page_title: El Djem
section_title: Amphitheater
hierarchical_section_title: El Djem / Sights / Amphitheater
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vue générale du site des anciens amphithéâtres d'El Jem, près du musée actuel.
context_page_description: El Djem or El Jem is a town in Mahdia Governorate, Tunisia. Its population was 21,576 during the 2014 census. It is home to some of the most impressive Roman remains in Africa, particularly the world-famous "Amphitheater of El Jem".
context_section_description: El Djem is famous for its amphitheater or colosseum. It was capable of seating 35,000 spectators. Only the Colosseum in Rome (seating about 50,000 spectators) and the ruined theater of Capua were larger.
  The amphitheater at El Djem was built by the Romans under proconsul Gordian, who was acclaimed emperor at Thysdrus around 238 and was mainly used for gladiator shows and small-scale chariot races.
  Many tourists come here to see what it was like to be inside what was once a place where lions and people met their fate. Much of it is crumbled but the essence of it still remains. It is also possible that construction of the amphitheater was never finished.
  Until the 17th century, it remained more or less whole. From then on its stones were used for building the nearby village of El Djem and transported to the Great Mosque in Kairouan. At a tense moment during struggles with the Ottomans, the Turks used cannons to flush rebels out of the amphitheater.
  The ruins of the amphitheater were declared a World Heritage Site in 1979. It hosts the annual El Djem International Symphony Festival.
caption: View of the first two amphitheaters.
exif: {"Image Make": "Hewlett-Packard", "Image Model": "hp photosmart 612", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:02:13 20:06:09", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "686", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6247", "EXIF ExposureTime": "50/421009433", "EXIF FNumber": "976238650/808591409", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "39", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "6:19:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "6:19:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "1/6", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "100/0", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1/683", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "2/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "100/577", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "50/3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "16973827", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "400"}