Chapter IV: Part 4

“Can we say that there is now anything that we have reserved
for the exclusive use of the gods? However, be it so, let us
admit of this indulgence for the amusements of the public;
but still, why did the laws maintain their silence when the
largest of these columns, pillars of Lucullan marble, as much
as eight-and-thirty feet in height, were erected in the atrium
of Scaurus? a thing, too, that was not done privately, or in
secret; for the contractor for the public sewers compelled
him to give security for the possible damage that might be
done in the carriage of them to the Palace.... Already had L.
Crassus, the orator, he who was the first to possess pillars of
foreign marble, and in this same Palatium too, received from
M. Brutus, on the occasion of a dispute, the nickname of the
‘Palatine Venus,’ for his indulgence in this kind of luxury.
The material, I should remark, was Hymetian marble, and the
pillars were but six in number, and not exceeding some twelve
feet in height.... These particulars, and others in the sequel,
will shew that we are so far improved; for who is there at the
present day that has, in his atrium, any such massive columns
as these of Scaurus[241]?” ...

“I will not permit, however, these two Caiuses, or two Neros,
to enjoy this glory even, such as it is; for I will prove that
these extravagant follies of theirs have been surpassed, in
the use that was made of his wealth by M. Scaurus, a private
citizen. Indeed, I am by no means certain that it was not the
ædileship of this personage that inflicted the first great blow
upon the public manners, and that Sylla was not guilty of a
greater crime in giving such unlimited power to his step-son,
than in the proscription of so many thousands. During his
ædileship, and only for the temporary purposes of a few days,
Scaurus executed the greatest work that has ever been made
by the hands of man, even when intended to be of everlasting
duration; his theatre, I mean. This building consisted of
three storeys, supported upon three hundred and sixty columns;
and this, too, in a city which had not allowed without some
censure one of its greatest citizens to erect six pillars of
Hymetian marble. The ground-storey was of marble, the second
of glass, a species of luxury which ever since that time has
been quite unheard of, and the highest of gilded wood. The
lowermost columns, as previously stated, were eight-and-thirty
feet in height; and, placed between these columns, as already
mentioned, were bronze statues, three thousand in number. The
area of this theatre afforded accommodation for eighty thousand
spectators; and yet the theatre of Pompey, after the city had
so greatly increased, and the inhabitants had become so vastly
more numerous, was considered abundantly large, with its
sittings for forty thousand only. The rest of the fittings of
it, what with Attalic vestments, pictures, and the other stage
properties, were of such enormous value that, after Scaurus
had conveyed to his Tusculan villa such parts thereof as were
not required for the enjoyment of his daily luxuries, the loss
was no less than three hundred millions of sesterces, when the
villa was burnt by his servants in a spirit of revenge....
C. Curio, who died during the civil wars, fighting on the
side of Cæsar, found, to his dismay, that he could not, when
celebrating the funeral games in honour of his father, surpass
the riches and magnificence of Scaurus—for where, in fact,
was to be found such a step-sire as Sylla, and such a mother
as Metella, that bidder at all auctions for the property of
the proscribed? Where, too, was he to find for his father, M.
Scaurus, so long the principal man in the city, and one who
had acted, in his alliance with Marius, as a receptacle for
the plunder of whole provinces? Indeed, Scaurus himself was
now no longer able to rival himself; and it was at least one
advantage which he derived from this destruction by fire of so
many objects brought from all parts of the earth, that no one
could ever after be his equal in this species of folly. Curio,
consequently, found himself compelled to fall back upon his own
resources, and to think of some new device of his own.”

The points on which this account agrees with the Colosseum are so remarkable, that there can hardly be a doubt that the enormous building of Scaurus was on this site, and the old tufa walls of the substructure must have belonged to his building. This was the earliest amphitheatre, and in none of the other amphitheatres built in imitation of it do we find similar old tufa walls, although in other respects some are exact copies of the Colosseum.

AMPHITHEATRE OF NERO.

Some persons interpret a passage in the Annals of Tacitus[242] to mean, that the amphitheatre of Nero was in the Campus Martius, but this is only a wrong interpretation of the passage; he is speaking of the great wooden amphitheatre which Julius Cæsar built there, and which was repaired and restored to use in the second consulate of Nero (A.D. 56). He mentions foundations and beams only, and especially says it was of little importance. The time of Nero was a great building era in Rome, and he no doubt repaired all the public buildings that required it.

THE GREAT DRAIN.

There is considerable difficulty at the present time (in 1876) in obtaining correct information on the subject of the great drain, which carried off the water from the substructures. The entrance to it from the south-east end, under the entrance for animals, has been mentioned before, with the sluice-gate, which lifted up like a portcullis, and the grooves for it remain. Openings into it, covered with modern iron gratings, are seen in the floor of the passage, and across the mouth of it is an ancient iron grating. This great and deep drain carried the water in a straight line beyond the outer wall of the building, and just at this point a steam engine was placed in the years 1874 and 1875 to pump out the water, which gushed out of the earth a little further on, in the direction of the church of S. Clement, with a divergence to the south towards the Cœlian Hill. This water was very abundant, but it appeared more like the continuous stream of an aqueduct than a natural spring of water; it was at a very low level, quite 30 ft. underground. At a considerably higher level, and near the surface of the ground, was an aperture into the brick _specus_ or conduit of an aqueduct of the third century, in which the water was flowing steadily along from west to east; this continued all the summer of 1874, and the water was always flowing. This aperture was closed in the summer of 1875, and the whole _specus_ buried again; where the water was sent to is not known to any one but the persons employed, and they say that this water had little to do with the other water which they pumped out, although both were always good clear limpid streams of drinking water. The water was pumped out and conveyed in an open channel, parallel to the building, to the Arch of Constantine, where it made a small flood during all the spring of 1875, and was then carried into a modern drain under the road between the Cœlian and the Palatine, after passing over the road and washing the base of the Arch of Constantine for several months. The old drain, at a great depth, was traced the whole length of the Colosseum, parallel to it, close under the foot of that part of the Cœlian Hill on which the Claudium stood, and under which the two _piscinæ_, one of the time of Nero, the other of Alexander Severus, have been mentioned. The workmen employed to clear out the old drain were alarmed at the great depth; an enormous quantity of earth had been thrown upon it, and they were afraid of its falling in behind them, and blocking up their only mode of exit; deep wells were made down into it, but after they had gone nearly as far as the Arch of Constantine at this depth, they were stopped for want of air. Another well, or air-pipe, was necessary, but the works were then all suspended for want of funds. It is known that an ancient drain, at a great depth, went under the road, and at a much lower level than a modern drain, which passes near the monastery or church of S. Gregory on the Cœlian, between that and the Palatine; and there can be little doubt that this was a continuation of the same drain, and that it might all be cleared out and repaired, but unless air-pipes can be put down by boring the expense would be enormous.

