MEGIDDO, ISRAEL—According to a Live Science report, archaeologists from the Jezreel Valley Regional Project have uncovered walls of an amphitheater at Legio, a site south of Megiddo in Israel that served as a Roman military base for some 5,000 soldiers in the second century A.D. Using ground-penetrating radar, the team identified a cemetery and traces of a building outside the legionary camp's walls. Subsequent excavations exposed circular stone walls with remnants of blood-red paint that belonged to the amphitheater, which was used for military combat training. "This kind of amphitheater — for the army, not the general public — has not been found before in the region," said archaeologist and project co-director Matthew J. Adams. Lamps and other artifacts found within the gate of the structure may be evidence of the cult of Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, he concluded. To read about a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica complex unearthed in Ashkelon, go to "Herodian Hangout."
