Croatia

Did you know that today’s sports arenas got their name from sand?

In Roman amphitheatres, the fighting floor was covered with sand, among other things to absorb blood after gladiatorial combat. In Latin, sand was called harena or arena, and the word also came to mean the fighting ground itself.

In Pula, Croatia, one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres still stands. The word we now use for sports and event arenas comes from the sand that covered floors like these.