Trier Amphitheatre

About this place

A Roman amphitheatre of about **AD 100** on a hillside east of the city, holding some **twenty thousand spectators** — a quarter of Trier''s population at its height. It was built with economic cunning: instead of raising the seating on arches as at the Colosseum, **half of it was cut into the slope** and the excavated earth used to build the other half. A cheaper, faster method, and common in the provinces. What distinguishes it today is not the seating — its stone was carried off over the centuries — but **what lies beneath**: a complete and well-preserved **cellar under the arena**, which can be entered and walked. It held wooden lifting mechanisms that raised animals and fighters into the arena through hatches, along with cages and stores. Roman substructures preserved to this degree are rare. Note: it has a later chapter. In the fourth century the amphitheatre was used as a **place of execution** — Constantine had Frankish prisoners killed here publicly. In the Middle Ages it became a stone quarry and then vineyards. Note: it is **entirely open with no shade**, and the ground is uneven grass.