It was a sunny but cold day in Alexandria and we decided to explore the Roman Theatre in Kom El Dikka (pronounced Dakka), the city’s largest archeological park. I have visited Rome, but this was the first time for me to explore a Roman monument in Egypt!After we paid the admission fees of EGP 20 each, passing through the highly guarded gate, we went in with high curiosity, but skepticism. Immediately after the entrance gate, you will see some statues, sarcophagus, and some other artifacts from other places in Alexandria at the Open Air museum.
After spending about 15 minutes around the 50 meters Open Air Museum, we went to the amphitheater or the odeum, which is 10 meters away. The amphitheater consists of thirteen gray and white marble levels of terraces that lead down to the arena. Its buttressed wall, designed in a semicircular style act as a passageway that ran beneath the early theater.
Built in the 4th century AD, it remained in use until about the 7th century AD, or about the time of the Arab invasion. It was discovered during the 1960s when a government building was planned for this location over the ruins of a Napoleonic fort that had earlier been destroyed. The theatre has seating, elevated towards the rear part, in the shape of a horseshoe. There are thirteen rows of white and gray marble seats probably imported from Europe - Italy, except for the first row, which was made of red granite to give strength to the structure. It could hold up to 800 people. The step seating of the Roman Theatre was built upon a thick limestone wall with another brick wall surrounding that one.
There are passages and rooms beneath the theatre seats where actors were stationed before their performance, and for use as to store equipment.
Walking about the well preserved Roman Theatre, one will notice a number of stone columns and capitals that once supported its domes. There are also a number of old Roman decorations, including Byzantine icons. It consists of a cross inside a circle. The cross of course is the standard icon of Christianity, while the circle is the circle of light on the face of Christ. There is also some Greek inscriptions that proclaims a political victory, which indicates that the theatre was used for political meetings during the Byzantine period.Below are photos of some of the artifacts that we captured around the theater.
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