5 theatrical masks reliefs, together with a uncommon depiction of a thinker, have been found within the Roman theater of Kastabala Historical Metropolis, southern Turkey. Masks have been found in earlier seasons of excavations on the theater website. With this yr’s 5, the entire has now risen to 36.
Affiliate Professor Faris Demir, the excavation director, stated the newly uncovered masks supply vital clues in regards to the inventive practices of the interval. Among the many newest finds is a hanging reduction of an aged thinker, a discovery he says enhances Kastabala’s significance as a cultural crossroads of Jap and Western traditions.
Demir famous that thinker depictions are not often seen amongst theatrical masks reliefs. “This determine is robust proof that the Kastabala Theater functioned not solely as a venue for tragedy and comedy but additionally as an area the place philosophical and literary discussions occurred,” he stated.
Based within the Late Hittite interval about 2,700 years in the past. It was a sacred metropolis from its earliest origins. A 2023 excavation uncovered the stays of a sixth century B.C. temple devoted to the Luwian goddess Kubaba, the primary temple to Kubaba ever found, though they’re identified from historical texts. Within the Hellenistic interval (ca. 2nd century B.C.), the town had a sanctuary of Artemis Perasia which was distinctive for its ritual of priestesses strolling barefoot on burning coals.
Kastabala turned a part of the Roman Empire’s province of Cappadocia within the 1st century. The Roman theater dates to round this time. It had a capability of round 5,000 folks. Excavations of the theater space have unearthed a major amount of architectural options from the stage construction. There are massive, well-preserved sections surviving, permitting archaeologists to know the unique design of the stage, and even perhaps reconstruct a part of it.
