Qualla: Amphitheatre of El Jem

Amphitheatre of El Jem: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Виктор Пинчук, CC BY 4.0. It appears from the air like something misplaced. A Roman amphitheatre the size of the Colosseum stands in the middle of a small Tunisian town, its honey-colored arches rising above flat-roofed houses and dusty streets. The Amphitheatre of El Jem was built around 238 AD in Thysdrus, then one of the wealthiest cities in Roman Africa, enriched by the olive oil trade that made this region indispensable to Rome's food supply. Today Thysdrus is gone. The amphitheatre remains.

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Image: Виктор Пинчук | CC BY 4.0

Amphitheatre of El Jem: An Empire's Appetite for Spectacle

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nadagrissa, CC BY-SA 4.0. The numbers are staggering for a provincial city. The amphitheatre's major axis measures 148 meters, its minor axis 122 meters, and it could seat an estimated 35,000 spectators. Built entirely of stone blocks on flat ground rather than carved into a hillside, it is one of the lar...

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Image: Nadagrissa | CC BY-SA 4.0

Amphitheatre of El Jem: Survival Through Reinvention

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Falbe, Christian Tuxen (1791-1849). Cartographe, Public domain. The amphitheatre outlasted the empire that built it by finding new uses in every century. When the spectacles ended, the structure became a fortress. When the fortress was no longer needed, it became a saltpetre factory in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Around 1850...

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Image: Falbe, Christian Tuxen (1791-1849). Cartographe | Public domain

Amphitheatre of El Jem: Beneath the Arena Floor

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ivan25, CC BY-SA 4.0. Below the sandy arena lies the hypogeum, the underground network of corridors and chambers where gladiators waited, animals were caged, and the machinery of spectacle was hidden from the audience. At El Jem, the hypogeum is remarkably well preserved and open to visitors, offering...

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Image: Ivan25 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Amphitheatre of El Jem: A Second Life on Screen

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0. The amphitheatre's cinematic presence has given it a kind of modern fame. Monty Python's Life of Brian used it as a location, and in 1996, Nike filmed its iconic "Good vs Evil" commercial here, staging a gladiatorial soccer match featuring Eric Cantona, Ronaldo, Paolo Maldini, an...

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Image: Diego Delso | CC BY-SA 4.0