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The Roman Amphitheatre In Alexandria
Every town in ancient Rome had an
amphitheatre, which means, "double theatre".
They were grand and impressive, shaped in a
half circle, open to the sky, and might have
held 100.000 people. The stage had no
curtain; it was just a stone platform.
Imagine yourself in ancient Alexandria, in
the Roman theatre on a hot afternoon. All
you can smell is the Mediterranean mist; all
you can see are wild beasts, driven in
through the tall doorway, and the fighters
coming in from all around the floor. Famous
jockeys and gladiators are walking in, and
then the excitement begins.
The Roman theatre is located in the modern
area of Kom El-Dikaa, which is almost in the
centre of the city of Alexandria, Egypt bordered
by Horrya street from the north, Nabi Daniel
street from the west, Abdel Moneim street
from the south, and Saphia Zaghloul street
from the east.
Dating from the 2nd century A.D it has a
large auditorium, about 42m in diameter. The
outer face of this building was probably
adorned with columns located in several
storey. In later times the theatre was
rebuilt and its auditorium was diminished to
33.5 m in diameter. It then counted 16 rows
of marble seats |
The last major rebuild was in the 6th
century A.D, when the stage was turned into
a huge vestibule, joined with the auditorium
by means of a triple–arcade. Two marble
pedestals and the bases of the columns are
preserved. The auditorium was lowered to 13
rows of seats, and a dome, which soon fell
into ruins, covered it.
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