DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44946#0078
cAmman {Philadelphia).
47
The neighborhood is
of fallen columns. From one end of the town to the
Colo nadedStreet-
Scale, o.oo 5·=Im·
to indicate the course of the
It is plain from these remains that the avenue was kept well up
The avenue that branched
the north is marked by two columns, 3 m. apart, which are apparently in situ
the modern road. Their bases are deeply buried in soil.
strewn with the drums
wherever these remains of the ancient colonnades appear, one may search in
numbers of column drums that are found lying about, or built into walls, through the
middle of the modern town. The present main street apparently follows the line of
the ancient avenue at several points. It is only here and there that one can find the
columns of the great colonnades actually in situ. Near the east end of the town, not
far from the supposed site of the east gate, the lower halves of two columns (Ill. 30)
standing upon their bases, now form the entrance gate
to a modern courtyard. The ancient pavement of the
avenue appears as the floor of the Circassian peasants’
stable yard, and, on the opposite side, three bases, still
in situ, protrude from the walls of the modern house.
These remains, meagre as they are, give us some useful
information. From them we learn that the colonnades
were 9.20 m. apart on centres, the street was 8.40 m.
wide in the clear, and the intercolumniations were 3 m.
wide. The pavement of the avenue was of highly finished
oblong blocks closely joined. Westward from these remains,
occasional solitary columns without capitals, and with their
bases buried in debris, stand as sentinels along the way
long hidden street.
the slope, and very nearly on one level from end to end.
off to
beside
thickly
other,
vain for fragments of the entablature which the columns carried; one may not even be
absolutely sure as to the order of the colonnades, yet the presence of a large number
of Corinthian capitals, all of the same dimensions, and of a size which would fit the
columns that are in situ, makes it reasonably certain that this order was employed.
Theatre. The great theatre of Philadelphia is situated near the eastern extremity
of the town, on the south side of the stream (see map), at a point where the mountain¬
side, a steep wall of rock that rises from the river throughout the greater part of the
length of the town, stands back from the bank of the stream, leaving a level terrace,
partly artificial and partly natural, upon which a number of ancient buildings stood.
The cavea of the theatre, which consists of three horizontal divisions of seats, was
almost completely excavated in the rock of the hill-side, though it was found necessary
to build up the higher parts of both ends of the semicircle. None of the seats was
cut in the natural rock, but all were made of a slightly different quality of limestone,
quarried, no doubt, in the immediate vicinity. The artificial portions of the cavea were
erected upon masses of masonry penetrated with tunnel vaults that followed the curve
of the cavea to about a third of its perimeter on either side. The semicircle of the
cavea was produced in straight lines about four meters on either hand, and this part,
being entirely artificial, was built upon three stories of superposed tunnel vaults separated
by great masses of solid masonry. The lowest of these vaults, on either side, served
as an exit, a. sort of covered parados, under the end seats. The scaena with all the
stage buildings has been entirely destroyed, leaving only remains of its foundations.
The auditorium (Ill. 31) is exceptionally well preserved so that even the casual visitor
47
The neighborhood is
of fallen columns. From one end of the town to the
Colo nadedStreet-
Scale, o.oo 5·=Im·
to indicate the course of the
It is plain from these remains that the avenue was kept well up
The avenue that branched
the north is marked by two columns, 3 m. apart, which are apparently in situ
the modern road. Their bases are deeply buried in soil.
strewn with the drums
wherever these remains of the ancient colonnades appear, one may search in
numbers of column drums that are found lying about, or built into walls, through the
middle of the modern town. The present main street apparently follows the line of
the ancient avenue at several points. It is only here and there that one can find the
columns of the great colonnades actually in situ. Near the east end of the town, not
far from the supposed site of the east gate, the lower halves of two columns (Ill. 30)
standing upon their bases, now form the entrance gate
to a modern courtyard. The ancient pavement of the
avenue appears as the floor of the Circassian peasants’
stable yard, and, on the opposite side, three bases, still
in situ, protrude from the walls of the modern house.
These remains, meagre as they are, give us some useful
information. From them we learn that the colonnades
were 9.20 m. apart on centres, the street was 8.40 m.
wide in the clear, and the intercolumniations were 3 m.
wide. The pavement of the avenue was of highly finished
oblong blocks closely joined. Westward from these remains,
occasional solitary columns without capitals, and with their
bases buried in debris, stand as sentinels along the way
long hidden street.
the slope, and very nearly on one level from end to end.
off to
beside
thickly
other,
vain for fragments of the entablature which the columns carried; one may not even be
absolutely sure as to the order of the colonnades, yet the presence of a large number
of Corinthian capitals, all of the same dimensions, and of a size which would fit the
columns that are in situ, makes it reasonably certain that this order was employed.
Theatre. The great theatre of Philadelphia is situated near the eastern extremity
of the town, on the south side of the stream (see map), at a point where the mountain¬
side, a steep wall of rock that rises from the river throughout the greater part of the
length of the town, stands back from the bank of the stream, leaving a level terrace,
partly artificial and partly natural, upon which a number of ancient buildings stood.
The cavea of the theatre, which consists of three horizontal divisions of seats, was
almost completely excavated in the rock of the hill-side, though it was found necessary
to build up the higher parts of both ends of the semicircle. None of the seats was
cut in the natural rock, but all were made of a slightly different quality of limestone,
quarried, no doubt, in the immediate vicinity. The artificial portions of the cavea were
erected upon masses of masonry penetrated with tunnel vaults that followed the curve
of the cavea to about a third of its perimeter on either side. The semicircle of the
cavea was produced in straight lines about four meters on either hand, and this part,
being entirely artificial, was built upon three stories of superposed tunnel vaults separated
by great masses of solid masonry. The lowest of these vaults, on either side, served
as an exit, a. sort of covered parados, under the end seats. The scaena with all the
stage buildings has been entirely destroyed, leaving only remains of its foundations.
The auditorium (Ill. 31) is exceptionally well preserved so that even the casual visitor