It was discovered during the 1960s when a government building was planned for this location over the ruins of a Napoleonic fort the earlier been destroyed. However, during excavation, the ruins of the Roman theater was found. A Polish team was responsible for its excavation. It was the first, and so far only one discovered in a city which, according to an ancient source, once had four hundred of them. It is in a general area called Kom el Dikka today, which has become the city's largest archaeological park. According to tradition, it is so named because, in the 19th century when the historian el Newery came to Alexandria, he found a small sand hill that looked like a Dikka,a type of seat.

The sand was actually excavation from the Mahmoudia canal,after it was dug out during the reign of Mohammed Ali. At that time, it was popular among children as a playground. At that time, there was also a water tap built by the British here as a public source of water. Another traditions holds that this was the location of a court with ten judges and that Dekka is a Greek term referring to the number ten. Besides the theater at Kom el-Dekka,there are also Roman baths and a whole residential quarter dating from the Ptolemaic through the Medieval Period. Near the theater one may find cisterns, a gymnasium and ancient Roman streets, along with a large villa dating to the reign of Hadrian that is now called the "Villa of the Birds", do to them magnificent mosaic floor in the main room depicting various species of birds.Excavations continue here today.