The Amphitheatre of Pompeii is the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatre. It is located in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, and was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, that also buried Pompeii itself, and neighbouring Herculaneum. Built around 70 BCE, the current amphitheatre was the first Roman amphitheatre to be built out of stone, previously, they had been built out of wood. The next Roman amphitheatre to be built from stone would be the Colosseum in Rome, which postdates it by over a century. It was called a spectacula and not an amphitheatrum, since the latter term was not yet in use. It was built with the private funds of Quinctius Valgus and Marcius Porcius. Around AD 59 CE, a deadly brawl occurred between Pompeians and Nuceria residents in the amphitheatre during games, which resulted in banning the events for 10 years. Amongst other events, it hosted gladiatorial games, which owing to the preservation of Pompeii has given insights into the gladiator culture of Rome. The amphitheatre's design is seen by some modern crowd control specialists as near optimal. Its washroom, located in the neighbouring palaestra has also been cited as an inspiration for better bathroom design in modern stadiums.

The Flavian Amphitheater, located in Pozzuoli, is the third largest Roman amphitheater in Italy. Only the Roman Colosseum and the Capuan Amphitheater are larger. It was likely built by the same architects who previously constructed the Roman Colosseum. The name Flavian Amphitheater is primarily associated with the Roman Colosseum. It was begun under the reign of the emperor Vespasian and probably finished under the reign of his son Titus. The arena can hold up to 20,000 spectators. The interior is mostly intact and one can still see parts of gears which were used to lift cages up to the arena floor. In the year 305, the arena was the setting for the persecutions of the patron of Pozzuoli, Saint Proculus, and the patron saint of Naples, Saint Januarius. After surviving being thrown to the wild beasts in the arena, the two were beheaded at the nearbySolfatara. The elliptical structure measures 147 x 117 meters (482 x 384 feet), with the arena floor measuring 72.22 x 42.33 meters (237 x 139 feet). The amphitheater can be visited by taking line number 2 of the Naples, Italy subway, and getting off at the Pozzuoli stop. The Flavian Amphitheater is the second of two Roman amphitheaters built in Pozzuoli. The smaller and older amphitheater (Anfiteatro minore) has been almost totally destroyed by the construction of the Rome to Naples railway line. Only a dozen arches of this earlier work still exist. This lesser amphitheater measured 130 x 95 meters (427 x 312 feet). The site of the structure was chosen at the nearby crossing of roads from Naples, Capua and Cumae. It was abandoned when it was partially buried by eruptions from the Solfatara volcano. It was during the medieval period that the marble used on the exterior was stripped. This had the fortunate result of leaving the interior alone and perfectly preserved. Excavations of the site were performed 1839 to 1845, 1880 to 1882, and finally in 1947.

The Verona Arena (Arena di Verona) is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy, which is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind. The building itself was built in AD 30 on a site which was then beyond the city walls. The ludi (shows and games) staged there were so famous that spectators came from many other places, often far away, to witness them. The amphitheatre could host more than 30,000 spectators in ancient times. The round façade of the building was originally composed of white and pink limestone from Valpolicella, but after a major earthquake in 1117, which almost completely destroyed the structure's outer ring, except for the so-called "ala", the stone was quarried for re-use in other buildings. Nevertheless it impressed medieval visitors to the city, one of whom considered it to have been a labyrinth, without ingress or egress. Ciriaco d'Ancona was filled with admiration for the way it had been built and Giovanni Antonio Panteo's civic panegyric De laudibus veronae, 1483, remarked that it struck the viewer as an construction that was more than human. Nowadays, four productions are mounted each year between June and August. During the winter months, the local opera and ballet companies perform at the L'Accademia Filarmonica. Modern-day travellers are advised that admission tickets to sit on the arena's stone steps are much cheaper to buy than tickets giving access to the padded chairs available on lower levels. Candles are distributed to the audience and lit after sunset around the arena. Every year over 500,000 people see productions of the popular operas in this arena. Once capable of housing 20,000 patrons per performance (now limited to 15,000 because of safety reasons), the arena has featured many of world's most notable opera singers. In the post-World War II era, they have included Giuseppe Di Stefano, Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi and Renata Tebaldi among other names. A number of conductors have appeared there, too. The official arena shop has historical recordings made by some of them available for sale. The opera productions in the Verona Arena had not used any microphones or loudspeakers until an electronic sound reinforcement system system was installed in 2011. In recent times, the arena has also hosted several concerts of international rock and pop bands, among which Pink Floyd, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Deep Purple, The Who, Dire Straits, Mike Oldfield, Rod Stewart, Sting, Radiohead, Muse. In 1981, 1984 and 2010 it hosted the podium and presentation of the Giro d'Italia with thousands packing the arena to watch the prizes being handed out.

