June 2022
12 Travelling around Greece
ADOPTING AN ANCIENT THEATRE
The students of the 6th class in the First Primary school of Nea Anchialos traveled with the help of technology to different ancient theatres in Greece. After that, they decided to learn more about them and adopt two that are in their "neighborhood". It is about
the ancient theatre of Mikrothives and the ancient theatre of Dimitriados. The ancient theatre of Fthiotidon Thivon is located 4km outside Anchialos and on the east of the village Mikrothives. It is a theatre of Hellenistic form that was built in the 4th century BC
with a capacity of 3.000 spectators, that hosted ancient drama festivals and musical competitions. Its position has the advantage of the excellent acoustic function. With the combination of abundant views that the spectators saw in the Pagasitikos Gulf, they could enjoy the cultural events. The research in the field of theatre has not been completed and even today a key goal of researchers is the complete unrevealing of this important monument. The second theatre is located within the boundaries of the walls of ancient Dimitriadosin the position "dontia"(teeth)near the district of the "Neon Pagason" of the municipality of Volos. It was built at the same time as the founding of the ancient city by Demetrios the besieger with a settlement of the cities of Magnesia, in 294-292 BC opposite the palace of the Macedonian kings and below the hill where the memorial of the leaders and builders of the
city of Dimitriados was founded. The form it has today gives the image of a monument naked from the stone figurines in the area of the hollow, while the building of the stage belongs to the Roman period.. After learning the general historical and geographical elements of the theatres, as well as their basic parts, we dealt with the plays, the actors, and their costumes. The students drew the ancient theatre as they could imagine it and with the help of the music teacher they learned in fluent ancient Greek two "odes"(songs) dedicated to beauty and spring. In addition, they made masks with cardboard and after visiting the theatre site of the ancient Dimitriados, they wore them as ancient actors and sang the "odes" in ancient Greek surprising the attendees. They were surprised by what they have learned from the archeologist who did the tour and immediately expressed
