Aristotle/Alexander

No doubt, all fans and admirers of Alexander will look forward to attending this play at the Getty Villa in Malibu, California. This is how Getty promotes 

Aristotle/Alexander:

When star philosopher Aristotle accepts the coveted position of court tutor for an adolescent Alexander the Great, an intellectual battle of wits between teacher and student collides with high stakes Hellenistic realpolitik bearing life and death consequences. Ancient Greece would never be the same.

Weekends through May 10th

8pm Saturdays; 3pm Sundays

Company of Angels Theater, Boyle Heights

Witness the world premiere of Aristotle/Alexander, a play workshopped at the Getty Villa Theater Lab in 2024. Chronicling the story of Aristotle and a young Alexander the Great’s intellectual battle of wits, Noho Arts describes the new play as “utterly sublime” and “disturbingly relevant.”

Written and directed by Alex Lyras.

*Code GETTY50 is valid for 50% off each ticket throughout the run.

Learn more and purchase tickets

A Greek theatre, a first in the Ionian Islands

 As a matter of course, we expect about every Greek city to have a theater. This is, however, not the case on the Greek islands – until now. 

The Ionian island of Lefkada, situated along the west coast of Greece, lies about halfway between Corfu (ancient Corcyra) and Patras and has surprised every archaeologist with the presence of a large theater. 

In the 7^th century BC, many Corinthians set off to establish new colonies, such as Syracuse in Sicily, and some settled in Lefkada. This island is best known for its white cliffs, where the poetess Sappho jumped to her death in despair rather than facing an impossible love. 

Thanks to its strategic position along busy maritime routes, the city-state reached high cultural and economic prosperity. Archaeological research exposed sections of the city wall, residential structures, the harbor, and, more recently, remains of a theater on the northeastern slope of Koulmos Hill. 

[Picture from Greece Is]

Excavations started seriously in 2017, and soon the entire theater was exposed. It was established that it was built in the 4^th century BC and consisted of 21 rows of seats arranged around the orchestra. Originally, it could seat 3,500 spectators, but later extensions created space for over 10,000 visitors as more seats were added above an inserted diazoma. 

The latest excavation gave a good insight into the preserved sections of retaining walls (north and south), the seating area, the orchestra, and the stage itself. Many decorative elements have been revealed, as well as three beautifully carved thrones decorated with lion legs, dolphins, birds, sirens, and more. These were intended for priests or other city officials.

The fate of the theater was closely tied to that of Lefkada, which gradually declined in Roman times. As the city was abandoned at the end of antiquity, the theater’s stones were reused for later constructions elsewhere. 

Sealing a sarcophagus with lead staples

Over the centuries, history has seen sarcophagi in all shapes and sizes, and one would think we know them all. 

Well, here is a surprise. In today’s city of Reims in northern France, archaeologists discovered a sarcophagus that had been sealed off with huge staples! 

[Picture from Artnet,  © Émilie Jouhet, Inrap]

Excavating the necropolis of Durocortorum, as Reims was known in the days of Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, and more precisely of the local Remi tribe. 

By 51 BC, the city reached its heyday when it was enriched with many Roman monuments including a Forum and several Bath Houses. Reims has also yielded a huge Roman building from the 2^nd century AD including two nearly 20-meter-long Stoas. 

Outside the city wall, a vast necropolis was established. This surprised the archaeologists since the place was known as a swamp. 

However, the Roman engineers had managed to redirect the water to the Vesle River by building large ditches. The site so far revealed the remains of 20 burials. Among them was this unique, unopened sarcophagus from the 2^nd century AD, fastened with strong lead staples! The rough limestone used suggests that the tomb was built with spolia recuperated from elsewhere. 

The sarcophagus contained the skeleton of a woman surrounded by her funerary gifts, such as two glass bottles, a jug, four oil lamps, an amber ring, a comb, and a mirror.

[Picture from Artnet,  © Émilie Jouhet, Inrap]

A further study of the woman’s remains is currently underway, including a DNA sample that will be compared with the 80 already existing ones. So far, some 5,000 tombs have been excavated in the Reims area. 

We are not often talking about the far-reaching impressions Caesar’s conquest left in Gaul, but this stapled sarcophagus seems to be one of a kind…!

A Roman bust retrieved in Soli Pompeiopolis (Mersin)

Excavations in Soli have been ongoing since 2015 (see: A two-month project to excavate the city of Soli), and each year, more remains of buildings, walls, and statues reach the news. 

[Picture from Hürriyet Daily News]

The most recent find appears to be the bust of a Roman Emperor or another high-placed nobleman. Based on the style of his curly full beard, he has been dated to the 2^nd-3^rd century AD. Emperor Hadrian, who visited Cilicia in 129-130 AD, seems to have initiated the beard fashion that had been abandoned after Alexander the Great. 

After Hadrian, Roman men were generally depicted with a beard, and many of the successive emperors followed suit. 

The bust was recovered near the colonnade street and may have belonged to one of the statues that stood on the plinth of one of these columns. 

The near life-size head has been transferred to the Museum in Mersin, which holds many of the recent finds.