Silchester Roman Amphitheatre
About
Workers cut this oval arena into the earth just outside Calleva's northeast corner sometime between 55 and 75 CE, banking the spoil into raised seating that still rings the field today. By the time Trajan died on 11 August 117, this amphitheatre had already been staging fights and gatherings for more than forty years. Excavators later found traces of a small shrine to Nemesis, goddess of fate, tucked against the arena wall; it would not gain its familiar stone-faced shape for another 150 years.
What happened here
Doors open early and the programme runs all day. Morning is animal hunts, staged with scenery hauled up through trapdoors from the corridors below. Midday is executions, and it is the hour when the seats thin out and people go for lunch. The afternoon is the gladiators, matched by type and record like boxers, refereed, and stopped when a man raises a finger. Most fights are not to the death — a trained fighter is expensive — but a decision can go the other way and the crowd is consulted. Seating is strictly by rank: officials at the front, women at the top. Awnings are worked by sailors detailed for the job. Sand is spread thick and replaced between shows, and the whole building smells of it.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →