THÉNAC
Dept. Charente, France.
The theater
of Thénac is very close to Route Nationale No. 137, on
the same side as the spot called Les Arènes and a little
S of it; at Les Arènes can be seen a Roman wall, well
built, made of mortared rubble faced with small blocks,
which belonged to some unidentified monument. Partial
excavations in 1828 discovered a theater of unusual
plan: a semicircle that was split into five sections
separated by vomitoria. It was not possible to dig farther
at that time, so excavation was abandoned. Later the
cavea wall was uncovered and not five but six sections
were revealed, divided by as many vomitoria. Each section was made up of three semicircular balconies, joined
together with the middle one projecting beyond those at
each side. Also, the section at the outer rim of the
general semicircle was divided radially in two, small
balconies again being attached to the vomitoria walls
towards the center of the semicircle. Curiously, the
theater axis does not pass through a balcony but through
the axis of the middle corridor.
Only one coin was found on the site, in the most recent excavations; it dates from the reign of Claudius II
(268-70), which seems to indicate that the theater was
still functioning just before the destruction of Saintes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grenier III, 2 (1958) 851
P;
Gallia
25.2 (1967) 254; ibid. 27.2 (1969) 269-71
PI.
F. EYGUN
