Public entertainment

Theatrical performances were a form of popular entertainment that took place in the Grand Theatre built in the second century BC. Comedies and rustic farces were performed there, while mimed re-enactments were housed in the Odeion which was an additional venue for musical entertainment.
The amphitheatre is the oldest among those known from the Roman times and was built in 70 BC.
It could hold up to 20,000 spectators and here the gladiators’ game took place. In 59 AD there was a bloody fight between the people from Pompeii and those from Nocera.
As a result, the Senate of Rome decided to close the arena in Pompeii for ten years.