Trier, Arena

(2 photos)
When you enter the Roman Arena you walk through the ruins of the entrance gate. The 20,000 seat Roman Amphitheater, the oldest Roman structure in Trier, was built in 100 AD.

Where once there were seats for spectators who came to watch cruel games between gladiators and animals, slanted grassy banks remain. Unlike most other Roman Amphitheaters, the subterranean passageway under the main arena floor is still accessible by a flight of stairs. Under the playing field we walked among the huge timbers that support the 246 foot by 164 foot arena floor.

When we mention a Roman Amphitheater, most people know only the one in Rome, known as the Colosseum. The Romans built about 70 Arenas, and we have visited 15 Roman Amphitheaters — in Germany, Yugoslavia, France and Italy.
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At one time the Amphitheater was part of the city fortification, then for centuries it was treated as a stone quarry, a common practice many places in Europe. Its stones were used to build other nearby buildings, just as hundreds of buildings in Rome (including St. Peter’s Basilica) were built with stones “quarried” from that Coliseum. In years past, they had neither the tourist market to justify, nor the preservationists to insist on, continued maintenance.