Theatres in Ancient Palestine during the Roman-Byzantine Period (An Historical-Archaeological Survey)

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Arthur Segal

Abstract

The present survey seeks to ascertain the place of the theatre in the region with Jewish, Nabatean, and Greek populations, in which the tradition of Classical theatre has no roots.


Theatres were built over a long period of time in various areas of Judaea, Nabataea, and in the Hellenized cities. The earliest examples in Judaea were erected at Herod’s initiative but did not reflect the true cultural needs of most of the population.


At the end of the 1st century BCE and in the 1st century CE, theatres were also built in the Nabatean kingdom, but they merely provided an architectural setting little related to the theatre in its accepted sense.


The first theatres in the Hellenized cities in Judaea, Southern Syria and Arabia were erected in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries CE, at a time when the Classical creativity was in decline. Classical plays were disappearing from the stage throughout the Roman world, to be replaced by lighter, less select forms of entertainment.


In the Eastern part of the Empire, especially in Judaea, Syria and Arabia, Classical tragedy and comedy had never earned themselves a permanent niche. Residents of these areas apparently knew no theatre other than mime, and lively, popular mime presentations faithfully reflected the true cultural demands of most of the city-dwellers in Roman Palestine, Syria, and Arabia during the Roman-Byzantine period”. 

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