El Jem Amphitheatre & Museum

The amphitheatre of El Jem, ancient Thysdrus, was built in the first half of the 3rd century AD, when the town was rich from the olive oil trade. It could seat around 35,000 spectators, making it one of the largest amphitheatres of the Roman world, and it is remarkably complete. UNESCO listed it in 1979. You can walk through the arcades, climb to the upper tiers and go down into the underground passages where animals and gladiators waited. The same ticket covers the archaeological museum on the Sfax road, which has fine mosaics and a reconstructed Roman villa.