Leptis Magna was a prominent city of the Roman Empire. Its ruins are located in Khoms, Libya, 130 km (81 mi) east of Tripoli, on the coast where the Wadi Lebda meets the sea. The site is one of the most spectacular and unspoiled Roman ruins in the Mediterranean. The Roman amphitheater dates from 56 AD and lies about a kilometer east of the city center. It was capable of seating 16,000 spectators. Unlike most Roman amphitheatres, it is built below the ground.

The Amphitheatre of Mérida is a Roman amphitheatre in the Roman colonia of Emerita Augusta –present-day Mérida, Spain–, capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. It was completed in the year 8 BC, and is currently in ruins. It was used for gladiatorial fights and combats between beasts or men and beasts during ancient Rome. The city itself, Emerita Augusta, was founded in 25 BC by Augustus, to resettle emeritus soldiers discharged from the Roman army from two veteran legions of the Cantabrian Wars (the Legio V Alaudae and Legio X Gemina). The term emeritus refers to the soldiers, all of whom had been honorably discharged from service. The amphitheatre was built as part of an entertainment complex together with the Roman Theatre. Nowadays both are part of the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida, which is one of the largest and most extensive archaeological sites in Spain and that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993. The amphitheatre was inaugurated in the year 8 BC. This building was intended for gladiatorial fights and combats between beasts or men and beasts and men or beasts or men and beasts (venationes). The amphitheatre has an elliptical shape, and a major axis of 126 metres (413 ft) and one less than 102 metres (335 ft) with these measures in the arena of 64 metres (210 ft) by 44 metres (144 ft) respectively. The sand-covered arena in the centre had a fossa bestiaria in the center, which was covered with wood and sand. This fossa was used to house animals before they were released into the arena. Its design consists of a grandstand with ima, media and summa cavea, and a central arena. The stands had a capacity of approximately 15,000 spectators and had supporting stairs and hallways (scalae) that connected the different parts internally. The ima cavea had a row reserved for the local élite and ten more for members of the public. There were also two stands located at both sides of the minor axis: one above the main entrance hall and another in front. Under them were the monumental inscription from which the amphitheatre can be dated.

The Arles Amphitheatre is a Roman amphitheatre in the southern French town of Arles. This two-tiered Roman Amphitheatre is probably the most prominent tourist attraction in the city of Arles, which thrived in Roman times. Measuring 136 m (446 ft) in length and 109 m (358 ft) wide, the 120 arches date back to the 1st century BC. The amphitheatre was capable of seating over 20,000 spectators, and was built to provide entertainment in the form of chariot races and bloody hand-to-hand battles. Today, it draws large crowds for bullfighting as well as plays and concerts in summer.

