With the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, a statue head with the size of a human head was found in the area called East Vomitorium during excavations at the Turkey, İzmir Smyrna Theater located in the Kadifekale region by İzmir Katip Çelebi University.
Excavations in the theater, located on the slope between Kadifekale and Smyrna Agora, in the ancient city of Smyrna, which bears the traces of Izmir‘s last 3,000-year history, started a few years ago. A part of the audience seats of the theater, which was abandoned to its fate in the 4th century AD after being used for about 700 years and covered with earth over time, has been unearthed today. At the beginning of the Roman Period in Anatolia, an architect named Vitruvius speaks highly of the theater here. It was clear that there would be a theater that deserved this praise. But the theater is slowly taking shape.
According to the news of AA (Anadolu Agency), the head of the statue symbolizing the mythological creature Satyros found in the excavations of the Smyrna Theater was made in the 2nd century AD.
İzmir Katip Çelebi University, Department of Turkish-Islamic Archeology, Lecturer Associate Professor Akın Ersoy, who is the head of the Excavation Committee, said that vomitoriums are connection points used in theaters to reach the audience’s chairs.
He stated that they have been working in the “Western Vomitorium” section since 2021 within the framework of the theater excavations.
Akın Ersoy gave the following information about the historical find: “We found a statue head belonging to Satyros during these excavations. Satryros is located in the places where Dionysus, known as a mythological being and the patron god of theatres, is located. It is also important to find this work, which describes a male mythological entity, in the area where the theater is located.”
Akın Ersoy said that after the cleaning works are completed, the head of the statue will be delivered to the Izmir Archeology Museum.