Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls
About
Built at the foot of the Croix-Rousse hill at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône, funded around 19 CE by the imperial-cult priest Gaius Julius Rufus, per his own surviving dedication (CIL XIII 1698). It hosted the annual Council of the Three Gauls, the federal assembly of Gaul's provinces. Two added galleries later raised its capacity to roughly 20,000, but the original amphitheatre was already in full use by 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.
In ancient writing
- Strabo, Geography 4.3.2
The temple to Augustus at the meeting of the rivers, put up jointly by all the Gauls, with its altar and the names of sixty tribes carved on 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 →