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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ALM-ANC |
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AMPHITHEATRE (Gr. 441, around, and O&arpov, a place for spectators) , a building in which the seats for spectators surround-the scene of the performance. The word was doubtless coined by the Greeks of Campania, since it was here that the gladiatorial shows for which the amphitheatre was primarily used were first organized as public spectacles. The earliest building of the kind still extant is that at Pompeii, built after 8o B.C. It is called spectacula in a contemporary inscription. The word amphitheatrum is first found in writers of the Augustan age. In Italy, combats of gladiators
circus . But towards the end of the Roman republic, when the shows increased both in frequency and in costliness, special buildings began to be provided for them.The first amphitheatre at Rome was that constructed, 59 B.C., by C. Scribonius Curio. Pliny tells us that Curio built two wooden theatres, which were placed back to back, and that after the dramatic representations were finished, they were turned round, with all the spectators in them, so as to make one circular theatre, in the centre of which gladiators
A.D. 64. We hear of an amphitheatre begun by Caligula and of a wooden structure raised in the year A.D. 57 by Nero; but these were superseded by the Amphitheatrum Flavium (known at least since the 8th century as the Colosseum, from its colossal size), which was begun by Vespasian on the site of an artificial lake included in the Golden House of Nero, and inaugurated by Titus in A.D. 8o with shows lasting one hundred days. It was several times restored by the emperors, having been twice struck by lightning in the 3rd century and twice damaged by earthquake in the 5th. Gladiatorial shows were suppressed by Honorius in A.D. 404, and wild beast shows are not recorded after the reign of Theodoric (d. A.D. 526). In the 8th century Bede wrote Quamdiu stabit Coliseus, stabit et Roma; quando cadet Coliseus, cadet et Roma. A large part of the western arcades seem to have collapsed in the earthquake of A.D. 1349, and their remains were used in the Renaissance as a quarry for building materials (e.g. for the Palazzo di Venezia, the Cancelleria and the Palazzo Farnese). Rome possesses the remains of a second amphitheatre on the Esquiline, called by the chronologist of A.D. 354 Amphitheatrum Castrense, which probably means the " court " or " imperial " 892 amphitheatre. Its fine brickwork seems to date from Trajan's reign. It was included by Aurelian in the circuit of his wall
Capua
wall
In contrast to this simple structure the Colosseum represents the most elaborate type of amphitheatre created by the architects of the empire. Its external elevation
magistrate were approached from the extremities of the minor axis. The higher arcades had a low parapet with (apparently) a statue in each arch, and gave light and air to the passages which surrounded the building. The openings of the arcades above the principal entrances were larger than the rest, and were adorned with figures of chariots. The highest stage was composed of a continuous wall of masonry, pierced by forty small square windows, and adorned with Corinthian pilasters. There was also a series of brackets to support the poles on which the awning was stretched.The interior may be naturally divided into the arena and the cavea (see annexed plan, which shows the Colosseum at two different levels). The arena was the portion assigned to the combatants, and derived its name from the sand with which it was strewn, to absorb the blood and prevent it from becoming slippery. Some of the emperors showed their prodigality by substituting precious powders, and even gold dust, for sand. The arena was generally of the same shape as the amphitheatre itself, and was separated from the spectators by a wall built perfectly smooth, that the wild beasts might not by any possibility climb it. At Rome it was faced inside with polished marble, but at Pompeii it was simply painted. For further security, it was surrounded by a metal railing or network, and the arena was sometimes surrounded also by a ditch (euripus), especially on account of the elephants. Below the arena were subterranean chambers and passages, from which wild beasts and gladiators were raised on movable plat-forms (pegmata) through trap-doors. Such chambers have been found in the amphitheatres of Capua
The part assigned to the spectators was called cavea. It was divided into several galleries (maeniana) concentric with the outer walls, and therefore, like them, of an elliptical form. The place of honour was the lowest of these, nearest to the arena, and called the podium. The divisions in it were larger, so as to be able to contain movable seats. At Rome it was here that the emperor sat, his box bearing the name of suggestus, cubiculum or pulvinar. The senators, principal magistrates, vestal virgins, the provider (editor) of the show, and other persons of note, occupied the rest of the podium. At Nimes, besides the high officials of the town, the podium had places assigned to the principal gilds, whose names are still seen inscribed upon it, with the number of places reserved for each. In the Colosseum there were three maeniana above the podium, separated from each other by terraces (praecinctiones) and walls (baltei), and divided vertically into wedge-shaped blocks (cunei) by stairs. The lowest was appropriated to the equestrian order, the highest was covered in with a portico, whose roof formed a terrace on which spectators found standing
The height of the Colosseum is about 16o ft.; but the fourth storey in its present form is not earlier in date than the 3rd century A.D. It seems to have been originally of wood, since an inscription of the year A.D. 8o mentions the summum maenianum in ligneis. It is stated in the Notitia Urbis Romae (4th century) that the Colosseum contained 87,000 places; but Huelsen calculates that the seats would accommodate 45,000 persons at most, besides whom 5000 could find standing
The following table, giving the dimensions of some of the principal amphitheatres, is based mainly on the figures given by Friedlander ENTIRE BUILDING. ARENA. Greater Shorter Greater Shorter Axis. Axis. Axis. Axis. Rome (Colosseum) 615 5io1 281 177 Capua 557 458 250 148 Julia Caesarea . 551 289 459 197 Italica (Seville) 514 4394 Verona 5024 403 248 1454 Thysdrus . 488 406 308 197 Tarraco 486 390 277 181 Pozzuoli 482 383 2361 137! Tours. 472 406 223 981 Pola . 4491 3674 230 1444 Arles . 448 352 229 129 Pompeii 444 342 2184 115 Nimes 440 336 227 1261 Pompeii, its Life and Art (2nd ed. 19o4), chap. 3o; for the Colosseum, Middleton, Remains of Ancient Rome, ii. pp. 78-110, and Huelsen's art. ` Flavium Amphitheatrum " in Paulyy-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie. (H. S. J.) End of Article: AMPHITHEATRE (Gr. 441, around, and O&arpov, a place for spectators) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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