2-368-531 - Samuel Magal/Sites & Photos/Heritage Images

The theatre at Aphrodisias, Turkey. The theatre at Aphrodisias was built in the second half of the first century BC on the eastern slope of the acropolis. According to its inscription it was dedicated to Aphrodite and the people of the city by Julius Zoilos, a former slave of Octavian. The seating capacity was 8,000. The stage building consisted of six vaulted dressing or storage rooms out of which four opened into the corridor behind the proskene. Built near a marble quarry in Anatolia, the city of Aphrodisias was once famed for its famous sculpture school and for being one of the several cities that was dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. It was named after Aphrodite in the second century BC, but according to the Suda, before being known as Aphrodisias, it had three previous names: Lelegon Polis, Megale Polis and Ninoë, a name derived from Ninos. Ninos was the mythical founder of the Assyro-Babylonian Empire and the husband of the famous Semiramis. The city was later renamed as Stauropolis in the Cristian Era.