I know when you think Colosseum you think Rome, If you've seen a Colosseum outside of the Russell Crowe movie then chances are it's the one in Rome. But I'm here to tell you that the one in El Jem in Tunisia is much much better, and has far less people.
So a history history - Carthage is modern Day Tunisia. The Carthaginians ran the 'world' which was the Mediterranean before the Roman empire. In fact they fought with the Romans a lot, in fact three Punic Wars. But eventually the Roman's won and they conquered Carthage, and as victors do they bought plenty of their stuff with them. Stadia amongst them.
Time to break out some Wikipedia The amphitheatre was built around 238 AD in Thysdrus, located in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis in present-day El Djem, Tunisia. It is one of the best preserved Roman stone ruins in the world, and is unique in Africa. As other amphitheatres in the Roman Empire, it was built for spectator events, and it is one of the biggest amphitheatres in the world. The estimated capacity is 35,000
What is amazing from a visiting point of view - is that it is so quiet, it's weird in that it's in the middle of the town of El Jem, so the lead up is just a normal ebough street with a Roman ruin at the end of it.
Then as you get closer you are shocked by a)the lack of people and becuase this is Africa, of course there is a Camel for you to get a picture on with the Coliseum in the background - which we didn't do.
A closer look at the outside, and you can get a sense of the sheer size, Like the one in Rome there are three tiers, and from this side it's largely enact (there is a gap in the other side, as this thing was used as fortress so there was from damage from that, and then as a source of stone for houses and whatnot)
Also unlike the one in Rome once you are inside, you can go wherever you want, from the arena floor, and in fact the cells underneath the ground right up to the top of the third tier, and what a view from up here, note the four other people we are sharing the space with on the arena floor.
As mentioned the other side of the arena isn't quite as complete as the 'front' but it is interesting in it's own right
There are of course many amazing angles of this place, in fact it is a little overwhelming to think that this has stood for a few thousand years, that all that time ago there would have be real gladiators, and lions and battles happening in here all for the amusement of the Roman subjects.
It's also where this very strange ad from Nike was filmed in 1996
The scale of this place is stunning
Wow!... What a place, and what a shots @harveyword friend!
!discovery shots
!PIZZA
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@jlinaresp(5/15) tipped @harveyword
This post was shared and voted inside the discord by the curators team of Discovery-it in collaboration with Visual Shots community.
Discovery-it is also a Witness, vote for us here
Delegate to us for passive income. Check our 80% fee-back Program
This is really something amazing, I had no idea there was a coliseum there, thanks for sharing!