Theatre

The Roman theatre of Aspendos, built around 155 CE during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, is widely considered one of the best-preserved ancient theatres in the Greco-Roman world. Designed by the local architect Zenon, it seated approximately 15,000 spectators, and its two-storey stage wall — the scaenae frons — with colonnades and relief panels still stands nearly intact, an extraordinary rarity among ancient monuments. Its survival owes much to the Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad, who repurposed the structure in the 13th century as a caravanserai and later a palace, inadvertently shielding it from ruin. The theatre remains in active use today: the Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival performs here each summer, and the Roman acoustic design is so effective that amplification is barely required.