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In stone
It is one of the oldest Roman amphitheatres built of stone
The amphitheatre was built around 70 BC, one of the earliest Roman amphitheatres in stone, where earlier ones were wood. Two private donors paid for it, Gaius Quinctius Valgus and Marcus Porcius, and it was designed to host around 20,000 people.
The arena
The arena is sunk six metres and has no cellar for gladiators
The amphitheatre measures 135 m long and 104 m wide, and the arena lies 6 m below ground level. Being one of the earliest, it had no underground area for the gladiators; the quadriporticus was built above ground and close to the arena.
The posters
Painted posters advertised gladiators like today's sports stars
Painted posters on the walls showed gladiators with slogans and nicknames, like modern posters of sports stars. Some were repainted to state the outcome of major events. One poster calls a gladiator the Heart throb of the girls.
The brawl
A brawl in 59 AD got games banned for ten years
Around 59 AD a deadly brawl broke out between Pompeiians and residents of Nuceria during games in the amphitheatre, and the games were banned for 10 years. An earthquake damaged it in 62 AD, and after its restoration the ban was revoked.
Pink Floyd
In 1971 Pink Floyd played here with no audience
Over four days in October 1971 Pink Floyd made a concert film at the amphitheatre with no audience except the film crew. David Gilmour returned in July 2016 for two concerts, the first public performances in the amphitheatre since 79 AD.
Day 7, afternoon
It comes after House of the Faun.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Amphitheatre of Pompeii, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.