Amphitheatre is a word stands for ancient Greek term which means an open air area used for kinds of performances. The Greek amphitheatres were usually structured as circular or oval shape with many seated steps for the audience. It was actually more like open air stadium, and was spread all over countries like Italy, Turkey, Jordan and Greece when Romans were dominating all of these regions. The amphitheatre of Alexandria was discovered by coincidence in the year of 1960. When the Egyptian government was getting ready to set one its buildings in the area of kom El Dekka, one of the workers found solid column underneath the dust and sand during preparing the location by engineers. Immediately, an excavation team where down the location to examine what have been found. The Roman theatre was a very important discovery in the 20th century. It was proven that the theatre was built since the 4th A.D century and was used up until the 7th century passing by the Roman, byzantine and Islamic eras.
The Roman theatre we see today at Alexandria city is a typical form Roman theatres, consisting of audience section made of marble, granite columns, five compartments and based on thick limestone walls. The theatre used to host huge ceremonies and events with a capacity of 600 spectators. The audience section consisted of 13 rows made of white marble and the supported columns were made of granite exported from Aswan city south Egypt. The five compartments on the top of the audience section probably were used to host some royals or public figures during performances, and was covered by ceilings in the shape of domes supported by granite columns to protect the audience from the sun and rain. In the 6th century A.D, an earthquake hit Alexandria and destroyed most of these structures leaving only some ruins that still stands until today, reflecting the beautiful and magnificent architectural skills that Romans had.
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