Amphitheater (Catania)

The Roman amphitheater of Catania

The entrance

The amphitheater of Catania ( Italian Anfiteatro romano di Catania ) was one of the largest in Sicily with 16,000 seats during the Roman Empire. The oval-shaped building is 71 m long and 51 m wide. It was probably built in the 2nd century. Dark basalt, white limestone and red bricks were used in the construction, giving the building an unusual color. As early as the reign of Theodoric (493-526) the theater was so dilapidated that the citizens of Catania asked the king to use fallen stones for the construction of the city wall, which Theodoric also approved. On the marble facade of the Cathedral of Catania there are two orders of columns from the Roman amphitheater. These were probably used by the Normans in the 11th century when building the first cathedral. The Egyptian obelisk on the elephant fountain also originally stood as a target column in the amphitheater.

Today it is partly overbuilt by baroque buildings and therefore not completely excavated. The exposed part is below today's street level in Piazza Stesicoro and is freely accessible.

Individual evidence

↑ Hans-Rudolf Meier: "The temples remained sacred to the eye when the gods long served for laughter ..." Texts and findings on dealing with the architectural heritage in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. In: Volker Hoffmann (Ed.): The "preservation of monuments" before the preservation of monuments. Files of the Bern Congress June 30 - July 3, 1999. Lang, Bern 2005, ISBN 3-03910-439-X , p. 158.
^ Gregor Clark, Cristian Bonetto: Lonely Planet Travel Guide Sicily. 4th edition, Mairdumont, Ostfildern 2017, ISBN 3-8297-4537-0 .
^ Brigitte Carnabuci: Sicily. Greek temples, Roman villas, Norman cathedrals and baroque cities in the center of the Mediterranean. DuMont, Cologne 1998, ISBN 978-3-7701-4385-6 , p. 87.
^ Brigitte Carnabuci: Sicily. Greek temples, Roman villas, Norman cathedrals and baroque cities in the center of the Mediterranean. DuMont, Cologne 1998, ISBN 978-3-7701-4385-6 , p. 93 f.

Web links

Commons : Amphitheater (Catania) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Casinum, Cassino - Amphitheater. In: Amphi-Theatrum .

37.507427 15.085844Coordinates: 37 ° 30 ′ 26.7 ″ N , 15 ° 5 ′ 9 ″ E

[1] Hans-Rudolf Meier: "The temples remained sacred to the eye when the gods long served for laughter ..." Texts and findings on dealing with the architectural heritage in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. In: Volker Hoffmann (Ed.): The "preservation of monuments" before the preservation of monuments. Files of the Bern Congress June 30 - July 3, 1999. Lang, Bern 2005, ISBN 3-03910-439-X , p. 158.

[2] Gregor Clark, Cristian Bonetto: Lonely Planet Travel Guide Sicily. 4th edition, Mairdumont, Ostfildern 2017, ISBN 3-8297-4537-0 .

[3] Brigitte Carnabuci: Sicily. Greek temples, Roman villas, Norman cathedrals and baroque cities in the center of the Mediterranean. DuMont, Cologne 1998, ISBN 978-3-7701-4385-6 , p. 87.

[4] Brigitte Carnabuci: Sicily. Greek temples, Roman villas, Norman cathedrals and baroque cities in the center of the Mediterranean. DuMont, Cologne 1998, ISBN 978-3-7701-4385-6 , p. 93 f.