Built around 80 BCE, the current amphitheatre is the earliest Roman amphitheatre known to have been built of stone; previously, they had been built out of wood. The next Roman amphitheatre known to be built from stone is the Colosseum in Rome, which postdates it by over a century. Contemporarily, it was known as a spectacula rather than an amphitheatrum, since the latter term was not yet in use at the time. It was built with the private funds of Quinctius Valgus and Marcius Porcius.
The amphitheatre's design is seen by some modern crowd control specialists as near optimal. Its washroom, located in the neighboring palaestra has also been cited as an inspiration for better bathroom design in modern stadiums.