The Amphitheater of the Three Gauls is right by our apartment. It was built in 12 BC and enlarged around 120 AD under the reign of Emperor Hadrian. This amphitheater seated up to 20,000 people! The amphitheater was part of the federal sanctuary of the three Gauls dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus. The representatives of the 64 nations of the three Gauls gathered here every year in Lugdrunum (Lyon).
I’ve seen photos of it with people walking around and manicured grass – I’m not sure if those are taken when the weather is nicer (summer!) or if they are edited to show you what the amphitheater used to look like? It was definitely locked up and fenced while we were in Lyon.
It is just crazy to look at this and try to comprehend how long ago it was built. And just across the street is this apartment building from 1851. Even that is really old but new compared to the amphitheater!
And on a funny note – the park around the amphitheater had these arrow signs and someone had written “Cheese Naan” on them so of course Chris would say “I want some cheese naan – let’s follow the arrows!” every time we saw the sign. Unfortunately, we never found the cheese naan.
