page_title: Tours Amphitheatre
section_title: Fortification added
hierarchical_section_title: Tours Amphitheatre / History / Fortification added
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: emprise des amphithéâtres successifs de Tours sur un plan moderne
context_page_description: The Tours amphitheater is a Roman amphitheatre located in the historic city center of Tours, France, immediately behind the well known Tours cathedral. It was built in the 1st century when the city was called Caesarodunum. It was built atop a small hill on the outskirts of the ancient urban area, making it safe from floods, convenient for crowds and visitors, and demonstrating the power of the city from a distance. The structure was an enormous, elliptical structure approximately 122 meters by 94 meters. According to its design it is classified as a "primitive" amphitheatre. Unlike the famous Colosseum that was made mostly of masonry and built above-ground, the Tours amphitheatre was made mostly of earth and created by moving soil and rock into a bowl shape. Spectators likely sat directly on the grassy slopes, while the masonry was primarily used for the vomitoria and retaining walls.
  When it was expanded in the 2nd century, it became one of the largest structures in the Roman Empire. It is not clear why the amphitheater was expanded given the population and slow growth of the city at the time.
context_section_description: In the second half or towards the end of the third century, the upper part of the cavea was 8 meters above the level of the arena. An annular wall was constructed without the use of quoin tiling and without large recycled stone blocks (from other dismantled buildings) included in its foundations. It was therefore constructed prior to the castrum, who saw these techniques implemented. The stone mixture of the wall was comparable to the enlarged amphitheater, however the wall obliterated some of its structures, indicating it was made after those structures. With a thickness of 3.5 meters and a height probably above the level of the cavea, the defensive wall was placed continuous along the entire on the embankment. 
  This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the side vomitoria and indoor stairs were completely blocked, leaving the main vomitoria as the only access to the arena (facilitating defence). Moreover, there was a defensive moat preceded by a counterscarp, dated from the second half of the third century and dug at the foot of the amphitheater. While the remains were discovered in the southeast part of the structure, it was probably completely encircled the amphitheatre. Its maintenance ceased with the building of the castrum.
  Comparable stone masonry, dating from the same period, exist in Avenches (Switzerland), Lillebonne and the arenas of Senlis. In each case the massive character of a monument, theater or amphitheater, was converted into a fort and offered temporarily shelter to nearby residents in case of attack. This would have been far less labour-intensive than building a fort from scratch.
  This construction was definitely spread out over a period of several months, likely in response to a deterioration of some kind with the security and safety of the city inhabitants. The inhabitants at the time would have known that this was a permanent change to the amphitheater, rendering it ineffective in its original function of displaying performances.
caption: Reconstructed schematic of Tours amphitheatre in a modern map. Red original amphitheater (first century); Green: expanded amphitheater (second century) ; Violet: fortification wall (third century) .
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