Antique Roman stadium
In the center of modern city of Plovdiv, under the building of one of the shopping centers, are located the ruins of an ancient Roman stadium dating from the II century. It was built on the slopes of Sahat Tepe and Taksim Tepe hills as a replica of the stadium in Delphi, Greece. The facility was in shape of a horseshoe with a length of 180 m. The seats was of marble and the capacity was about 3000 spectators .
On the stadium have been held gladiator fights and sporting events. It is assumed this has happened yet during the ruiling of emperor Septimus Severus (193-211). The games have been organized following the model of the Greek Olympic games at every 4 years with a duration of several days. The main sports were throwing of disk and spear, running, jumping, wrestling, shooting, etc.