The Arena of Nîmes is a Roman amphitheater found in the French city of Nîmes. Built around 70 AD, it was remodeled in 1863 to serve as a bullring. The Arenas of Nimes is the site of two annual bullfights, and it is also used for other public events. The building encloses an elliptical central space 133 m long by 101 m wide. It is ringed by 34 rows of seats supported by a vaulted construction. It has a capacity of 16,300 spectators and since 1989 has a movable cover and a heating system. As the Empire fell, the amphitheater was fortified by the Visigoths and surrounded by a wall. During the turbulent years that followed the collapse of Visigoth power in Hispania and Septimania, not to mention the Muslim invasion and subsequent reconquest by the French kings in the early eighteenth century, the viscounts of Nîmes constructed a fortified palace within the amphitheater. Later a small neighborhood developed within its confines, complete with one hundred denizens and two chapels. Seven hundred people lived within the amphitheater during the apex of its service as an enclosed community. The buildings remained in the amphitheater until the eighteenth century, when the decision was made to convert the amphitheater into its present form.

El Djem (El Jem) is famous for its amphitheatre (often incorrectly called "a coliseum"), capable of seating 35,000 spectators. Only Rome's Colosseum (about 45,000 spectators) and the ruined theatre of Capuaare larger. The amphitheatre at El Djem was built by the Romans under proconsul Gordian, who was acclaimed Emperor at Thysdrus, around 238 and was probably[citation needed] mainly used forgladiator shows and chariot races (like in Ben-Hur). It is also possible that construction of the amphitheatre was never finished. Until the 17th century it remained more or less whole. From then on its stones were used for building the nearby village of El Djem and transported to the Great Mosque in Kairouan, and at a tense moment during struggles with the Ottomans, the Turks used cannons to flush rebels out of the amphitheatre. The ruins of the amphitheatre were declared a World Heritage Site in 1979. The city was built, like almost all Roman settlements in Tunisia, on former Punic settlements. In a less arid climate than today's, Roman Thysdrus prospered especially in the 2nd century, when it became an important center of olive oil manufacturing for export. It was the seat of a Christian bishop - which is still occupied by a titular Roman Catholic bishop today. By the early 3rd century AD, when the amphitheater was built, Thysdrus rivaled Hadrumetum (modern Sousse) as the second city of Roman North Africa, after Carthage. However, following the abortive revolt that began there in 238 AD, and Gordian I's suicide in his villa near Carthage, Roman troops loyal to the Emperor Maximinus Thrax destroyed the city. It never really recovered. The amphitheater was used for filming some of the scenes from the Academy Award (Oscar) winning film Gladiator starring Russell Crowe as a leading actor. The main scenes were actually filmed inFort Ricasoli on Malta, later used for filming of Troy, starring Brad Pitt as a leading actor.

The Pula Arena is the name of the amphitheatre located in Pula, Croatia. The Arena is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers and with all three Roman architectural orders entirely preserved. It was constructed in 27 BC - 68 AD and is among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the World. A rare example among the 200 Roman surviving amphitheatres of unique technological solutions. It is also the best preserved ancient monument in Croatia. The amphitheatre was first built in timber during the reign of Augustus (2-14 AD). It was replaced by a small stone amphitheatre during the reign of emperor Claudius. In 79 AD it was enlarged to accommodate gladiator fights by Vespasian and to be completed in 81 AD under emperor Titus. This was confirmed by the discovery of a Vespasian coin in the malting. A Christian martyr called Germanus was martyred in the arena in the fourth century AD. The amphitheatre remained in use until the 5th century, when emperor Honorius prohibited gladiatorial combats. It was not until 681 that combat between convicts, particularly those sentenced to death, and wild animals was forbidden. In the 5th century the amphitheatre began to see its stone plundered by the local populace. By the 13th century, the patriarch of Aquileia forbade further removal from the Arena. The arena is used as a venue for many concerts. Performances have included Luciano Pavarotti, Đorđe Balašević, Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras, Dino Merlin, Jamiroquai, Anastacia, Eros Ramazzoti, Maksim Mrvica, Norah Jones, Zucchero, Zdravko Čolić, Sinéad O'Connor, Elton John, Sting,Michael Bolton, Il Divo, Manu Chao and Oliver Dragojević.