Another small ancient drain has also been found coming from the Summa Sacra Via, apparently for the fountains at the four corners of the Porticus Liviæ. The workmen had been told that they were to find the great drain passing under that part, and going on to the Cloaca Maxima in the Forum Romanum, but this could not be found, and did not appear practicable.

Father Mullooly, the excellent Prior of S. Clement, says he has observed that the water under this church always rises and falls at the same time as that under the Colosseum, and he is convinced that they both come from the same source. It seemed probable that this source, or at least one of the sources of this water, is the great reservoir of the earliest aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, under the garden of the Villa Cœlimontana, formerly called Villa Mattei, which is now the property of the Baron Hoffman, at the west end of the Cœlian Hill, on a high level. The Baron wanted to make this old vaulted reservoir into a wine-cellar, but found it impossible to get rid of the water, which is always two or three feet deep, and as fast as he pumped it out it filled again to the same level, but no higher; this shews that there must be some outlet to it, but so deep underground that no one knows which way it goes. This old reservoir is nearly under the great reservoir of Nero for the Anio Novus, which was fifty feet higher, and carried on his arches, for which also the Arch of Dolabella was used as a substructure only. We have found in our examination of the aqueducts that the later ones always followed the same course as the earlier ones, not exactly over them, but by the side of them, each succeeding aqueduct being always on a higher level, and there is always a subterranean reservoir of one of the earlier aqueducts nearly under those of the later period. The Appia was made nearly four centuries before the Anio Novus, still it is very probable that the same plan was followed in both cases. We have found that the aqueduct of Claudius and Nero, called the Anio Novus, was divided into three branches at this point; one went straight on over the Palatine to the Capitoline Hill, another branch went to the left, or south, of the Aventine, and a third to the right, or north, to the Colosseum. It seems extremely probable that the same plan had been followed with the Appia, both were carried along the high ground of the Cœlian Hill as far as could be done, and then each was divided into three branches. We traced one branch of it over the Porta Capena to the Aventine and the Tiber; this is now necessarily out of use, the gate on the arch of which it was carried having been destroyed. A landslip in the garden of the Marchese Rappini, in February, 1876, between the Villa Cœlimontana and the Palatine, served to shew that a _specus_ or conduit passed there, now also out of use. An excavation was made there in April of the same year, but all that came to light was a deep well, an ancient quarry of tufa, also at a great depth, and the _specus_ of the aqueduct coming from the reservoir under the Claudium, called a _vivarium_, and going in the direction of the valley in which was the Porta Capena. This _specus_ has been long out of use, and could not have had any connection with the flood in the Colosseum, which was the object of the search. The water conveyed in this _specus_ originally must have been one of those that passed over the short _agger_ of Servius Tullius from the Cœlian to the Aventine, found in the excavation of 1868, and traced also in 1876 in the cave under S. Sabba, by the side of the Aqua Appia, in the same tunnel, but in a terra-cotta pipe, not in the stone _specus_. The third branch, in the direction of the Colosseum, may still be in use, though so deep as to be unknown, supplying wells only, and this may be the one tapped by the workmen employed by Signor Rosa, and which now floods the Colosseum, and S. Clement’s also. The only outlet from a large reservoir, in which the water is always three feet deep, must afford a very abundant supply of water, and the account given by the workmen who made this branch of it agrees with this. They say it was a steady constant stream of water, and it did not gush out of the earth in the manner that a natural spring does; the spring must therefore be at some distance. If this view is correct, it would be comparatively easy to turn the stream into a drain under the Clivus Scauri, and into the one made by the Municipality about 1865, under the road near the church of S. Gregory, between the Cœlian and the Palatine, and to carry it in that manner to the Tiber.

It is however probable that this spring alone, which was only a subsidiary spring to the Appian aqueduct, is not sufficiently abundant to supply the quantity of water, which now rises to the height of about ten feet, or quite three metres, in the substructures of the Colosseum. There is another spring, or perhaps more than one, in the ancient stone quarry under the garden of the monks of SS. John and Paul, on the other side of the Clivus Scauri, on the site of the Claudium, or that square part of the Cœlian Hill which is nearest to the Colosseum. This site is marked on an old plan of Rome, of the sixteenth century, as a reservoir of water, and there are no less than ten wells that descend into this old stone quarry. In the eighteenth century, and down to the middle of the nineteenth, this was called a _vivarium_, and was supposed to be the place where the wild animals were kept for exhibitions in the Colosseum, but there is no visible communication from one to the other. A plan of the old quarry, which was made for this work some years since, shews that this was not a _vivarium_. There are three ponds, but perhaps only one spring of water in it, and if the outlet for this water was stopped, the whole of the quarry, or caves as they are called, would soon be full of water. It seems probable that this is the place from which the greater part of the water comes that floods both the Colosseum and the cave of Mithras, nearly under the church of S. Clement. It seems also quite practicable to remove the water by an iron pipe into the drain under the road between the Cœlian and the Palatine, made by the Municipality about 1866. The level of the quarry is eight metres above that of the Colosseum; the soil there is on the level of the arena, and that is seven metres above the original pavement; the water in the old quarry is therefore fifteen metres, or about 45 ft. above the level of the old drain of the Colosseum, and nearly six metres above the drain made by the Municipality.

This opportunity may be taken to say, that great credit is due to the Municipality of Rome for the energy and perseverance with which they have carried on an admirable system of new drainage for the city; and not only the new city on the hills on the site of the city of the Kings and of the Empire, but also of the modern city of the Popes, built in the swamp between the hills and the Tiber, the draining of which is by no means easy. Nothing can be better than the old Cloaca Maxima, which is still the chief drain to this part of Rome, or for that of part of the old city; it drains the water of the streams that run down from three hills, the Palatine, the Capitoline, and the Quirinal, on this side. But on the northern side of the Capitoline Hill, in which was the Campus Martius, the mediæval drains are by no means equally good with those of the Kings; the mouths of these drains are always open to the Tiber, and when there is a flood of the river the water runs up the drains, and the Pantheon, which stands on very low ground, is always the first place in Rome to be flooded. Surely a sluice-gate might be placed at the mouth of each drain, suspended from a bar at the top, and worked on pivots only, which would let the water out, but would not let any in, as in the common _traps_ of a drain in daily use in England.

The Roman authorities say that the water of the Tiber would close the doors, and not let any of the water in the drain pass out, but if the door was placed obliquely, and let the water flow past it with as little pressure upon it as possible, the water in the drains, which runs rapidly and with considerable force, would very soon force open the door that was suspended at the mouth of it. Any embankment of the Tiber would be money thrown away; if the great engineers and architects who built the wall of Aurelian, could not make it secure on the bank of the Tiber, no modern engineers or architects will do so. We see that nearly the whole of the great wall of Aurelian, on the bank of the Tiber, has been swept away by the great floods; the substructures of the towers, under water, remain, and are visible when the water is low in the river, but all along the bank has been swept away. When the water rises at the rate of a foot in an hour, and continues to do so for twenty hours consecutively, and runs at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, no wall can stand against it that offers any resistance to it; smooth walls parallel to the course of the river might stand, as the quay of the Ripa Grande does, because it offers no resistance to the water.

After the greater part of this chapter was written and in type, I thought it necessary to go to Capua and Pozzuoli again to examine the remains of these amphitheatres, and I did so in November, 1875; it was my intention at the same time to have gone to Pompeii, to examine the amphitheatre there also, but the weather was so bad at that time I found it quite impracticable to do so; I therefore did so in May, 1876, and I find that the amphitheatre at Pompeii is of the time of Sylla the Dictator, and that the arrangements are not the same as those of the Roman amphitheatre; there are no substructions under the arena, and it appears there never could have been any, as in the centre there is the top of an original well, and the floor seems always to have been of earth only; there are no preparations for _Naumachia_, and the dens for the wild beasts are on the same level as the arena, and behind the _podium_. In the principal entrances there are sockets for a wooden balustrade, to separate the people from the wild beasts. The corridor round at the back of these dens has the original walls of brickwork, of good hard bricks, but rather thick, somewhat similar to those of the Pantheon at Rome, but much thicker than those of the time of Nero; the brick vaults of this corridor, or passage under the lower gallery, are modern or mediæval repairs. Many of the seats have been preserved or restored, they are of stone of volcanic character, the stone of the country, in fact, but they are of a convenient height, and comfortable to sit upon, though closely packed; the seat is raised two or three inches above the place for the feet of those in the next seat above. The construction of the outer wall is of blocks of lava, about the shape of English bricks, but rather larger, and with _opus reticulatum_, the pattern of large size, enclosed in a sort of framework of these quasi-bricks, very similar to the Muro Torto at Rome. The fresco of the first century found on a wall here, and now preserved in the Museum at Naples[243], is a caricature of the building; and the _vomitoria_, which form a conspicuous object in the front of the picture, are greatly exaggerated, made much more lofty and more long and narrow than they really are. They are said to be the ladies’ entrance to their gallery, which was the upper gallery at the back; but as the slope was very gradual, and the building not nearly so high as the Colosseum, they would be able to see perfectly well, and their entrance and exit being entirely on the exterior of the building, while that of the men was from the interior, was a very convenient arrangement. It seems probable that Scaurus, the step-on of Sylla, had seen this building in progress, and as the Romans always had the idea of making Rome the most magnificent city in the world, he built the far more magnificent amphitheatre in Rome; but as the upper part was built of wood, though magnificently decorated with columns of marble, of glass, and of gilt wood, as we have said, it seems to have offended the Republican notions of the Romans, and this upper part was entirely destroyed, or this may have happened from an accidental fire; but as the substructures were of tufa they were everlasting, as Pliny says, and they still remain as the principal foundations of the Colosseum, with brick walls and galleries erected upon them in the time of Nero, and the whole enclosed by the magnificent stone front and double corridors of the Flavian Emperors.

ALPHABETICAL INDEX.

THE COLOSSEUM.

Actors, space required for, under the stage, 47.

Alexander Severus, Piscina of, 5;
walls of, 6.

Amphitheatres a Roman invention (?), 4;
—of Nero not in Campus Martius, 56, 58;
—represented on coins, 21;
—described as perfect by Ammianus Marcellinus, A.D. 357, 26;
—restored by Lampadius, A.D. 445, 27;
—again by Venantius Basilius, A.D. 508, _ib._;
—used for shows of wild beasts by Theodoric, A.D. 519, _ib._;
—again used in 523, the last occasion mentioned, _ib._;
—again damaged by earthquake, A.D. 1703, 30;
—consecrated as a church, A.D. 1724, _ib._;
—north-western side nearly perfect, _ib._;
—Arch of lower storey restored by Gordianus, A.D. 220-238, 31.

— at Arles, 46.

— at Bordeaux, 46.

— at Capua, 40, 41.

— at Nismes, 46.

— at Pompeii, 63.

— at Pozzuoli, 42, 65.

— of Scaurus, on this spot, 56.

— at Verona, 43, 65.

Animals brought from vivaria in cages, called _pegmata_, 15.

Apollodorus told Hadrian he _ought to have_ provided space for the
machinery, 34.

Apuleius mentions _pegmata_ in amphitheatre, 49.

Arch of tufa shaken by an earthquake, supported by brick wall of
Nero, 14.

Arena, for the gymnasium, 1;
—of wood covered with sand, and full of trap-doors, 7, 11;
—no open space under the, 21;
—criminals torn to pieces upon it, 52.

Arles, Amphitheatre at, 46;
no substructures visible, _ib._

Augustus intended to build an amphitheatre here, but did not, 15.

Awning of Nero mentioned by Pliny, 23;
contrivances for supporting it, _ib._;
at Pompeii, shewn in a fresco, 24;
an intermediate passage for sailors to manage awning, 47;
cords for it, strong enough to carry an elephant, called
_catadromus_, 48.

Battles of sailors with swords, not with boats, 47.

Benedict XIII. consecrated area of amphitheatre as a church, A.D.
1728, 30.

Benedict XIV. erects cross and stations in amphitheatre, A.D. 1749,
30.

Boards removed from arena placed on corbels provided for them, 34.

Bordeaux, Amphitheatre at, 47;
Remains called the _Arènes_, it had a boarded floor, _ib._

Brickwork of Nero here, 6.

Building apparently perfect in time of Bede, 27;
—made part of fortress of Frangipani, A.D. 1130, 28;
—half given to Annibaldi by Frederick II., grant rescinded by
Innocent IV. in A.D. 1244, _ib._;
—much damaged by an earthquake, A.D. 1349, _ib._;
—made common property as a stone-quarry, A.D. 1362, 29;
—several palaces made out of this quarry, _ib._

Calpurnius mentions _pegmata_ in amphitheatre, 49.

Canals brought to light in 1812 and 1875, with substructures, 10;
—great cisterns under boards, 14;
about 10 ft. deep, but not always the same width, _ib._;
—walls to support unusually thick, _ib._;
—lined with lead, one on arches, the other on beams of wood, _ib._

Capitals fallen from upper gallery, 21.

Capstans, sockets for, 7.

CAPUA, Amphitheatre almost the same size as that of Rome, 40;
—Substructures more perfect, _ib._;
—Aqueduct and drain, _ib._;
—Remains of aqueduct, 13;
—Dens under the _podium_, 40;
—Sockets for pivots for cages, _ib._;
—Arena of brick, not wood, but apertures for trap-doors, _ib._;
—Grooves for covers over them to make them water-tight, _ib._;
—Building of the time of Hadrian, _ib._;
—Inscription, 41;
—Machine for lifting vessels, as in the Colosseum, 47.

Castra Misenatium, for sailors employed in furling awning, or _vela_,
or _velaria_, 24.

Catadromus, cords for awning, 48.

Cavea, name for an amphitheatre, 3;
and for vaults under it, 51.

Chambers, narrow and lofty vaulted, on each side of central passage,
38.

Circensian games, name retained in amphitheatre, 51.

Circus Maximus, sometimes used instead of amphitheatre, 50.

Claudian mentions _pegmata_ in amphitheatre, 49.

Clivus Scauri, Arcade to this amphitheatre, 3.

Colossus visible from gulf in amphitheatre, 49.

Columns and capitals fallen from upper gallery on to arena, and into
_cavea_, 21.

Commodus, acts of, in this building, described by Dion Cassius, 22.

Comparison and construction, 40;
—one of the first principles of archæology, _ib._;
—especially useful for this amphitheatre, _ib._

Construction, here made visible by demolition of outer corridor, 30.

Corbels or brackets for placing boards of arena upon, 11, 36.

Corridors, open channels for running water, in amphitheatre, 11;
—water supplied by aqueducts, _ib._

Cradle, or dry-dock, in central passage, 18, 38.

Culprits executed by being thrown to wild beasts in this
amphitheatre, 3.

Dens under the _podium_ have arches of Neronian brickwork, 12;
—small stream of water in front of them, 17.

Drain, large, under passage, 35, and in Appendix, 56, 59;
ancient iron grating at mouth of, 36;
place for flood-gates visible, _ib._

Emperors went to see wild beasts fed, 55.

Evidence of construction, and comparison, 40.

Excavations begun by the French, A.D. 1810, 31;
not deep enough, 33;
shew channels for water, 32;
—made in search of treasure, A.D. 1864, 1865, 33;
—A.D. 1874, 1875, 1;
results of them a great surprise, 37.

Exhibitions by Julius Cæsar in circus required a separate building, 5.

Framework, curious wooden, on floor of central passage, a cradle, or
dry-dock, 18.

Frangipani make amphitheatre part of fortress, A.D. 1130, 28.

Front of three periods, upper storey added a century later, 19.

Gallery, upper, of wood, destroyed by fire, 12;
restored in stone, completed A.D. 240, under Gordianus, _ib._

Games on arena, 55;
great importance attached to them, _ib._

Gates, usually four to each amphitheatre, 53;
names of, not easily ascertained, _ib._;
one called _sandapila_, _ib._;
others called Porta Prætoria, Porta Sacra, Porta Cochlea, 54.

Gaudentius employed upon it, not the architect of it, 20.

Gladiators often killed, 52;
—called for by the people, _ib._

Gordianus completed the building, and restored arch of lower storey,
A.D. 220-238, 31.

Grooves in walls for lifts, 7.

Gulf, or central passage, in all amphitheatres, 47.

Gymnasium on the arena, 1;
of Nero also here, 6.

Hadrian and Apollodorus, 34.

Herodian mentions 100 lions leaping on to the arena in amphitheatre,
50.

Icarus, an actor playing part of, fell dead at feet of Nero, 48.

Inscriptions record dates of later walls, 7;
—give the word THEATRUM for Amphitheatre, _ib._

Jerusalem, view of, century xvi., 29.

Joints, straight vertical, between the brick galleries and stone
corridors, 6.

Josephus mentions _pegmata_ in amphitheatre, 49.

Julius Cæsar, Amphitheatre of, 2.

Julius Capitolinus mentions 100 lions in amphitheatre, 50.

Lampadius restores amphitheatre, A.D. 445, 27.

Lampridius mentions 100 lions in amphitheatre, 50.

Lifts for men and dogs on both sides of central passage, 14;
grooves for, remain in walls, 7.

Lions, 100 killed at once in the shows, 26.

Machine for raising stones for walls, 21.

Machines required, numerous and large, 48.

Martial’s first book, _De Spectaculis_, relates to this amphitheatre,
4;
—mentions _pegmata_ in amphitheatre, 49.

Martyrdom of early Christians on sand of arena, not on soil 21 ft.
below, 36.

Mass celebrated in amphitheatre by Cardinal Vicar, A.D. 1756, 30.

Masts, or poles, and corbels for awning, 24.

Miracle plays performed in amphitheatre, A.D. 1540, 29.

Mixture of stone and brick in construction, 19.

Naumachia, the new, those of Augustus in Trastevere, 9;
—the old, in this building, 1, 8, 10;
—none in amphitheatre of Taurus, 10;
—and Stagna, names used indifferently, 12;
—the two sides were flooded, not the central passage, 14;
—vessels employed in usually _rates_, 47.

Naval fights held sometimes in Circus Maximus, 50;
—must have been in canals of Colosseum, as Heliogabalus filled them
with wine, 51;
—called Circensian games, _ib._;
—Martial distinguishes them, _ib._

Nero, substructures part of the time of, 1, 12;
—gymnasium and naumachia of, on site of this amphitheatre, 5;
—remains of aqueducts and piscina, _ib._;
—gymnasium of, on the arena, 6;
—brickwork of time of, _ib._;
—supper of, in the amphitheatre, 7;
—exterior of brick unfinished by him, and finished by Flavian
Emperors in stone, 11;
—two small chambers of brick, of his time, enclosed in travertine
walls, 15;
—awning of, mentioned by Pliny, 23;
—amphitheatre of, not in Campus Martius, 56;
—his Stagna were canals of aqueducts, 8.

Netting to protect lower gallery of gold (or gilt) wire, called
_retia_, 50.

NISMES, amphitheatre still has a wooden floor with trap-doors in it,
46;
arrangements below quite different, _ib._

Palaces, several made out of amphitheatre, 29.

Passage, great, found at S.E. end, 34.

Passages, small special, for messengers, intermediate between the
great ones at Pozzuoli, and in Colosseum at Rome, 47;
—central, or gulf, in all the amphitheatres, _ib._

Pavement, original here, 21 ft. below level of arena, 35.

Pegmata, cages for wild beasts, 15;
—described by Seneca, 16;
—not only cages, but wooden machines, 49.

Piers of travertine, introduced to support floors, 12;
—from top to bottom, to carry upper gallery, 39.

Piscinæ, remains of two, 11.

Pit for a man to descend to feed the animals, 17.

Plan, general, is oval, with galleries, vomitoria, &c., 18.

Pliny mentions Scaurus and his _insane_ works, 56.

Podium protected by wire netting and bars, 16.

POLA, IN ISTRIA, Amphitheatre at, 45, 46;
—built of white stone, _ib._;
—two tiers of arches remain, _ib._;
—A curious stone parapet, with indications of awning, _ib._;
—Built against rocky mountain, _ib._;
—Substructures in lower part, _ib._;
—Canal for water visible, _ib._;
—Square towers (for musicians?), 46.

POZZUOLI (Puteoli), Arena of brick full of trap-doors, 13, 42;
—Surface there flooded for _naumachia_, 13;
—An intermediate passage for messengers, 47;
—Building much smaller than those of Rome and Capua, 42;
—Substructures more perfect and more highly finished, _ib._;
—Arena of brick, with apertures for trap-doors, _ib._;
—Arrangement for fixing masts for awning, as in Rome, 43;
—Building also of time of Hadrian, _ib._;
—Vaults preserved and used, _ib._

Rhodope, mountain of, represented as a scene here, 4.

SCAURUS, Family of Æmilius, 56;
—name means club-footed, _ib._;
—one of the family built Basilica Æmilia, _ib._;
—_insane_ works of, so called from their enormous cost, _ib._;
—his theatre to hold 80,000 people could only be on site of
Colosseum, _ib._;
—no other theatre three storeys high, _ib._;
—extract from Pliny, _ib._;
—walls of, 15;
—buildings of, parts temporary, other parts eternal, according to
Pliny, on site of present amphitheatre, 3;
—Clivus of, leads to this site, _ib._

Sea-water (?) used in canals, 8.

Seneca, _pegmata_ described by, 16.

Severus, Alexander, piscina of, 5;
wall of, 6.

