Eporedia’s defining characteristic is that it was founded on solid rock and gradually grew upon itself until it became Ivrea, constantly rebuilding and reshaping over the centuries. For this reason, its oldest remains are also those most often destroyed or buried. To imagine Eporedia today means piecing together what survives, connecting its many traces like the points of a drawing, guided by the work of historians and archaeologists.
The Roman amphitheatre dates from between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD and stood along the road leading to Vercellae, naturally outside the town, since it was a place of spectacle and clamour. This is one reason why its foundations have not disappeared entirely: today they form a remarkable open-air footprint that still conveys the monument’s original scale. For travellers arriving from Vercellae, the sight of the amphitheatre, with Eporedia climbing the rocky hillside behind it and, farther in the distance, the mountains outlining the profile of a “Sleeping Beauty,” must have been truly magnificent.
The Roman amphitheatre of Eporedia could accommodate between 10,000 and 15,000 spectators—virtually the entire population of the city. Its outer major axis measured 96 metres, while the minor axis measured 72.Two monumental entrances stood on the eastern and western sides. The seating rose steeply from the first to the highest tier: the lower rows were reserved for prominent citizens and featured bronze-backed seats. Higher up sat the military, then wealthy landowners, while the poorest inhabitants occupied the uppermost porticoed galleries.
At the centre of the arena, a rectangular underground chamber is still clearly visible. It was connected by a narrow corridor to the service rooms beneath the seating. This was, of course, the passage through which gladiators and wild animals entered the arena to take part in the spectacle.
A brutal spectacle, where death or glory, and sometimes both, awaited its protagonists. Who were these men? Mostly prisoners of war, slaves, and condemned criminals, but also free men crushed by debt or driven by the pursuit of fame and fortune. Their name derives from the gladius, the short Roman sword with which they fought.
While theatres were inherited from the Greek tradition, amphitheatres were a distinctly Roman invention, built to satisfy the public’s passion for gladiatorial combats, mock naval battles, and contests with wild beasts. Monumental in scale and ambition, they spread throughout the Roman world, although they enjoyed less popularity in the eastern provinces.
Returning to Eporedia, the amphitheatre continued to be used during the Middle Ages for public assemblies and remained a point of interest for travellers well into the sixteenth century. Later, it was dismantled, and its stones were reused in the construction of the bastions of the city’s new defensive walls.
