Theatres in Roman Palestine and Provincia Arabia

This volume deals with the architectural history of the theatre in Roman Palestine and Provincia Arabia, a region which comprised a Jewish, Nabataean, and Hellenized population but lacked any tradition of classical theatre. The earliest examples, erected by Herod, were actually a foreign imposition upon the landscape of Judaea, while the theatres built in the Nabataean kingdom provided no more than an architectural setting for activities which were often unrelated to theatre in the accepted sense. When the Hellenized cities in the region began building their theatres, classical plays were already disappearing from the stage throughout the Roman world, their place taken by lighter, less select forms of public entertainment.
The author then offers a comprehensive architectural analysis of each of the thirty theatres so far uncovered in the area. Richly illustrated, it provides a vivid reconstruction of a world which, though long gone, continues to fascinate.

Arthur Segal, Ph.D. (1976) in Classical Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is Professor of Classical Archaeology at Haifa University, Israel. He has published extensively on the various aspects of Town Planning and Architecture in the Roman East.

'Segal's architectural analysis is an important contribution to the archaeology of Roman Palestine.'
L.L. Grabbe, Society for Old Testament Study, 1995.
'This book provides a very useful survey of the thirty Roman theatres that have thus far been found in Roman Palestine and the Province of Arabia. The descriptions are careful and thorough, the tables of comparative data useful, and the photographic plates an excellent resource. ...the book is one to which archaeologists and cultural historians will want ready access.'
Thomas R.W. Longstaff, Religious Studies Review, 1995.
'His presentation of the material is generally excellent and his generous combination of photographs and line drawings brings clarity to his written account. The wealth of new material that is presented in this book amply demonstrates the rewards to be had studying from studying sites off the beaten track.'
David M. Jacobson, Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 1994.
'...well documented...'
Architectural Science Review, 1997.