If one does a proper tour of the Miletus theater there is much to discover. Above is the view down the ramp on the right side of theater. Below is a shot looking into the exit ramp on the left side of the theater. The Romans called the exit ramp ‘the vomitorium’ (no joke).
Here is an honorific column next to the theater for an ‘Archon’ a high ranking Greek official. Notice at the top of the inscription the words Agathe Tyche– which could be translated ‘good luck’ but actually this is a reference to the goddess of good fortune– Tyche.
This gives you a sense of the size of the column, it could hardly be missed. More importantly for our purposes are the inscriptions on some of the seats on the right hand side of the theater near where those folks are sitting (which we had to ask to move so we could see the inscriptions. Notice as well down on ground level where the small entrance ramps were, possibly for animals for gladiatorial contests.
Here we have an inscription reading, ‘place for the Jews and god-fearers’ and from another angle so you can see more of the inscription…
What this tells us is that even Jews and their god fearers attended the theater and the games. Jews of that era and in that place, were quite Hellenized.
As you can see from this angle, the inscription took up a whole seating block.
Why the hole in the stone? Well these were not the cheap seats. In the hot sun, the elites had umbrellas to shelter their noggins, but also during a rainy day it was for drainage.
Notice down across from the ellipse was the area where the staging for the plays would have been, which was called the ‘skene’ from which we get the term scene– as in scene one etc. Here’s below is an exit ramp out the back, and notice the out of place giant keystone. Earthquakes were a regular problem, and in this case, this must be a makeshift replacement keystone, not the original one carved to fit the arch.
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