilometers north of Corleone (Yes, that Corleone!). Photo: T Hines 2019.
The ruins of ancient Iaitas are at an elevation of 852 meters on Monte Iato (Province of Palermo) in Sicily. Photo: T Hines 2019.
View of the San Cipirello countryside. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Cultivated fields in the hills of San Giuseppe Jato, Sicily, Italy. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Perched atop Monte Iato at a height of 850m above sea level, the site’s vistas fan out in all directions taking in Lake Poma and the Gulf of Castellammare to the north and vast swathes of the Sicilian countryside to the south, east and west. Photo: T Hines 2019.
IMPORTANT NOTE: visiting the theatre requires a 1.8 kilometer walk from the parking lot - it is all uphill and it’s hot, so bring water. But, also important, you are rewarded with incomparable views and 2,000 years of civilization. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Iatas (which has also gone by the name of Iaito, Ietas, Iaeta, Jetae, Giato and Jato) may not be the most impressive or temple-rich archaeological site in Sicily, but it must rank as the most spectacularly positioned and the most panoramic. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Both the cavea and the skene of the Monte Iato theater were enriched with stone sculptures of various forms; the decorative whole was rebuilt on the basis of elements found in their original location, in a collapsed position or reused in later buildings or set aside following their disposal. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Iaitas cavea: D 67.9m, facing south, exceeds semicircle; analemmata parallel to scene building; ima cavea: 14 rows of seats (0.39 x 0.74 m) divided into 7 cunei (wedge-shaped seating sections), with a capacity of 5000. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Ruins of the theatre dating from the IV century BC. It was built to look like the theatre of Dionysus in Athens. The cavea was carved in a natural slope. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Iaitas theatre: well-preserved ruins of lowest part of seating section (cavea) and foundation walls of scene building (skene).ls of scene building. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Stage: L 22.5 meters, W 3.25 m; tiled roof; 3 doorways, one in middle of scene building (skene); one in each of two side stages (paraskenia); 2 types of paving found, one white, other in red cocciopesto, possible 2 story scene building. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Parodoi (entrance pathway to orchestra): in final phase, walls built parallel to short side of scene building, to enclose L shaped paradoi (probably unfiished attempt to roof them over); accessible through doorways adjacent to back of scene building. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Portus post scaenas: a portico or passageway added behind the scaenae (scene house). (L 23 m, W 4.75 m). Photo: T Hines 2019.
Iaitas cavea: D 67.9m, facing south, exceeds semicircle; analemmata parallel to scene building; ima cavea: 14 rows of seats (0.39 x 0.74 m) divided into 7 cunei (wedge-shaped seating sections), with a capacity of 5000.to scene building; ima cavea: 14 rows of seats (0.39 x 0.74 m) divided into 7 cunei (wedge-shaped seating sections). Image from Iaitas archeological site signage.
Image from Iaitas archeological site signage.
Orchestra: D 21.5 m, paved in beaten earth, surrounded by passageway (praecinctio) with 4 steps leading up from parodos; three rows of front seating (prohedriai), third row had continuous raised backs; both second and third rows have griffins’s foot terminations; reclining lion on low wall flanking ends of prohedriai; no drain around orchestra. Photo: T Hines 2019.
4 steps leading up from parodos to three rows of front seating (prohedriai), third row had continuous raised backs; both second and third rows have griffins’s foot terminations; reclining lion on low wall flanking ends of prohedriai; no drain around orchestra. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Detail of stone theatre seats with one of the eight stone stairways (kilmakes). Photo: T Hines 2019.
Detail of stone theatre seats. Photo: T Hines 2019.
Whitman College was here. Photo: T Hines 2019.
