Stage Reliefs

The friezes covering the facade of the stage building present mythological scenes in individual panels. The dominant theme is the tales of Apollo, the city's patron god, and his sister Artemis; in this cycle of more than a hundred figures, ceremonial processions, the crowning of the gods and mythological figures are depicted.

These reliefs were not merely decoration — for the ancient spectator, the facade behind the stage was itself a stage that visually proclaimed the city's religious identity and its bond with the gods.

The facade's present arrangement dates from the renovation of the reign of Septimius Severus (AD 193–211), and among the panels the imperial propaganda of the period can also be read: one frieze shows Septimius Severus in a ceremonial procession together with his family and the gods; the dedicatory inscription is also preserved.

That the mythological panels and the imperial panels meet on the same facade is no coincidence — the city of the gods and the power of Rome were united in a single composition before the spectator.

Some of the reliefs are preserved on the theatre's stage facade, at the very place where they were unearthed; others have been moved to the Hierapolis Archaeology Museum so that they can be studied in detail and protected from the elements. The museum is housed within the great Roman bath of the ancient city.

The panels that remain in place can be seen from a distance as you tour the theatre, while the pieces in the museum allow a close look at the craftsmanship of the marble and the facial expressions of the figures.