Italica

Continuing on the Roman theme, on Thursday I visited the ruins of Italica, a mere 9 kilometers oustide of Sevilla. Highlights included well-preserved mosaics in aristocrats' homes and an amphitheater. Large enough to seat 20,000, the amphitheater drew crowds from neighboring cities. In addition, I learned about a new section of the theater, the vomitorium. The name is self explanatory. This section definitely was not included in the tour of Rome's Coliseum. Despite playing a gladiator from ancient Spain in the blockbuster "Gladiator", Russell Crowe was not at the amphitheater when I visited. Hrmph. :)

More on the archaeology of Italica: http://www.livius.org/io-iz/italica/italica2.html