Sockets in the pavement for pivots of capstans, 7, 35.

Stagna, or old _naumachia_, under the arena, 1, 12;
—of Nero supplied by three aqueducts, 9;
—boarded over for gladiators and wild beasts, but boards removed
easily, 10;
—two, each 300 ft. long, and about 50 wide, 14.

Stagnum of Nero, “like a sea,” when surface was flooded, 9, 12.

— Navale of Tacitus, 9.

— of Agrippa near the Pantheon, 9.

Statilius Taurus, Amphitheatre of, 1.

Storey, upper, an addition and an afterthought, 6.

Substructures, part of the time of Nero, 1;
—evidently retained and used when upper part was built, 39;
—compared with others, 47.

Suetonius does not mention the beginning of the work, 1.

Tacitus gives an account of games here under his own direction, 55.

Taurus, Statilius, Amphitheatre of, 1.

Theatrum and Amphitheatrum, names used indifferently for this
building, 7.

Theodoric uses amphitheatre for shows of wild beasts, A.D. 519, 27.

Titus, wall of, 6;
—exhibitions of, at the dedication, 8.

Trap-doors in the arena numerous, 7.

Travertine piers cut through older wall, of tufa and brick, to carry
upper gallery, 19.

Tufa, much used to fill up between piers of travertine, 18;
—taken from second wall of Rome, _ib._

Tusculum, canals in amphitheatre, as in Rome, 14.

Upper storey, of stone, an addition to the plan, 6, 12;
damaged by lightning, A.D. 230, 26;
of wood, burnt, A.D. 217, 25;
restored by Heliogabalus, Al. Severus, and Gordianus, _ib._

Vaults under arena called _caveæ_, 51.

Venantius Basilius restores amphitheatre, A.D. 508, 27.

VERONA, Amphitheatre at, 43, 44;
—Outer wall almost destroyed, 43;
—Arcade of two lower storeys preserved, 44;
—Comparison of the number that each amphitheatre would contain,
_ib._;
—Seats remarkably well preserved, _ib._;
—Dimensions of the three principal amphitheatres, Rome, Verona,
Capua, 45;
—and Capua, remains of aqueducts, 13.

Vertical joints, open, between brick walls of galleries, and stone
walls of corridors, 6.

Vespasian and Titus, Walls of, 6.

Vessels employed in _naumachia_ usually _rates_, 47.

View of Jerusalem, century xvi., 29.

Views on coins, and in sculpture on tomb of Aterii, 20.

Vivaria outside walls of Rome, 15;
—one at Prætorian camp, 16;
—the other at Sessorium, _ib._

Vopiscus mentions _pegmata_ and 100 lions in amphitheatre, 49.

Wall, the outer, of three periods, Vespasian, Titus, and Alexander
Severus, 6.

Walls, original, of tufa, interfered with by later work, 7;
—of tufa in substructure older than time of Nero, 13;
—of front, and of the corridors in the superstructure, are of
travertine, _ib._;
—of tufa, round edge of substructure for lifts, not for canals, 14;
—of tufa, probably of Scaurus, time of Sylla, 15;
—grooves in, for lifts and cages, 15, 35;
—of tufa, in parts supported by brick walls of Flavian Emperors, 17;
—part destroyed by being used as a stone-quarry, 18;
—north side only part perfect, _ib._;
—weeded by the French in 1812, this repeated 1870, 31;
—upper, hastily built under Gordianus, 33;
—lower, of brick, belong to repairs after earthquakes in A.D. 442,
and 508, 37.

Water, shallow open channels for, remain, 33;
—reservoirs in principal gallery, _ib._;
—two _piscinæ_ or ——, under Cœlian, _ib._

Wild beasts brought to Rome, B.C. 251, 3;
—number kept for shows, 25.

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE I.

SUPERSTRUCTURE.

EXTERIOR, FROM THE THERMÆ OF TITUS.

EXTERIOR N.E. SIDE FROM THE THERMÆ OF TITUS]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE I.

SUPERSTRUCTURE.

EXTERIOR, FROM THE THERMÆ OF TITUS.

This view shews the only part that is at all perfect of the magnificent work of the Flavian Emperors, consisting of the grand front and the splendid corridors, built around the brick theatre of Nero, with the galleries for spectators, which are surrounded by these stone corridors. These are of the best building stone to be had in Rome,—the travertine from the quarries near Tibur, now Tivoli.

The front had evidently been left unfinished by Nero, as we find no traces of any brick front according to the fashion of his time, when the brickwork was the finest that the world has ever seen.

It will be observed that the lower part of the ground-floor is concealed in the view by the bank of earth on which the modern road is carried, and the parapet wall of that road. It will also be observed that each storey is different; the lower storeys have different orders of architecture, but with scarcely any difference of plan or of construction, whereas the upper storey is quite different from the rest. There are no arches in it, but flat pilasters instead of columns, small square windows, and a row of corbels projecting boldly from the wall, and a prominent cornice over it. These corbels were for the purpose of carrying the feet of the masts that supported the awning over the heads of the spectators in the galleries, and these masts passed through holes left for them in the cornice, as will be seen more plainly in Plate XII.

This upper storey is more than a century later in date than the lower parts of the building; it replaces a wooden gallery for the common people, which had been made upon the top of the great corridors, which was too tempting a place for the purpose to be lost, although this wooden gallery does not appear to have formed part of the original design,—to judge from the representations of the building on the coins, which are probably made from the designs of the architects before the work was executed. There are six designs extant on the coins, and no two of them are exactly alike, especially for this upper storey[244].

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE II.

SUPERSTRUCTURE.

VIEWS OF PARTS OF THE BUILDING.

A. FROM UPPER GALLERY—LOOKING DOWN

B. REMAINS OF RESERVOIR IN FIRST GALLERY]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE II.

SUPERSTRUCTURE.

