Editing Capua (section)

===Amphitheatre===
{{main|Amphitheatre of Capua}}
[[File:Amphitheater santa maria capua vetere.jpg|thumb|right|Interior of the [[Amphitheatre of Capua]]]]
Outside the town, in [[Santa Maria Capua Vetere]], there is the [[amphitheatre]], built in the time of [[Augustus]], restored by [[Hadrian]] and dedicated by [[Antoninus Pius]], as the inscription over the main entrance recorded. The exterior was formed by 80 [[Doric order|Doric]] arcades of four stories each, but only two arches now remain. The keystones were adorned with heads of divinities.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

The interior is better preserved; beneath the arena are subterranean passages like those in the amphitheatre at [[Puteoli]]. It is one of the largest in existence; the longer diameter is {{convert|170|m|ft}}, the shorter {{convert|140|m|ft}}, and the arena measures {{convert|75|by|45|m|ft}}, the corresponding dimensions in the Colosseum at Rome being 188, 155, 85, 53 metres (615, 510, 279 and 174&nbsp;ft).{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Dimensions of the largest amphitheatres of the Roman Empire
|-
|[[Colosseum]] (Rome, Italy)
|188 × 156&nbsp;m
|-
|Capua (Italy)
|167 × 137&nbsp;m
|-
|[[Italica]] (Spain) 
|157 × 134&nbsp;m
|-
|[[Tours Amphitheatre|Tours]] (France)
|156 × 134&nbsp;m
|-
|[[Carthage amphitheatre|Carthage]] (Tunisia) 
|156 × 128&nbsp;m
|-
|[[Autun]] (France)
|154 × 130&nbsp;m
|-
|[[Nîmes]] (France)
|133 × 101&nbsp;m
|}

To the east are considerable remains of baths – a large octagonal building, an apse against which the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is built, and several heaps of debris. On the Via Appia, to the south-east of the east gate of the town, arc two large and well-preserved tombs of the Roman period, known as ''le Carceri vecchie'' and ''la Conocchia''.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

To the east of the amphitheatre an ancient road, the ''Via Dianae'', leads north to the Pagus Dianae, on the west slopes of the Mons Tifata, a community which sprang up around the famous and ancient temple of Diana, and probably received an independent organization after the abolition of that of Capua in 211 BC. The place often served as a base for attacks on the latter, and [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sulla]], after his defeat of Gaius Norbanus, gave the whole of the mountain to the temple.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

Within the territory of the ''pagus'' were several other temples with their ''magistri''. After the restoration of the community of Capua, ''magistri'' of the temple of Diana are still attested, but they were probably officials of Capua itself.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

The site is occupied by the [[Benedictine]] church of ''San Michele Arcangelo'' in [[Sant'Angelo in Formis]]. It dates from 944, and was reconstructed by the abbot Desiderius (afterwards [[Pope Victor III]]) of [[Monte Cassino]]. It has interesting paintings, dating from the end of the 11th century to the middle of the 12th, in which five different styles may be distinguished. They form a complete representation of all the chief episodes of the [[New Testament]]. Deposits of votive objects (''favissae''), removed from the ancient temple from time to time as new ones came in and occupied all the available space, have been found, and considerable remains of buildings belonging to the ''Vicus Dianae'' (among them a triumphal arch and some baths, also a hail with frescoes, representing the goddess herself ready for the chase) still exist.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

The ancient road from Capua went on beyond the ''Vicus Dianae'' to the Volturnus (remains of the bridge still exist) and then turned east along the river valley to [[Caiatia]] and [[Telesia]]. Other roads ran to [[Puteoli]] and [[Cumae]] (the so-called [[Via Campana]]) and to [[Naples|Neapolis]], and the Via Appia passed through Capua, which was thus the most important road centre of Campania.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}