West Theatre of Laodicea

The West Theatre of Laodicea is cut into a hillside and faces the Lycus valley, from where the white cliff of Pamukkale can be seen. It is older than the neighbouring North Theatre and was built in Hellenistic times, around the 2nd century BC, while in the Roman period it was rebuilt and enlarged. The rows of seats are divided by a walkway into two tiers, and the capacity is estimated at about eight thousand places. After the destructive earthquake of the 7th century the theatre was abandoned, the slope was covered over with earth, and for a long time the structure looked like an overgrown crater. Excavation and anastylosis began in the 2000s: archaeologists cleared the rubble, returned the fallen seat blocks to their places and restored the stairways between the sectors. The orchestra and the lower rows have now been cleared, and the stage area is marked out with a deck on which performances are held. The masonry is of local travertine, while individual rows of seats are of marble, with names and seat numbers carved on them. From the upper tier there is a view over the whole site and over the road along which goods flowed in antiquity from Phrygia to the coast.

On the map