VIEWS OF PARTS OF THE BUILDING.

A. The upper view is taken from the top gallery looking down, and shewing the ruins of the lower brick galleries, with the windows of the corridors. Behind the wall in which these windows are placed is seen part of one of the corridors without its roof or vault, but with the steps of one of the _vomitoria_, and at the back of that the arches can be seen of the outer corridor; for it must be remembered that there was a _double_ corridor all round this enormous fabric. The object of this was to facilitate ingress and egress from the rest of the building, and the galleries were divided into many distinct parts, each with its own passages and steps, so that there would be no more confusion or pressure in emptying this enormous building than from the emptying of an ordinary room that would hold fifty people. In the upper part of this view, on the right hand, is seen in the distance the church of S. Stefano Rotondo and the trees on the Cœlian Hill.

B. The lower view is taken from the inner side of the chief gallery on the first floor, looking outwards, through one of the arches of the corridor. In this particular compartment was one of the reservoirs of water supplied by the aqueducts. The evidence for this is seen on the right-hand side of the picture, where the lower part of a _specus_ or channel for the water remains, with some of the peculiar cement used only for the aqueducts, against the wall and lining the _specus_.

Half way along this brick wall is seen a part of one of the narrow piers of travertine which go from the top to the bottom of the building, to carry the upper gallery at that enormous height, as the engineers were afraid to trust the soft tufa wall with the facing of brick. A little further on the right is seen the opening between the brick wall of the gallery and the stone wall of the corridor; the light is seen shining through the opening, which is here about three inches wide, and there is no bonding anywhere between the brick wall of the gallery and the stone wall of the corridor. Towards the south end of the building on this level, in at least two instances, the stone piers have been carried away for building materials, and the lower part of the brick wall, through which it had been cut, stands just as well without it as with it. The object of this tall stone pier was to carry the upper gallery only, not to support the old walls of the lower galleries[245].

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE III.

SUPERSTRUCTURE AND SUBSTRUCTURE.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE III.

SUPERSTRUCTURE AND SUBSTRUCTURE.

The Interior as it appeared in 1812, when _partially_ excavated by order of the French Government. This view, taken from an engraving of the period, helps to explain what follows, but the excavations at that time were only carried to the depth of ten feet, and the original pavement was found only (in 1874) at the depth of twenty-one feet from the foot of the _podium_, which is on the ordinary level of the soil. Consequently, we only have here visible the surface, with the central passage and the two canals on each side of it, and the side passage round the edge just under the _podium_. The square openings for the lifts for men and dogs are seen on each side of the central passage. The ruins of the brick galleries are also seen much as they remain now.

The view is taken from above, at the north end. It is singular that the engineers at that time did not see that they had excavated the tops of arches of which the lower parts were still buried, yet the same thing is clearly seen in the excellent set of drawings made for the French Government at the time, and now preserved in the British Museum. In these all the details are given with exact measurements, and yet they appear not to have seen that they had excavated the tops of a series of arches and left the rest buried.

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE IV.

SUBSTRUCTURES IN 1874.

INTERIOR, AT THE SOUTH-EAST END. VIEW IN THE PASSAGES.

INTERIOR S.E. END.—THE PASSAGES]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IV.

THE COLOSSEUM IN 1874.

SUBSTRUCTURE.

INTERIOR, AT THE SOUTH-EAST END. VIEW IN THE PASSAGES.

In the centre of the view, at the foot, are seen the boards for the wheelbarrows of the workmen, leaning against the top of the arch of the great subterranean drain to carry off the water when it was let off with a rush after the naval fights. Under the boards are remains of an ancient iron grating, to prevent any object being carried off into the drain by the force of the water. On each side of these boards are traces of the flood-gate, by which the water could be stopped, or the rate of it regulated.

Beyond this, on each side, is a wide arch of stone parallel to the great central passage. These arches open into two large and lofty vaulted chambers of considerable length, passing under the galleries. In the pavement of the floor in each of these is a line of seven sockets for pivots to work in, some of which retain the bronze socket, in others it has been torn out.

Between the two great round-headed arches is seen a square-topped opening at the end of a long passage over the great drain. This was the passage for the animals that were brought through it in their cages, excepting the elephants, which were led into the large dens provided for them, two on each side of the passage further on.

Above this was the state entrance from the south towards S. Clement’s and the Lateran, and on each side are the ruins of the galleries as before.

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE V.

INTERIOR, TOWARDS THE SOUTH-WEST, WITH THE SUBSTRUCTURES IN 1874.

INTERIOR S.W.—THE SUBSTRUCTURES]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE V.

INTERIOR, TOWARDS THE SOUTH-WEST, WITH THE SUBSTRUCTURES IN 1874.

Immediately to the right, and nearly in the centre of the picture, is seen the earth not then excavated when this view was taken. In front of this, as shewn to the right of the picture, is one of the ancient walls of tufa faced with brick, which carries on its right-hand side one of the canals of water. To the left of the view, close under the _podium_, is seen another wall of tufa, but cut, and with vertical grooves clearly seen in it; these were for the lifts. Behind this are the arches of the dens of the wild beasts, under the path in front of the _podium_; then the _podium_ itself, with square recesses in it, usually said to have been for men to take refuge in, should the animals be able to spring over the net-work in front; but this is not probable, when we see the precautions taken: they were more likely for the athletes, or for the attendants or guards under the state gallery. Behind this are the ruins of the galleries and the windows of the corridors, as before.

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE VI.

INTERIOR, AT THE SOUTH-EAST END.

WITH THE EARLY WALLS OF TUFA.

INTERIOR S.E. END WITH THE EARLY WALLS]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VI.

INTERIOR, AT THE SOUTH-EAST END.

