Roman Amphitheatres

Up the hill from the forum was the larger of the two amphitheatres in the city. This one was huge, holding about five thousand people (not as large as the one in Petra but very impressive with the columns and larger stage area).

Now...here's another bit of trivia for you. We were sitting up in the larger theater, looking down on the stage and two men, in traditional military dress, came out and played...a bagpipe and drums. The acoustics were amazing and we actually found we could hear them playing from a long ways away from the theater. However, I was astonished that they'd be playing bagpipes...in Jordan! Turns out King Hussein really liked bagpipes so he had a bagpipe corp in the army. Something new to learn every day.

We actually liked the smaller of the two theaters. It seemed more intimate (though it still could seat about 1500 people). It was beautifully preserved and the way it curved it was easy to see everything. The stage was quite large and it looked like it would have been a great place to have seen a performance. The picture is taken from the top row - what a view!!!