2000 year old Marble Thrones; at the Ancient Theatre of Amphiareion of Oropos, Greece
The Amphiareion at Oropos, sanctuary of the hero Amphiaraos, was greatly famed and frequented by pilgrims who went to seek oracular responses and healing.
While sleeping at the Amphiareion of Oropos worshippers were either healed of their ailments or got advice from the god in their dreams.
What is the prohedria in Greek Theatre?
The first seats in Greek theatres (other than just sitting on the ground) were wooden, but around 499 BC the practice of inlaying stone blocks into the side of the hill to create permanent, stable seating became more common. They were called the prohedria and reserved for priests and a few most respected citizens.
The theater thrones
Inside the ancient theater, built in the 2nd century BC with pilgrims’ offerings, an ornate flower is sculpted into one of the thrones. Next to it, a wild orchid has sprung up and, a little further away, daisies and windflowers – nature imitating art. The wooden seats have disappeared, but the five marble thrones for VIPs are in excellent condition, while the impressive colonnade of the proscenium – the front of the stage – has been restored, thanks to the efforts of two nonprofit organizations, Diazoma (Tier) and Monumenta. Last summer, a performance took place in the theater for the first time in centuries, jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation.
The Amphiareion of Oropos (Greek: Άμφιάρειο Ωρωπού), situated in the hills 6 km southeast of the fortified port of Oropos, was a sanctuary dedicated in the late 5th century BCE to the hero Amphiaraos, where pilgrims went to seek oracular responses and healing. It became particularly successful during the 4th century BCE, to judge from the intensive building at the site. The hero Amphiaraos was a descendant of the seer Melampos and initially refused to participate in the attack on Thebes (detailed in the Seven Against Thebes of Aeschylus) because he could foresee that it would be a disaster. In some versions of the myth, the earth opens and swallows the chariot of Amphiaraos, transforming him into a chthonic hero. Today the site is found east of the modern town Markopoulo Oropou in the Oropos municipality of Attica, Greece.
In Greek mythology, Amphiaraus or Amphiaraos (/ˌæmfiəˈreɪəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιάραος, Ἀμφιάρεως, "very sacred" was the son of Oicles, a seer, and one of the leaders of the Seven against Thebes. Amphiaraus at first refused to go with Adrastus on this expedition against Thebes as he foresaw the death of everyone who joined the expedition. His wife, Eriphyle, eventually compelled him to go.
The Amphiareion of Oropos, a sanctuary named after the mythical hero Amphiaraos, one of the Seven Against Thebes, who foretold the demise of everyone who joined the expedition, was known to most people in the Greek-speaking world in the 4th century BC.
People would go there at least once a year for the Lesser Amphiareia and every five years for the Greater Amphiareia, with their musical, equestrian and sports contests in which actors, scholars and athletes from across Greece, the Greek cities of southern Italy (Magna Graecia) and Asia Minor would participate. Many would visit at other times too, to receive an oracular response and to ask for the advice of Amphiaraos, the chthonic (underground) god, or seek therapy. Then, they would enter the sanctuary from the east, from the grand gallery.
Nowadays, visitors enter the site from the west, but it doesn’t make any difference. Inside the thick pine forest, a small city rises on both sides of the Mavrodilesi creek, also known as Haradra (Gorge). On the one bank are the official buildings – temple, theater, altars, gallery, spas – and on the other, the settlement with its guesthouse, tavernas, agora and the famous clepsydra, one of the two extant ancient memorial water clocks – the other is in Athens’ agora – that operated the same way: a tap emptied the water from a rectangular basin very slowly, keeping the time.
The sanctuary was built in the second half of the 5th century BC after an oracle demanded the rebuilding of the derelict Amphiareion of Thebes at Oropos, southeast of Thebes and about 37 kilometers north/northeast of Athens. During the 4th century BC, it became one of ancient Greece’s most important sanctuaries; however, the important port of Oropos changed masters many times over the course of about 400 years, with Athens, Thebes and Eretria, a city on the island of Evia, controlling the city most frequently. John Camp, in his book “The Antiquities of Athens and Attica” (published in Greek by Kardamitsas), says that Oropos changed masters 12 times between 490 BC and the 1st century BC, while also enjoying brief periods of autonomy.
All this happened for Amphiaraos, one of seven mythical, or semi-mythical, rulers from Argos, who led an expedition against Thebes, together with Polynices (the story is detailed in Aeschylus’ play “Seven Against Thebes”). Amphiaraos was killed in the expedition or, as legend has it, Zeus launched a thunderbolt that opened a chasm which swallowed Amphiaraos’ chariot. Thus, he was worshipped as an underground god, with prophetic power, who could also heal body and mind.
Home 
