Amphitheatres and cultural change in Roman Britain

Contemporary scholarship on amphitheatres, and those in Britain specifically, focuses heavily upon either these monuments individually from a strictly architectural view, or amphitheatres overall but with particular emphasis upon their categorisations. However, this approach does not allow for the combination of these issues relating to the emergence and spread of amphitheatres through Britain during this period in relation to both individual and wider provincial cultural change. This thesis brings these issues together, allowing me to track the spread of amphitheatres and the cultural change that they manifested from a chronological perspective, including the transfer of knowledge and influence both from elsewhere in the empire and throughout Britain itself. My thesis demonstrates why amphitheatres emerged in Britain and how they differ individually, both architecturally but also as manifestations of a new localised spectacle culture, rather than one that could be considered traditionally Roman or British. Crucially, this emerged organically without an agenda from the Romano-British government or a single centralised drive to build them. While the local wealthy elite did have a significant role in the emergence of these amphitheatres, engagement from those throughout society was also crucial for this organic process of creolisation to occur on a localised level. This is demonstrated through the crucial significance of local choice with the willing adoption and engagement with this aspect of traditionally Roman culture regardless of the activities of the social and government elite. While this occurs on a localised level and these monuments are primarily representations of the local spectacle culture within associated settlements, considering the emergence and spread of this cultural change chronologically, many amphitheatres appear connected in relation to the transfer of culture, knowledge, and capability behind their construction. My thesis concludes that, while individually unique, these Romano-British amphitheatres come together to form what can be considered a new and specifically Romano-British spectacle culture.