The Virtual Theatre of Miletus

Photo: CSMC

The VR reconstruction of the historical theatre of Miletus not only enables scholars to exactly comprehend the spatial context of the theatre’s inscriptions but also provides audiences beyond the university with an easily accessible and interactive insight into research.

As part of the project ‘Immersive City Scripts: Inscriptions and the Construction of Social Spaces in Miletus (Asia Minor)’ at the Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’, PhD students Jenny Gabel and Lauren Osthof have developed a virtual reality reconstruction of the historical theatre of Miletus.

It is a low-threshold tool with which current scientific findings can be communicated to a broader public. With this application, the theatre can be entered virtually in different time stages. In addition, it provides information on the numerous inscriptions in the building, which are a central medium of public communication in many phases of antiquity. VR makes it possible to directly comprehend their effect in ancient spaces in an exemplary manner. The tool can be further developed in the long term and applied to other sites; it can also be used very well in cooperation with museums.

The project is funded by the DFG as part of the Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’ at Universität Hamburg.