Spouts and Springs: Water Use in Theaters in the Roman Decapolis (20 min)

Presenters

Clare Rasmussen, Bryn Mawr College

Abstract

The Roman Levant is well-known for its ability to supply water to its cities, expertly channeling water across long distances in a semiarid landscape. Studies on water systems favor typical trends across the empire, but certain applications in the Levant are regional and reflect its diversity. To demonstrate these local trends, this paper discusses understudied applications of water use in two types of Roman theaters in the Decapolis, focusing on the remains at Amman, Jerash, and Umm Qais. The first example examines water use in urban theaters, and the second considers rural festival theaters.

The large urban theaters at Amman, Jerash, and Umm Qais all exhibit unique ways of supplying water to the theater that have previously received little scholarly attention. The theaters at Amman and Jerash have waterspouts inside the niches along the proscenium of the stage. Similarly at Umm Qais, a fountain and basin were constructed in the orchestra of the north theater. These water features could be used for ornamental display and flooding the orchestra.

Rural festival theaters are fundamentally connected to sacred springs and are found at many sites within the Levant. These theaters were used for different kinds of religious festivals associated with the spring. Examples of this theater type are observed at the Birketein near Jerash, which worshipped Zeus Epikarpios and celebrated the Maiumas festival, and at the thermal springs at Hamat Gader near Umm Qais, which may have been part of a healing cult.

This analysis of the two theater types provides invaluable insight into how water may have been stored and used for spectacles and religious rituals both in the city and countryside. Most importantly, this paper facilitates a better understanding of regional water use in the Roman Decapolis and improves our knowledge of the cultural interactions between Rome and the Levant.