The Roman Amphitheatre of Cagliari is an ancient
Roman amphitheatre
Roman amphitheatres are theatres — large, circular or oval open-air venues with tiered seating — built by the ancient Romans. They were used for events such as gladiator combats, ''venationes'' (animal slayings) and executions. About List of R ...
, located in the city of
Cagliari
Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...
, southern
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
The structure, built in the 2nd century AD, was half carved in the rock, while the rest was built in local white
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
, with a façade surpassing 20 m in height. The building axes measured about 93x80, those of the arena about 46.20x31.00. The surface of the arena was 1124.27 square meters. It housed fights between men and animals, of gladiators and other specialized fighters recruited in and outside Sardinia. It was also the seat of public executions. It could house up to 8,000 spectators, some one fourth of the Roman ''Caralis''.
The
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...
was no longer in use starting from the 5th century AD and was subsequently used as a free stone quarry by the rulers of the area, from the
Byzantines, the
Republic of Pisa
The Republic of Pisa () was an independent state existing from the 11th to the 15th century centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian t ...
, the
House of Aragon and others. The area was acquired by the ''
comune
A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...
'' of Cagliari in the 19th century and excavated under the direction of a clergyman,
Giovanni Spano.
See also
*
List of Roman amphitheatres
The remains of at least 230 Roman amphitheatres have been found widely scattered around the area of the Roman Empire. These are large, circular or oval open-air venues with raised 360 degree seating and not to be confused with the more common ...
References
External links
Article in ''La Nuova Sardegna''website
M. Dadea, L’anfiteatro romano di Cagliari, collana “Sardegna archeologica. Guide e Itinerari”, Sassari,Carlo Delfino, 2006
{{Coord, 39.223914, N, 9.113216, E, display=title
Buildings and structures in Cagliari
Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century
Cagliari
Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...
Roman sites of Sardinia