Clunia's Roman Theater
The
theater is one of Clunia’s most important civic focal points, and
we are privileged to have the opportunity to participate with the current
research team.
Archaeologists estimate that the theater held about 9,000 people, making it the largest theater of its kind in Spain and Portugal. Over the past five years, in conjunction with ArchaeoSpain teams, the Clunia crew has made some great discoveries – for example, in September 2003, we found the entrance to the theater’s main drainage system, a vaulted tunnel that continues to drain soil water 2,000 years later.
In 2004, excavations uncovered evidence that the Romans converted the theater into a semi-amphitheater to accommodate gladiator fights and other spectacles. We also found a large, square stone in the center of the theater with a mysterious carving. The inscription, however, named the consuls of the time. With this information, we were able to date the exact year that the stone was laid as 169.
Moving to the backstage area of the theater, the team last season uncovered several subterranean rooms which were possibly used by actors and gladiators. The 2008 team will continue digging in this area of the theater.
Over
the years our work has led archaeologists to throw
out prior theories
about the theater's architecture and usage.
For us, the prospect of going back gets more exciting each year –
we never know what we are going to uncover. And to culminate the excavation
campaigns, the local
government organizes a series of plays and concerts to be performed in
the theater.
The City
After
the Romans conquered Northern Iberia in the early 1st century BC, they
built one of their administrative centers on the enormous Alto
de Castro plateau. Colonia Clunia Sulpicia dominates the countryside below
at a height of approximately 3,360 feet
above sea level. Walking across the plateau, you can see the foundations
and the well-preserved mosaics of two public baths, the nearby Basilica
where
city leaders gathered to discuss city matters,
the lower level of the forum – full of taverns and shops, and the
base of the enormous Temple of Jupiter, which in ancient times towered
over
the city.
Clunia’s Golden Age spanned 200 years starting in the 1st century BC as a hub of the Roman Hispania province of Tarraconensis. Realizing that such an important city needed to boast its grandeur, Rome’s architects created its impressive monuments. Clunia’s fame would grow following the civil war in Rome against Nero. During the struggle for power, the Roman army chose Servius Sulpicius Galba, then living in Clunia, to become emperor in the year 68.
One of Clunia’s unique features is that the city is completely Roman. In most cases of Roman conquest, the victors built their cities over the existing towns (or what was left of them). The Celtiberian stronghold that defended Clunia, however, did so from a nearby hilltop. Thus archaeologists at Clunia know that whatever they uncover derives strictly from Roman sources.
The Romans most likely chose the plateau because
it sits above an underground reservoir. Now only scuba-diving archaeologists
can reach it, but artifacts from the cave
that leads to the subterranean lake imply that the spot could have been
a small shrine for a sect. They left behind an interesting
collection of phallic objects.
Clunia sits next to the village of Peñalba de Castro, where we will be staying. Six miles from Clunia is the town of Huerta de Rey, which boasts a few expropriated Roman columns and other Clunia keepsakes that appear in the local architecture. In addition, its bullring is one of the best preserved, wholly wooden examples in the country.
A little farther is Peñaranda de Duero, which has an impressive collection of historical buildings.
The group will work alongside university archaeologists from the Universities of Burgos, Valladolid and Barcelona, funded and overseen by the Diputación Provincial de Burgos and the Junta de Castilla y León.
Bibliography:
Palol, P. Clunia: Historia de la ciudad y guía de las excavaciones. Burgos (1994).
Palol, P., “El teatro romano de Clunia. El Teatro en la Hispania
Romana.” THR, Badajoz
(1982), pp. 65-78.