Roman Amphitheatre or Roman Theatre is located in the central region of Alexandria
city at Kom el-Dikka. Bordered by the Horrya Street in the north, Nabi Daniel
Street in west, Abdel Moneim Street in south and Saphia Zaghloul Street from the
eastern side, Roman Theatre is one of the symbols of Alexandria city.
Basically Amphitheatre means double theatre and were grand and impressive in
structure. Usually built in semi-circular shape, Amphitheatre was an open-air
theatre with no curtains on the stage.
The Roman Theatre of Egypt is modest in size and most of the part of the structure
is in ruined condition but still it is an excellent ancient structure of Roman
period of Egypt. The theatre also consists of numerous galleries erected crudely.
These galleries contain rooms for more spectators along with arrangement of
700-800 marble seats around the stage.
The Roman Amphitheatre was discovered in the excavations doing for the site
of Paneion or "Park of Pan" in Kom el-Dikkah also known by the name
of Hill of Rubble. In the layers of the above the roman street two other archaeological
sites were found. These were a Muslim Cemetery and slums.
Dating back from the 2nd century A.D, this Roman theatre had a large auditorium,
which measures 42m in diameter. The outer face of the theatre's building was
probably adorned with columns located in several storeys. However during later
times the theatre was rebuilt and the massive auditorium was diminished to 33.5
m in diameter. It then counted 16 rows of marble seats.
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