by Stephan G. Schmid, Zbigniew T. Fiema and Bernhard Kolb
III. The 2014 survey season – structure 9
This building was already described by early explorers of Petra. Their interpretation of the structure was that of a „small theatre“. That interpretation, neither with regard to the form nor the function, can be supported by the NEPP investigations. Instead, Structure 9 appears as, a highly decorative, leisure-related pavilion. More importantly, the structure is located exactly in the point of Petra’s topography where the N–S approach axis from the outer Siq is dramatically changed into a more E–W axis of the center of the city, as represented by the Colonnaded Street. Therefore, the main function of Structure 9 was to visually ease the main change in the axiality of the area through the skillful combination of 3-dimensional entitites: the building itself, the approach wall and the pavement in front of the building (fig. 4).
Fig. 4: Pavement in front of Structure 9 (photo: M. Dehner)
The visually pleasing transition from the straight into the perpendicular perspective, is furthermore underlined by the overall design of the building, its elegant internal appearance and the decoration. Unlike the conventional theaters, Structure 9 appears to have been open in the front (fig 5). The stylobate which encloses the front of the building is also its terminus (fig. 6). Presumably, the columns carried a continuous architrave. The building itself is not a perfect semicircle, as previously reconstructed but rather as a „teardrop“ in shape, with the NW half being a full quarter-circle but the SE half being somewhat „flattened“ and elongated – again an intentional visual effect (fig. 7).
Fig. 5: General view of Structure 9 (photo: M. Dehner)Fig. 6: The stylobate of Structure 9. View from SE (photo: M. Dehner)Fig. 7: Overall plan of Structure 9 (plan: M. Holappa and J. Falkenberg)
The external walls of the structure use extensively bedrock formation cut to facilitate the insertion of inner walls (fig. 8). The investigations of the interior of the building did not find any elements, such as steps, seats, cunei, vomitoria – which could indicate the theatrical function. Rather, the interior, as proposed above, was divided into two zones, lower, which occupies the largest space and the upper one, which appears as a rounded walkway along the external wall. Some three-dimensional decorative elements, such as semicircular niches (fig. 9) and water basins (figs. 10 and 11), were also noted during the survey.
Fig. 8: The upper external wall of Structure 9. View from W (photo: M. Dehner)Fig. 9: One of decorative niches in the inner wall of Structure 9 (photo: M. Dehner)Fig. 10: The inner wall of Structure 9 featuring a decorative basin in upper left (photo: M. Dehner)Fig. 11: The inner wall of Structure 9 featuring a decorative basin in upper left (photo: M. Dehner)
It is apparent that in addition to the interplay of light and shadow, water also played an important decorative role in the building. The surface finds include a number of thin (ca. 0.7-1.2 cm) marble fragments – pavonazzetto, cippolino, and giallo antico types were noted among the others – which must have formed decoration attached to the walls of the structure (figs. 13 and 14). Additionally, one fragment of a marble screen, probably of Byzantine date, was found in Structure 9 (fig. 14).
Fig. 12: Decorative marble fragments from Structure 9 (photo: M. Dehner)Fig. 13: Decorative marble fragments from Structure 9 (photo: M. Dehner)Fig. 14: Decorated marble fragment from Structure 9 (photo: M. Dehner)
