Stadium of Domitian
You’re walking over a Roman athletics stage: the Stadium of Domitian—Italian Stadio di Domiziano—whose outline is still traced by Piazza Navona today. It was commissioned around AD 80 by Emperor Domitian and dedicated in AD 86 as part of an Imperial building programme on the Campus Martius. After a major fire in AD 79 damaged many buildings, this new venue became Rome’s first permanent place for competitive athletics. Size tells the story. It measured about 275–276 metres long, roughly 106 metres wide, and was designed to seat around 30,000 spectators—perfect for Greek-style running contests, with a semi-circular end. The structure used brick and concrete for the substructures and support frames, then wore a marble cladding, which helped it resist fire. There’s also a striking Christian connection: Agnes of Rome was martyred there, linking this athletic arena to centuries of later faith and memory. …
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