Amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules

The Amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules lies on the lower slopes of the Croix-Rousse hill in Lyon's 1st arrondissement, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, close to the Jardin des Plantes. It was part of the federal sanctuary of the Three Gauls, established in 12 BCE by Drusus, where delegates of the Gallic tribes gathered each year around the altar of Rome and Augustus to celebrate the imperial cult. The amphitheatre itself was built in 19 CE, financed by a Gallic notable named Caius Julius Rufus, whose dedication inscription was found on the site. Its elliptical arena hosted gladiatorial combats and animal hunts for the assembled delegates. The site is best known for the events of the summer of 177 CE, when a group of Christians from Lugdunum, including the slave Blandina and the bishop Pothinus, were tortured and put to death here, an episode recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea. This gave Lyon one of the earliest documented Christian communities in Gaul. After the Roman period the structure was quarried and built over, and its location was only confirmed through excavations in the 1950s and 1960s. Today the visible remains include part of the arena, sections of the tiered seating and the outline of the ellipse, which is estimated to have held around 20,000 spectators in its enlarged form. The remains are laid out within a public garden on the hillside, the Jardin des Plantes, with explanatory panels at the site. Much of the amphitheatre lies under neighbouring buildings and streets, so the visible section is only part of the original monument. Visitors should expect partial ruins rather than a complete arena, but the site gives a concrete sense of the scale of the Roman provincial assembly and of the early Christian martyrdoms. Entry is free, and the gardens make it a quiet stop on a walk between the Presqu'île and the Croix-Rousse slopes.