Amphitheatre of Serdica
About
Serdica's amphitheater rose in the late 3rd century under Diocletian and was completed under Constantine I, its oval measuring 60 by 43 meters just outside the city walls. It sat atop an earlier, ill-dated theater that Gothic raiders had already wrecked. A hotel foundation dig accidentally rediscovered it in 2004. Every phase of it postdates Trajan's death in 117 CE.
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 →