Amphitheatre

Ruin of Roman arena for fights of gladiators and animals, built about AD 100, the ranks could hold 20.000 spectators.

Beyond the medieval city wall lies the Roman Amphitheater. Here were conducted cruel combats of animals and gladiators, popular public entertainment. When you enter the premises (fee) you walk through the ruins of the entrance gate. This was used as a quarry in the Middle Ages. The arena itself is surrounded by a protecting wall with openings for animal cages. The stone seats above were dismantled in the 13th century, but the Amphitheater has retained crystal-clear acoustics and is used for occasional open-air concerts today. Underneath the arena is a vast cellar where, in Roman times, prisoners sentenced to death (ad bestias, to the beasts!) were kept alongside exotic wild animals like African lions or Asian tigers. A moveable platform took them up to the arena for the final show-down.

In the vicinity of the Amphitheater is the site of the former chariot racing course, a structure that was compared to the Roman Circus Maximus in a description from 310. Nothing is visible of this racing course except a seemingly unmotivated curve in the street at the St. Agritius Church, a curve marking the former turning-point of the circus.

Trier's three Roman baths lie on the same axis because they were fed by the same 13 km (8 mile) long aqueduct reaching the city near the Amphitheater; they also used the same sewer system that still partially runs underneath the modern city, accessible, however, only through a private basement.