A small, beautifully preserved Roman theatre — 13 semicircular marble rows of seating arranged around a perfect circular orchestra — at the heart of one of Alexandria's biggest archaeological digs. The site occupies a city block in the centre of downtown, only a short walk from the railway station.
Beyond the theatre itself, the open-air site includes lecture halls of the Alexandrian university (one of the few late-Roman teaching complexes anywhere to survive), a residential district with surviving mosaic floors (including the famous 'Villa of the Birds'), and parts of an imperial bath complex. The theatre's acoustic is famous: stand on the marked stone at the centre of the orchestra and a normal speaking voice projects to the topmost row of seats. Allow 90 minutes; the Villa of the Birds mosaics require a separate ticket.