Viminacium Amphitheatre
About
Legionaries and townsfolk at Viminacium first watched games in a timber amphitheatre raised outside the fortress during Trajan's reign, its arena floor packed with sand over a 55 by 45 meter oval. Trajanic coins turned up in its earliest levels. Stone-and-timber rebuilding that folded the arena into the city walls came later, at the end of the 2nd century, well after this snapshot. Excavators found bear and camel bones from its animal hunts.
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 →