The Roman Amphitheatre of Cagliari is an ancient Roman amphitheatre, located in the city of

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

, southern Sardinia, Italy. The structure, built in the 2nd century AD, was half carved in the rock, while the rest was built in local white limestone, 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 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 House of Aragon and others. The area was acquired by the '' comune'' of Cagliari in the 19th century and excavated under the direction of a clergyman,

Giovanni Spano Giovanni Spano (born Ploaghe, Sardinia, 3 March 1803; died Cagliari, Sardinia, 3 April 1878), also a priest and a linguist, is considered one of the first archaeologists to study the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. After elementary school in w ...

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

Roman sites of Sardinia

See also

References

External links