Today's Santa Maria Capua Vetere is a city with a very ancient history. It went through different phases and populations that inhabited it. The archaeological traces found lead us back to prehistoric settlements dating back to the 9th century BC to the Iron Age and the Villanovan civilization.
The exact date of the foundation of the city nucleus is uncertain, but it is known that the first phase of urban development of Capua is linked to the Etruscan presence, between the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Later it became the territory of the Osci, who expanded the city's borders and strengthened its position of power within the Campania area: Capua became the head of a league of local cities, and it is assumed that it was among the largest cities in Italy in the 4th century, when it became part of the Samnite orbit for a short period, and then passed to Roman influence in 338 BC as a civitas sine suffragio. The interest in Capua was mainly due to its territorial, urban and agrarian extension, which influenced the alternating vicissitudes in the era of Roman influence of the city.
Capua was chosen by Hannibal as one of his outposts during the Second Punic War, and the phase between 216 and 211 known as the Capuan leisure, corresponds to a Carthaginian military occupation that was decisive for the subsequent developments of the war.
The collaboration of the city with the Carthaginians cost the population strong reprisals by Rome, which reformed the ruling class of Capua and took many lands from the citizens and annexed them as property of Rome according to various formulas. Even under Roman domination, the city flourished from the point of view of manufacturing production, and became a rich center, as evidenced by the remains of monumental building works. The maximum splendor of the city was in the Republican period. In particular in the 1st century BC. Capua's prestige was so high that Cicero defined it as altera Roma (or second Rome). One of the most famous historical events linked to the city of Capua dates back to this period and is the gladiator revolt of 73 BC led by Spartacus that started the third servile war, which ended with the victory of the Roman army led by Crassus and the crucifixion of the surviving rebels along the road between Capua and Rome.
With the empire the city lost importance, especially after the construction of the Via Domitiana that did not pass through the city and therefore limited its commercial potential. However, there was a period of economic recovery that coincided with the restructuring phase promoted by Hadrian, who was responsible for a triumphal arch and the amphitheater, second only to the Colosseum in size. In the late imperial age it was one of the centers where Christianity had the fastest affirmation, and became a bishop's seat, but with the fall of the Western Empire it was partly devastated and subjected to barbarian invasions, definitively transformed with the occupation of the Ostrogoths and then with the Lombard conquest. The Amphitheater, built between the 1st and 2nd century AD (as has been said, it was restored and completed with the emperor Hadrian, as confirmed by an epigraph dedicated by Antoninus Pius) is the second largest in Italy after the Colosseum, (165 m on the major axis, 135 m on the minor axis at the level of the arena), even if its state of conservation is more incomplete. In fact, along the clearly visible external perimeter, only a few arches arranged on two orders remain. The original structure was composed of four orders of terraces made up of eighty arches of equal size, except those placed at the entrances to the four cardinal points which were emphasized by Tuscan pilasters.
In the first two orders in the keystones there were decorative busts depicting deities, some of which are still intact. The front plutei and the balustrades of the access galleries (vomitoria) are also preserved. The concentric perimeters of the stalls are also clearly visible and show how the internal space was organized. The Gladiator Museum is associated with the amphitheater, since the main shows that took place there were dedicated in particular to this form of entertainment. It is composed of three rooms, where you can find various reconstructions of gladiatorial combat and the original structure of the Amphitheater, as well as the remains of its decorations, inscriptions and sculptures.
The Mithraea were places of worship dedicated to the Persian god Mithra. The presence of one of these in this area confirms the spread of this cult in the western part of the empire. It was built between the 2nd and 3rd century AD and consists of a main underground room, with cocciopesto flooring and marble inserts, covered by a barrel vault. On the sides, the initiates sat along brick benches, called praesepia, with the surface inclined towards the wall with small basins for purification.
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