Ancient Epidavros

Amid the emeralds and sapphires of nature lies the town of Epidavros. Ancient Epidavros, the town’s administrative center, overlooks the blue color of the sea, while among the emerald green vegetation other villages are laid out.

Ancient Epidavros is a beautiful farming and fishing village laid out on the site where the ancient Epidaurian capital once stood. The latter has been widely known since the pre-Hellenic era. The population of Ancient Epidavros numbers today 2000 people, yet, it rises to 10.000 in summer.

While staying at Ancient Epidauros the visitor can go to the sea-side town of Nea Epidauros with the house in which the First National Assembly took place from the 21st of December 1821 until the 15th of January 1822.

Theater on Ancient Epidavros

The prosperity brought by the Asklepieion enabled Epidauros to construct civic monuments too: the huge theater that delighted Pausanias for its symmetry and beauty, which is used once again for dramatic performances, the ceremonial Hestiatoreion (banqueting hall), baths and a palaestra.

The theater was designed by Polykleitos the Younger in the 4th century BC. The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows. As is usual for Greek theaters (and as opposed to Roman ones), the view on a lush landscape behind the skene is an integral part of the theater itself and is not to be obscured.

The theater is marveled for its exceptional acoustics, which permit almost perfect intelligibility of unamplified spoken word from the proscenium or skene to all 15,000 spectators, regardless of their seating (see Ref., in Greek). Famously, tour guides have their groups scattered in the stands and show them how they can easily hear the sound of a match struck at center-stage.

A 2007 study by Nico F. Declercq and Cindy Dekeyser of the Georgia Institute of Technology indicates that the astonishing acoustic properties are either the result of an accident or the product of advanced design: The rows of limestone seats filter out low-frequency sounds, such as the murmur of the crowd, and amplify/reflect high-frequency sounds from the stage.