Sculpture in Context: New Research on the theatre at Hierapolis of Phrygia

The Theatre of Hierapolis presents one of the richest complexes of architectural sculpture in imperial-era Asia Minor. The sculptural reliefs of the podia with the myths of Apollo and Artemis, as well as the so-called agonistic frieze have undergone a thorough overhaul, which moves the interest toward the archaeology of production and the investigation of the operational sequence. The iconographic and stylistic analysis aims to reconstruct the phases of sculptural design and execution process. Furthermore, the attention paid to the technical features allows us to understand the organisation of the work according to the visibility of the subjects and in relation to the other reliefs of the first order, as the Dionysian and Eleusinian sculptural reliefs are discussed here for the first time. In this perspective, the technical characteristics, from the use of the tools to the formal qualities, are used to highlight the relationships between the stonemasons operating in the Theatre, probably local craftsmen, and those who worked in the Nymphaeum of Apollo’s Sanctuary a few years before and in the Nymphaeum of the Tritons in late Severan period. Lastly, some comparisons with sculptural reliefs from other urban centres in the Maeander Valley may help to elucidate the Hierapolis’ sculptural cycle wit hin the lively regional landscape.