ERATO Proceedings Istanbul 2006.pdf - Odeon

c) lack of effective frameworks for multidisciplinary synergies and common understanding between
historians, architects, archaeologists and computer scientists.
2. The Roman Theatre of Aspendos VR case study
The theatre of Aspendos is the best preserved roman theatre in Asia Minor, and it is calculated
that it was built around 161-180 A.D. during the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius. In 1078,
Pamphylia was claimed by the Seljuk Turks. Certain remains in the theatre of Aspendos and oral
sources imply that the theatre was used as a caravanserai (Merchants' Inn) by the Seljuk’s. In 1392
ottoman reign sat in and, by the declaration of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Aspendos took its
place within the boarders of the Turkish province of Antalya. It was only after the rediscovery of the
theatre by European archaeologists in the 19th century, after long centuries when the theatre was
forgotten to all but a few locals, that an architectural evaluation of the structure became an issue. In
the second half of the 19th century, the building caught the attention of scientists. It was the works of
researchers such as Lanckoronski [8] and Texier [9], although occasionally contradicting with each
other on certain assumptions, which helped to gradually sweep away the mist of centuries that
shadowed Aspendos.
3.1 Preparatory phase and data acquisition
The preliminary data acquisition process was carried out before starting to build the 3D virtual
model of the Aspendos site: high resolution digital photographic and video data was collected onsite
(figure 1) in order to complete and extend, due to scale factor related issues, the architectural
sections and plans of the building provided by the Yildiz Technical University of Istanbul.
Figure 1: On-site photos
Moreover, since the virtual reconstruction targets both a real time simulation of the edifice in its
present state, in order to study the impact of possible additions or restorations, and a real time 3D
virtual restitution of the site as it was in the III century, to allow an interactive visualization of its
long lost architectural elements, reliable archaeological sources were needed in order to guarantee a
consistent and plausible virtual restitution minimizing the arbitrary component in the choices for the
missing elements.
Figure 2: Detail of the Cavea section, general sections and layout of Aspendos by Lanckoronski
Hence, for the creation of the 3D virtual model of the Aspendos site, the works of Lanckoronski
[8] (samples presented in figure 2) and de Bernardi [10] were selected as a reference for the virtual
restitution of the stage building and its decorative elements, however, as a base for the model of the