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The ancient city of Ialyssos extended around the hill of Filerimos, which was the ancient acropolis where there are remains of buildings from the Archaic, Byzantine and Knights' periods. The temple of Athena Polias, which dates to the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE, was built over the site of an earlier Classical temple, to judge from from the evidence of a 5th century BC floor and terra-cotta antefixes found there. The depository on the west side produced pottery and votive offerings dating from the 9th to the 5th centuries BC.
In addition to the cult of Athena Polias, in Ialyssos there are also references to a cult of Zeus Polias. In the Early Christian period (5th-6th centuries AD) a three-aisled basilica with an atrium was built on the remains of the ancient temple, in the north aisle of which a single-aisled church with a cupola was constructed in the 10th century.
In the time of the Franks this site was occupied by a medieval monastery and church.
References:Built around AD 90 to entertain the legionaries stationed at the fort of Caerleon (Isca), the impressive amphitheatre was the Roman equivalent of today’s multiplex cinema. Wooden benches provided seating for up to 6,000 spectators, who would gather to watch bloodthirsty displays featuring gladiatorial combat and exotic wild animals.
Long after the Romans left, the amphitheatre took on a new life in Arthurian legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the somewhat imaginative 12th-century scholar, wrote in his History of the Kings of Britain that Arthur was crowned in Caerleon and that the ruined amphitheatre was actually the remains of King Arthur’s Round Table.
Today it is the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain.