Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Capua Ampitheatre

April 5, 2014

The Amphitheatre in S. Maria Capua Vetere, is the second largest amphitheatre of ancient Italy.  The only larger ampitheatre is the Colosseum in Rome.  It was built between the I and II century A.C., on top of the ruins of a similar structure.  (It was the ampitheatre beneath this ampitheatre where Spartacus was trained to be a gladiator.)  The ampitheatre was inaugurated in 155 A.C. by Antonino Pio.  It was destroyed, first by the Vandals, then by the Saracens and was then used as a fortress by the Longobard princes of Capua.

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As we were driving to Caserta to listen to General Converence with the missionaries, we drove very close to the Capua Ampitheatre and stopped so the couple with us could see it.









































If you look very closely you can see the outline of markings that look similar to a sun.  These lines are the pattern for the arches in the ampitheatre.  All the blocks were cut according to this pattern so that every arch would be identical.











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