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3D reconstruction of the Viminacium amphitheater

Arena

The Arena is located in the central part of the amphitheater and is separated from the rest of the building by a high wall. Here, the games were held, and the space was covered with sand or fine gravel. In some amphitheatres under the arena there are underground rooms and corridors (hypogeum).

The Gate of Life

Amphitheaters are characterized by monumental entrances, located at the ends of the longer axis of the building and they connect the arena and the outer space. The main entrances to the built-in amphitheater were flanked by smaller rooms. Entries were used by spectators and people involved in the game maintenance.

Service passages

Within the wall of the arena were several smaller service passages (porta postica) that connect the smaller rooms with the battlefield and are located behind the arena wall and under the stands. Usually they were dungeons or cages for animals (carceres), but they could also be used during the spectacle as auxiliary staff departments, or they represented smaller sanctuaries.

The stands

The stands (cavea) were made of wood. They were intended for spectators and are made of parallel, stepped-up row seats, which were rising around the arena. The panels were divided into certain levels (maenianum) and the sectors (cuneus).

Drainage system

Parts of the drainage system were discovered within both objects, which was a very important part of every amphitheater, and their role was to collect and discharge atmospheric waters outside the building. The collectors and the drainage channel spread out below the arena and the stands.

Parts around the amphitheater

Around the amphitheater, several objects were explored, which were used for the games, some of which were several shrines. For the purpose of the game, in some places, besides the amphitheater, there was a storage room for animals (vivarium) and a building for the disposal of corpses (spoliarium). Schools for gladiators (ludus) were also built around the amphitheater.

The Camel

Remains of the camel were found in the arena area, which date to a time when the amphitheater was no longer used for spectacles. The camel skeleton is a unique finding in the European provinces of the Roman Empire.

City ramparts

The city rampants were discovered in the northwest and southeast of the amphitheater. During the excavation of the eastern ramparts, the city gates and the street were discovered as well.

The arena wall

The arena wall protected the audience from the ongoings in the arena. The wall of the Viminacium amphitheater of stone and wood was decorated with painted decoration, which includes a stretched leopard and a tiger fur. So far, such decoration has not been recorded in other amphitheatres.

Mammoth Vika

Mamut Vika belongs to extremely rare species and is among the oldest in the world. This mammoth has a special significance because the mammoth skeleton remained in a completely anatomical position. In the period of the Miocene in this region, the climate was warm, with a lot of vegetation that would later disappear with the arrival of cold climatic cycles in the ice age of Pleistocene.

The Gate of Death

There are two distinguishable gates. The gateway of life (port of sanavivaria), which was used to entrance at the beginning of the spectacle and for the emergence of the winner in the fighting, as well as the gate of death (port libitinensis), which was on the opposite side and was used to bring bodies of dead or heavily wounded gladiators, prisoners and animals.

Traianus Decius (Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius)

Traianus Decius is the first Roman Emperor from the territory of today's Serbia. He was born around 190 AD in a place called Budalia (today's Martinci or Kuzmin, near Sremska Mitrovica - Sirmium). The army set him up for the emperor in 249, and he died in a conflict with Goths, along with his elder son Herennius Etruscus, in 251 in Bulgaria.

Hostilian (Gaius Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus Augustus)

Hostilian is Traianus Decius' younger son, born around 235 AD, probably in Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium). After his father and brother's death he received the title of Emperor in 251. In November of the same year, he died, probably from the plague in Viminacium (today's Kostolac).

Claudius II Gothicus (Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus)

Claudius II Gothicus was born near Niš in the year 240 AD. The army chose him for the king in 268. In the famous battle near Niš, he defeated the Goths and won the Gothic title. He died of plague in the year 270 in Sirmium.

Aurelian (Lucius Domitius)

Aurelian was born near Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium) in the year 214 AD. The Emperor Claudius II Gothicus, named him for the emperor in the year 270 in his last days of life, which was supported by the Danube legions. He was a successful strategist and warrior, as well as a reformer of the civil, military and monetary system. In a march on Persia, in 275, he was killed in the Pretorian conspiracy, between Byzantium and Perinta.

Probus (Marcus Aurelius Probus Augustus)

Probus was born in 232 AD on a farm near Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium). He was appointed to the Emperor in 276 AD after the victory in the civil war. He wore the title of "winner over all barbaric tribes". He was the first to allow the planting of vines beyond the borders of Italy. The agitated legionaries rebelled against him in 282 and killed him. Later they repented and buried him with all imperial honors.

Maximianus (Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius Augustus)

Maksimianus was born around 250 AD in the vicinity of Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium). He ruled with Diocletian from 285 to 305, when they abdicated together. He is described as an uneducated, brutal and impertinent ruler. After withdrawing from power, he takes a part in a plot against Flavius Severus to become a new emperor, but in 310 he himself was killed in Marseille, as a victim of a conspiracy.

