Photos by Jack A. Waldron
Wintertime is not a comfortable season to cycle for myself, as I prefer the 30-35 degree celsius bouncing off my 50+ sunscreen, so I don't usually visit many ancient sites between October to May. However, if I happen to be close to ancient site while traversing a country by bus or car, then of course I can't resist, and so I stopped to explore ancient Prusias ad Hypium (40°54'22.1"N 31°08'53.3"E).
The ancient city was originally called Hypios, probably because of its proximity to Mount Hypios, but later had its name changed to Kieros, after the name of the river that runs next to the city. Pictured below, we see a fragment of colossal toes in a sandal from the Roman period, found in Konuralp (Konuralp Archeological Museum).
Sometime between 228 BCE - 182 BCE, King Prusias I of Bithynia took the town from the Heracleans, whose capital city was Heraclea, which is located on the coast to the northwest. Pictured below, a mosaic found in Konuralp featuring a Roman woman (Konuralp Archeological Museum).
When the Roman Empire took control of Bithynia around 74 BCE, the name of the city was changed to Prusias ad Hypium.
Prusius ad Hypium was situated along a main artery that connected Nicomedia to the south with Amastris to the east, and of course Constantinople to the west. Most of the city buildings lay beneath the modern town of Konuralp.
The one structure that is very visible is a section of the Theater building, which may have began its life during the Hellenistic period around 300 BCE, and saw further construction during the Roman period around 190 CE. I've also heard that the theater construction began later, between the Hellenistic and early Roman periods.
The Theater cavea is located beyond the Theater scaena or stage building, which you see in the photos above and below.
Just beside the Theater building (east side) is/was an extensive depository of building members. Since my visit, these members have been cleared from the newly excavated area, with some being put back in their proper structural place.
It would appear that there are enough building parts to put this puzzle partially back together, but we must remember that this structure probably included an additional two to three stories above the base of the building pictured here.
The Theater is built into a south facing slope in the center of the ancient city, and while much of the lower seating is in situ, a large portion of the upper seating has been quarried, scavenged, repurposed, which has allowed the slope to erode.
I think this was my first time to visit a ancient site during the winter, and though I doubt many tourists visit this site even during peak season, I can imagine that strolling around the most popular ancient sites during winter must be fantastic.
As we can see in the photo above, this section of stage entablature is extremely ornate, and was befitting of any building located in any of the capital cities around the empire.
Judging from the ornamented building members, this Roman structure is on par with some of the greatest examples of Roman architecture built during this period, including the theaters at Hieropolis, Laodikeia, Aspendos, and Nysa, to name a few.
Though originating some time between the Hellenistic and early Roman periods, the later addition of this Roman stage building was meant to impress. Additional theater seating was probably added to the upper sections during the Roman construction of the stage building.
During my visit, I couldn't be sure if the cavea originally extended beyond the Roman style semicircular limits, but if it did, then this mating with the Roman style stage building would not have been an unusual construction, because many Hellenistic style theaters underwent the same additions, or expansions.
It's understandable that the majority of expense was dedicated to the stage building, because the cavea was already in solid existence, and there was probably no incentive to rebuild the entire structure on the scale of the theater at Aspendos.
The Ionic capital pictured above is interesting to me, because similarly fine crafted relief work (of what appears to be an acanthus leaf motif) can be seen later in early Byzantine style relief work, only with the addition of some Christian symbols, such as the work at Alahan.
The reason for the elaborate time and expense dedicated to the stage building is most likely due to the attention given by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, and the special interest he took in the Asia Minor Bithynian province, which was the homeland of his close companion, Antinous.
The purpose of Hadrian's visits was to survey for possible improvements to existing structures, and for new developments within the various cities. This support also included the construction of the theater building at Prusias ad Hypium.
Hadrian is known to have visited several Bithynian cities during 123-124 CE, included Prusias ad Hypium, Claudiopolis, and Heraclea Pontica, which I will write about in future posts.
During the 2024 excavation season, a bust portrait of Hadrian was found within the dig site, and it is believed to be from the same period as the theater building construction.
Since my visit to Prusius ad Hypium in 2018 (yes, I'm eight years behind in my posts, though I didn't cycle during covid, but did I paint and teach classes online), there have been extensive excavations on the theater.