WITH THE EARLY WALLS OF TUFA.

In this view the grooves in the walls are clearly seen on both sides of the passage between them, and the arches of the dens behind the outer wall. The lions, or other wild animals about that size, passed from the dens through an opening in the wall into the cages provided for them in this passage. The cages were placed upon lifts, and when the word was given by the emperor, were all pulled up at once to the arena, or floor of boards, with trap-doors in it all along over this passage. We are told by Herodian (as has been shewn in the text, p. 26) that on one occasion a hundred lions leaped on to the stage or arena at the same time, and appeared to the spectators in the gallery to “leap out of the earth;” the sand with which the floor was covered over would have that appearance when the trap-doors, and lifts, and the tops of the cages along with them, were opened from below. In the passage is a long series (one behind the place for each cage and lift) of sockets seen in the pavement, apparently each for a capstan to wind the twenty-one feet of cord upon, when the cage was pulled up to the top, and the trap-doors opened.

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE VII.

VIEW AT THE SOUTH-EAST END.

VIEW OF SOUTH EAST END]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VII.

VIEW AT THE SOUTH-EAST END.

This plate is from an excellent drawing of Signor Cicconetti, made chiefly from the photographs, in order to explain them more clearly. The photographs are evidence of historical facts, which no drawing alone can be, because drawings are always liable to errors, accidentally or otherwise. Unfortunately drawings are very often made to suit the idea either of the artist who draws the object as he thinks “it must have been,” or to suit the view of the person who orders the drawing. These drawings can be compared with the photographs throughout, and make them more easy to understand.

A. Wooden framework (?), cradle (?), or dry dock (?).

B, B. Marble slabs placed upright, to serve as struts to support the galleys standing on the frame.

C, C. Walls of the central passage.

D. Line of one of the canals.

E, E. Ancient tufa walls, with the dens behind them.

F, F. Podium and state gallery.

G, G. Principal gallery.

H, H. Second gallery.

I. Top gallery, added after the fire.

K. Drain or cloaca.

L. Passage for animals.

M. State entrance and corridor.

N. Modern buttress.

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE VIII.

PLAN OF THE SOUTHERN HALF, AT THE LOWEST LEVEL, SHEWING THE EXCAVATIONS IN 1874 AND 1875.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VIII.

PLAN OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN HALF, AT THE LOWEST LEVEL, SHEWING THE EXCAVATIONS IN 1874 AND 1875.

A, A. The frame, cradle, or dry dock, for the galleys to stand upon when not wanted for use.

F, F. The _podium_.

L. The passage for animals.

T, T. Lofty vaulted chambers, with seven sockets in a line in each.

V. Subterranean side-passage, called of Commodus.

a. The dens for wild beasts.

b. The shaft for a man to descend and feed the animals.

c. The drain and flood-gate at the mouth of it.

e, e. Small brick chambers of the time of Nero.

All the sockets that are visible are shewn in the plan, whether in the passages or in the chambers.

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE IX.

ARCHES IN THE SUBSTRUCTURE.

ARCH OF THE SECOND CENTURY, IN THE SUBSTRUCTURE.

BRICK ARCH OF NERO, IN THE SUBSTRUCTURE.]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IX.

1. ARCH OF THE SECOND CENTURY IN THE SUBSTRUCTURE.

In addition to the two ancient walls of tufa parallel to each other round the edge, with the grooves for lifts in them, there are some remains here and there of a third wall of tufa within the other two, and this appears to have been much shaken by an earthquake. In this, little is perfect, but in the parts that remain there are arches, and these arches are supported by brick walls of different periods. The upper arch in this plate is supported by a brick wall of the second century, as is seen by the thickness and quality of the bricks and of the mortar between them. This is shewn by the six-foot rule, each foot painted alternately black and white, by which the bricks can be counted the same as on the spot.

2. ARCH OF THE FIRST CENTURY IN THE SAME.

This small arch is in the same wall, but in this case the brick arch that supports the tufa is clearly of the time of Nero[246]. The long, thin bricks of his time, nine or ten to the foot, are well known to all Roman archæologists, and are so marked that there is no mistaking them: they are thus good evidence that the amphitheatre of Nero, mentioned by Pliny, was on the same site as the Flavian Amphitheatre. A segment of another arch of the same period abuts against it, to support it like a flying buttress, and is seen in the plate.

THE COLOSSEUM.

PLATE X.

SUBSTRUCTURES.

REMAINS OF TWO CANALS, ONE SUPPORTED ON TIMBERS, THE OTHER ON BRICK ARCHES.

A. REMAINS OF A CANAL SUPPORTED ON TIMBERS

B. —— OF ANOTHER CANAL SUPPORTED ON ARCHES]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE X.

SUBSTRUCTURES.

REMAINS OF TWO CANALS, ONE SUPPORTED ON TIMBERS, THE OTHER ON BRICK ARCHES.

These two canals, parallel to each other, to be supplied with water by the aqueducts, and used for the _naumachia_ or naval fights, are among the most curious discoveries brought to light in the recent explorations. They shew how completely the whole of the great public exhibitions of the ancient Romans were theatrical displays, with all the usual tricks of a theatre, just the same as in a Christmas pantomime.

This shews also that _stagna_ do not necessarily mean ponds; any reservoir of water is a _stagnum_, whether supplied by a natural spring or by an aqueduct. Neither of these now remaining are of the time of Nero, they belong to later repairs or alterations; but the great thickness and strength of the wall of so little height could only have been made to support the weight of water. This is especially evident in the upper view, where the wall is nearly as thick as it is high. In this passage the canal, lined with lead, was supported on massive wooden beams; in the lower view the canal in that passage, which is wider than the other, was supported on the brick arches of the second or third century, shewn in this view.