Galerius (Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus Augustus)

Galerius was born near Zaječar (Gamzigrad) around 260 AD. In his hometown he erected a magnificent palace for himself and his mother Romula. The palace is known as the Felix Romuliana. He became the emperor after the founding of the tetrarchy in the year 305. He died in Sofia in 311, after a long and severe illness. Mausoleums of Galerius and his mother Romula were discovered on the Magura Hill near Gamzigrad.

Constantius I Chlorus (Marcus Flavius Valerius Constantius Herculius Augustus)

Constantius I was born most probably in Niš in 250 AD. During the tetrarchy, he was Caesar of Emperor Maximian Hercules, while in 305 he was proclaimed emperor, but he suddenly fell ill and died in 306 in today's York (Britain). The nickname Chlorus (pale), was given to him due to his gentle and bad health.

Flavius Severus II (Flavius Valerius Severus Augustus)

Flavius Severus was probably born in the vicinity of Niš. The Emperor Galerius appointed him to the caesar in 305 AD, while the following year, in 306, Maximian gave him the title of the Emperor. He was captured and executed in 307 in the confrontation with usurper Maxentius.

Licinius (Gaius Valerius Licinianus Licinius Augustus)

He was born around 265 AD somewhere in today's Serbia. Having assumed power of tetrarch Flavius Severus, he became the emperor in 307 AD. After the victory over Maximinus Daia and the defeat of Maxentius by Constantine I, Licinius shared power with Constantine the Great. Shortly,  it comes to their conflict in which Licinius was defeated twice. At the end of 324 or early 325, he died in Thessaloniki, where he was probably buried.

Maksiminus Daia (Gaius Valerius Galerius Maximinus Daia Augustus)

He was born in 270 AD in eastern Serbia, a place now called Šarkamen. In the beginning he was Galerius' younger co-emperor, and in 310 he was elected to the emperor and ruled in Asia Minor. In a conflict with Licinius, he came out as a loser and died in Cilicia in 313.

Constantine the Great (Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantine Augustus)

Constantine the Great was born in Niš in 272 or 273 AD. After defeating Maxentius in Rome at the MilvianBridge in 312, he became an emperor. With Licinius, in Milan in 313, Edict was issued on religious tolerance, which made Christianity an equal religion. After two civil wars with Licinius, Constantine emerged in 324 as the winner and the only ruler of the Roman Empire. He is the founder of the new Rome, that is, the rebuilder of the old Byzantium, which is named Constantinople. He died in 337 near Nicomedia.

Constantius II (Flavius Julius Constantius Augustus)

The second son of Constantine the Great was born in 317 in Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium). After his father's death, in 337, three brothers, Constantine II, Constance II, and Constans shared power. Constantius II gained power over part of Iliricum and eastern provinces. He was a highly educated, skillful diplomat and a founder of the father's empire. He died of fever in Cilicia in 361.

Vetranio (Flavius Vetranio Augustus)

He was born on the territory of Serbia, but it is not known exactly where. He was of low origin, without education. When Magnetius killed Constance, Vetranio took over the imperial throne in the year 350 in the western part of the Empire. In the moment of turmoil, Vetranio withdrew from his throne the same year, giving the throne to Constance II. He spent the rest of his life in enjoyment in the estate in Prussia.

Iovanus (Flavius Iovanus Augustus)

Iovanus is the only emperor born in Belgrade (Singidunum) around 330 AD. As the commander of the Guard, after the death of Emperor Julian in conflicts with Persians, Iovanus became a king in 363. In the Roman history he was remembered as one of the worst rulers on the battlefield. Upon returning from war with Persians, he died in 364 in Galatia under suspicious circumstances.

Gratian (Flavius Gratianus Augustus)

Gratian was born in Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium) in 358 or 359 AD. He was one of the most educated rulers of late antiquity. His father, emperor Valentinian, declared him as the Augustus when he was a child. The first period of his rule from 367 to 379 was characterized as successful, while the second period from 379 to 383 was unsuccessful, subjected to personal satisfaction. Running in front of the usurper Magnus Maximus, he was killed in an ambush near Lyon in the year 383.

Constantius III (Flavius Constantius Augustus)

Constance III was born in Niš. He was a successful and respected soldier, dedicated to Emperor Honorius. When he became Emperor in 421, he suddenly got sick and died in the same year. He was more famous as a military commander than as an emperor. He married Galla Placidia, the sister of the Emperor Honorius, who was the most powerful woman of that period. With her, he had a son, the future Emperor Valentinian III.

Justinian I (Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus Augustus)

Justinijan I was born in 483 near Lebane, today's early-Byzantine site - Empress City (Justiniana Prima). As a co-emperor, he ruled with Justin since 518, after his death, he himself assumed the throne in 527 AD. He sought to restore the old glory of the empire, in which he partly succeeded. He is known as the Restorer, Builder and Codifier of the Roman Law. He was married to the Empress Theodore, who was his main support. After her death, the emperor lost every flight. He died in Constantinople in 565.

Stairs

On the shorter axis of the building, there were ceremonial loggia (tribunalia), where the most prominent members of society were seated. The stairs led to the stands, and they were set from the outside of the building or led below the theater.