Archaeologists in Switzerland have uncovered the ruins of the last
amphitheater built during the Roman era. They estimate the place is most
likely a gladiator arena, where the audience witnessed the fight between
gladiators and wild animals.
This oval-shaped amphitheater was built in an abandoned Roman quarry and was
in use until the end of Roman rule.
Quoting Live Science, Friday (1/28/2022) Jakob Baerlocher, the archaeologist
in this study explained that the building is the youngest amphitheater in
the era of the Roman Empire.
This is indicated by the discovery of coins between 337 and 342 AD at the
site which indicates that the amphitheater dates from the 4th century AD.
Some other evidence that corroborates that the arena dates from that time is
the composition of the amphitheater building materials, such as stone blocks
and mortar.
Archaeologists themselves discovered the amphitheater by accident while
monitoring construction work for a new ship shed on the Rhine River,
Kaiseraugst, Switzerland in December 2021.
Aargau Cantonal Archeology, an agency that works with the government of
Aargau, even knew about the ancient Roman mines at the site, but did not
expect to find an amphitheater there.
Furthermore, the amphitheater is 50 meters long and 40 meters wide. Then
there is a large gate to the south of the Amphitheater flanked by two
entrances.
On the west side of the arena, archaeologists found preserved sandstone
blocks. The walls of the inner arena are plastered and traces of the pillars
for the seats are also visible.
The discovery of the ancient Roman amphitheater is by no means rare. Earlier
in the spring of 2021, archaeologists in Turkey announced the discovery of a
Roman amphitheater that can seat up to 20,000 spectators.
However, both the amphitheaters found in Turkey and Switzerland are much
smaller than the Colosseum in Rome.
The Colosseum itself was built around 70 AD and can accommodate about 50,000
people. The central arena measures about 87 x 55 meters, larger than the
entire amphitheater ever discovered.
