Aspendos - Theater

The outstanding feature of Aspendos is the theater in the lower town, the best preserved and one of the largest in Asia Minor. Built in the A.D. second century by Crespinus Arruntianus and Auspicatus Titianus, the theater has seating for an audience of between 15,000 and 20,000. It has been restored and is now used for music and drama festivals. The semi-circular auditorium, divided into two sections by a broad passage half-way up, has 20 tiers of seating with 10 staircases in the lower half and 19 tiers with 21 staircases in the upper part.

Round the top runs a barrel-vaulted colonnade. At either end of the stage are vaulted passages giving access to the orchestra. The two-story stage wall was articulated by slender double columns with Ionic capitals on the lower order and Corinthian capitals on the upper one. The double column flanking the central entrance to the stage had a common broken pediment. The stage itself had a wooden roof suspended by ropes and the auditorium too was probably covered by an awning.