This Amphitheatre is the oldest among those known in the Roman world. Built in 70 B.C., just before the colony was founded, on the initiative of magistrates Caius Quinctius Valgus and Marcus Porcius who also has built the Odeion. It could hold up to 20000 spectators. External staircases with two flights provide access to the upper bleachers and a downward corridor provides access to the lower ones. The arena is separated from the area intended for the spectators by a parapet with fresco paintings of gladiators; the upper part has inscriptions that are still legible with the names of the magistrates who had built the bleachers. In 59 A.D. the cheering spectators caused a bloody brawl between the people from Pompeii and those from Nocera. As a result of this unrest, the Senate of Rome decided to close the arena in Pompeii for ten years. However, this measure was withdrawn in 62 A.D., after a disastrous earthquake struck the city. Date of excavation: 1748; 1813-1814.
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