The Upper Theatre at Balboura

Abstract

The archaeological survey of Balboura in northern Lycia conducted between 1985 and 1990 under the direction of J. J. Coulton permitted the recording of a number of architectural monuments including two theatres. The first, located at the edge of the valley 200 metres south of the Roman town, was studied during the 1987 season and has been presented in a previous issue ofAnatolian Studiesas an unfinished monument of the late Roman period. The second theatre, situated on the steep southern slope of the acropolis hill some 70 metres above the floor of the gorge, was surveyed in the summer of 1990 and is the subject of this paper (Figs. 1, 2, 3).The monument was first described—briefly and without drawings—by Spratt and Forbes who made a hurried survey of the city site in 1842. Peterson and Von Luschan came through in 1882 and later published without comment the first photograph showing the impressive levelling platform that supported the scene building. The only study in modern times has been that of de Bernardi Ferrero which appeared in the second volume of her monumental corpus of classical theatres in Asia Minor. Time apparently did not permit a thorough survey which is hardly surprising considering the enormous scope of her undertaking but her observations, as far as they go, are sound, and her photographs numerous and well chosen. De Bernardi Ferrero's graphic documentation is inadequate, however, especially as regards the original appearance of the stage building which, although almost thoroughly denuded, provides more surface clues than her drawings indicate. Her late Hellenistic designation for the building, which remains unexcavated and has produced no inscriptions, is, in any case, accepted here.