DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45927#0033
31
2. BUILDING DESCRIPTION
2.1 Auditorium (Plan 1)
2.1.1 The Retaining Wall
The Bouleuterion as it stands today is defined by a monumental retaining wall describing in plan a stilted
semicircle about 47 m in diameter that is reinforced along the curved portion by radial buttresses and by mas-
sive piers at the south corners. The exterior surface of the entire eastern half is hidden by unexcavated debris
but on the west side the wall is exposed to its full preserved height of about 10 m (pl. 16, 1). A large buttress
(buttress 1), 1.40 m wide at its base and 0.80-0.90 m deep, marks the beginning of the curved portion which is
built of large blocks laid up without mortar53 in courses varying in height from 0.55 m to 0.80 m. Joints can be
vertical or oblique slanting in either direction. Course heights are mainly constant changing only once within
a block between buttresses 2 and 3 that is cut down on its south side. In the straight stretch of wall between
buttress 1 and the southwest corner pier, this kind of irregular coursing becomes more frequent and the stones
smaller in order to work the coursing around the voussoirs of a doorway arch. The backs of the wall blocks
were unshaped as they were to be covered by the packing for the cavea. In some places this packing has fallen
away to reveal the rough quarry work. The letter K, 0.12-0.14 m high, is cut into the inner faces of a number
of stones on the east side along with a single A and A. This retaining wall averages 1.10 m in thickness.
Both the massive lateral buttress 1 and the somewhat smaller radial buttresses 2-13, 1.10 m wide and
0.30 m deep at the base, are bonded with the wall they supported. They consist largely of single blocks equal
in height to the coursing behind them. Buttress blocks penetrate the wall at every second or third course, while
those in between abut it. Clamps were neither used to secure buttress blocks to the wall nor to fasten the wall
blocks to one another. Stability depended largely on the forces of gravity and friction, a feature of design which
ultimately allowed it to collapse. A rebuilding is clear, in any case, from a reused block whose cuttings show
that it had originally belonged to the upper diazoma. Vertical joints in the undisturbed portions of wall at the
top of the cavea tend to be radial extending back at least 0.65 m (outside)54 from the face. The wall surface is
rough from erosion and the two central buttresses seem to have been shifted from their original positions in
the rebuilding.
In marked contrast is a finer masonry represented by several contiguous courses located near the base of
the wall between buttresses 2 and 3 (pl. 16, 2). These display a uniform rustication with rounded horizontal
bolsters angled in at the sides, and margins neatly drafted with a toothed chisel. One block, cut with an inte-
rior corner, is shared by the wall and buttress 3. Neither the treatment of the individual blocks nor this type of
bonding is seen elsewhere in the exposed portion of the building, and would seem to raise the possibility that
the curved wall of the Bouleuterion was constructed directly on the standing remains of an earlier theater or
theater-like building with the same exterior dimensions. It is more likely, however, that a sophisticated and
expensive mode of construction was abandoned early on in the project in favor of a faster and cheaper one. The
lower courses of this wall would have been hidden by the east portico of the Rhodian Peristyle.
2.1.2 The Rear Wall and Pilasters
In the course of construction, the great stones of the curved retaining wall were brought to a uniform height
and worked smooth, and a footing, 0.23 m high and 0.80 m thick, was built on top along the outer edge to sup-
port the auditorium’s rear wall (pls. 17; 18, 1). It consisted of two rows of blocks, of which the outer one, of
gray marble, is visible only in a few places and its method of construction is unclear. The inner ring, made of
53 The mortar in the area between the vaulted doorway in the southwest corner and buttress 1 (see plan 1) seems to be modern or from
an ancient repair.
54 0.13 m (inside).
2. BUILDING DESCRIPTION
2.1 Auditorium (Plan 1)
2.1.1 The Retaining Wall
The Bouleuterion as it stands today is defined by a monumental retaining wall describing in plan a stilted
semicircle about 47 m in diameter that is reinforced along the curved portion by radial buttresses and by mas-
sive piers at the south corners. The exterior surface of the entire eastern half is hidden by unexcavated debris
but on the west side the wall is exposed to its full preserved height of about 10 m (pl. 16, 1). A large buttress
(buttress 1), 1.40 m wide at its base and 0.80-0.90 m deep, marks the beginning of the curved portion which is
built of large blocks laid up without mortar53 in courses varying in height from 0.55 m to 0.80 m. Joints can be
vertical or oblique slanting in either direction. Course heights are mainly constant changing only once within
a block between buttresses 2 and 3 that is cut down on its south side. In the straight stretch of wall between
buttress 1 and the southwest corner pier, this kind of irregular coursing becomes more frequent and the stones
smaller in order to work the coursing around the voussoirs of a doorway arch. The backs of the wall blocks
were unshaped as they were to be covered by the packing for the cavea. In some places this packing has fallen
away to reveal the rough quarry work. The letter K, 0.12-0.14 m high, is cut into the inner faces of a number
of stones on the east side along with a single A and A. This retaining wall averages 1.10 m in thickness.
Both the massive lateral buttress 1 and the somewhat smaller radial buttresses 2-13, 1.10 m wide and
0.30 m deep at the base, are bonded with the wall they supported. They consist largely of single blocks equal
in height to the coursing behind them. Buttress blocks penetrate the wall at every second or third course, while
those in between abut it. Clamps were neither used to secure buttress blocks to the wall nor to fasten the wall
blocks to one another. Stability depended largely on the forces of gravity and friction, a feature of design which
ultimately allowed it to collapse. A rebuilding is clear, in any case, from a reused block whose cuttings show
that it had originally belonged to the upper diazoma. Vertical joints in the undisturbed portions of wall at the
top of the cavea tend to be radial extending back at least 0.65 m (outside)54 from the face. The wall surface is
rough from erosion and the two central buttresses seem to have been shifted from their original positions in
the rebuilding.
In marked contrast is a finer masonry represented by several contiguous courses located near the base of
the wall between buttresses 2 and 3 (pl. 16, 2). These display a uniform rustication with rounded horizontal
bolsters angled in at the sides, and margins neatly drafted with a toothed chisel. One block, cut with an inte-
rior corner, is shared by the wall and buttress 3. Neither the treatment of the individual blocks nor this type of
bonding is seen elsewhere in the exposed portion of the building, and would seem to raise the possibility that
the curved wall of the Bouleuterion was constructed directly on the standing remains of an earlier theater or
theater-like building with the same exterior dimensions. It is more likely, however, that a sophisticated and
expensive mode of construction was abandoned early on in the project in favor of a faster and cheaper one. The
lower courses of this wall would have been hidden by the east portico of the Rhodian Peristyle.
2.1.2 The Rear Wall and Pilasters
In the course of construction, the great stones of the curved retaining wall were brought to a uniform height
and worked smooth, and a footing, 0.23 m high and 0.80 m thick, was built on top along the outer edge to sup-
port the auditorium’s rear wall (pls. 17; 18, 1). It consisted of two rows of blocks, of which the outer one, of
gray marble, is visible only in a few places and its method of construction is unclear. The inner ring, made of
53 The mortar in the area between the vaulted doorway in the southwest corner and buttress 1 (see plan 1) seems to be modern or from
an ancient repair.
54 0.13 m (inside).
