Pozzuoli’s amphitheater ranks third in size after the Colosseum and Capua’s arena, and its history reaches back further than most Roman spectacle buildings: work likely began under Nero and continued through the Flavian dynasty as the colony of Puteoli grew rich on trade. What sets it apart lies beneath the arena floor. The underground galleries survive in exceptional detail, with the trapdoors, ramps and cage lifts that once hauled animals and scenery up into the arena still legible in the stone. Walk the corridors where keepers managed lions and bears, and look for the channels cut for stage machinery, a system no other Roman arena preserves so clearly. Earthquakes and the bradyseism of the nearby Solfatara have shaped the site nearly as much as its builders did.
A large Roman spectacle building erected by the Flavian colony as Puteoli expanded, with unusually legible service infrastructure.
Sources and citations (1)
- Parco Archeologico dei Campi FlegreiAnfiteatro FlavioSite descriptionRead source