The rooms within the theater building were filled with the large stone blocks that once stood as the walls of the structure.
All of the stage building rooms have now been cleared, excavated, and the building blocks put back into the structure.
I honestly didn't expect such progress to be made on this site (or most others for that matter) during my lifetime. I am extremely excited at the prospect of returning to Konuralp for another look around.
During the 2024 excavation season, a bust portrait of Hadrian was found within the dig site, and it is believed to be from the same period as the theater building construction.
My one hope is that if the complete reconstruction of this theater is undertaken, that extremely strict adherence to the original structural plan will be followed, and the new additions will not overshadow the beauty to be found in the weathered and worn body of this ancient building.
During the 2023 excavation season, below the ground level I walked on in 2018, archeologists uncovered statues of Apollo and Medusa, as well as the head of a statue of Alexander the Great.
Also, when you visit the site today, you will see a massive stone pipe system running directly through the middle of the excavated orchestra, which brought water from the aqueduct system above the theater down to a fountain.
That canal pipe or aqueduct that ran under the orchestra exited from under the center of the theater building, actually just below the section between the tree (left of photo above) and the beginning of the vertical wall section. It may have also been intended to help drain the sediment under the seating.
The Theater once had 36 rows of seating divided by three caves, and could seat around 10,000 people. Today, 17 rows can be seen in the lower section, and 15 rows can be seen in the upper section.
Again, this is how the theater appeared in 2018. What I don't understand is how this middle section of seating could completely disappear?
The sloping grass below the upper section did not appear to hide or cover seating, and the cavea below, which was completely buried when I was there, has since been revealed, and it is complete.
The upper seating radial isles are decorated with lion legs, paws, and claws (pictured below). Recent excavations of the cavea have described the radial isles as being decorated with Alchemilla vulgaris, or Lady's Mantle, which is a herb known and used in ancient times.
I obviously did not see this Alchemilla vulgaris decoration, because the lower section of the theater was below the surface, as you can see in the photo below.
That said, Alchemilla vulgaris translates to 'the little alchemist', and this cup shaped plant was unique in that it collected the morning dew, which was collected and used in herbal medications.
This collection of dew for the purpose of use in alchemy makes total sense, since it is a natural form of distilled water. Furthermore, dew was considered a sacred water during ancient times, because it was believed to contain the power of Celestial Fire.
Now I am very curious to see this Lady's Mantle motif, and so yet another site I must return to in order to see what has been newly excavated.
One might ask, how could I possibly get so far behind in my blog posts? Well, as I was now writing, I was sidetracked for about an hour searching out other ancient sites that popped up during my research for this article. As a result of this deviation, I have now mapped ancient Heraclea Bithynia, Tium/Tios Bithynia, Crenides Bithynia, and Psyllium Bithynia, some of which will be visited in the future.
You can see in these photos that the upper rows of seating have been pushed out due to the pressure from the top of the hillside. Why these now vertical blocks are so bright colored compared to the lower seating I don't know, but perhaps this was part of the later Roman expansion of the theater?
Prusias ad Hypium was a major hub for theatrical and spectacle performances due to its location along major routes. As the traffic increased due to the eastern expansion of Rome, Prusias ad Hypium grew, as did the facilities of the city, including the theater.
Also revealed during recent excavations was the "Lion Mosaic' which was found in a room at the top of the theater just behind where I am standing in the photo below.
The theater vomitoria you see in the photo below are located on the western side on the theater, or to the right side of the stage building in the photo above.
Since these photos were taken, the complete remains of the vomitoria have been excavated, cleared and are now accessible to enter.
Hidden under surface in the photo below is another two meters (approximately) of wall down to the adits maximus (for Roman theaters), or the Parodos (for Greek theaters), which is the walkway between the seating and proscenium (stage).
Some of my photos are nearly impossible to locate since the excavation has been undertaken, as with the photo below.
This post is Part 1 of a two part piece, because the Konuralp Archeological Museum really deserves its own post, and also, I didn't want to make this post excessively long. So please click on the link to continue to Prusias ad Hypium (Part 2).
*All photos and content property of Jack A. Waldron (photos may not be used without written permission)
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