ROMAN THEATRES, AMPHITHEATRES, CIRCI
Romae Antiquae Notitia - Kennett Basil

That the theatre and amphitheatre were two different sorts of edifices, was never questioned, the former being built in the shape of a semicircle, the other generally oval, so as to make the same figure as if two theatres should be joined together; yet the same place is often called by these names in several authors. They seem, too, to have been designed for quite different ends; the theatres for stage plays, the amphitheatres for the greater shows of gladiators, wild beasts, &c. The parts of the theatre and amphitheatre, best worth our observation, by reason of their frequent use in classics, are as follow: Scena was a partition reaching quite cross the theatre, being either Versatilis, or Ductilis, either to turn round or to draw up, for the presenting a new prospect to the spectators, as Servius has observed1'. Proscenium was the space of ground just before the scene, where the Pulpitum stood, into which the actors came from behind the scenes to perform. The middle part, or area, of the amphitheatre, was called Cavea, because it was consideraly lower than the other parts; whence perhaps the name of Pit in our play-houses was borrowed: And Arena, because it used to be strown with sand, to hinder the performer from slipping. Lipsius has taken notice, that the whole amphitheatre was often called by both these names'. And the Veronese still call the theatre, which remains alnost entire in that city, the Arena. There was a threefold distinction of the seats, according to the ordinary division of the people into senators, knights, and commons; the first range was called Orchestra, because in that part of the Grecian theatres, the dances were performed; the second, Equestria; and the other Popularia. Theatres, in the first ages of the commonwealth, were only only temporary, and composed of wood, which sometimes tumbled down with a great destruction, as Dio and Pliny speak of one particularly. Of these temporary theatres, the most celebrated was that of M. Scaurus, mentioned by Pliny; the scenes of which were divided into three partitions, one above another; the first consisting of 120 pillars of marble; the next of the like number of pillars, curiously wrought in glass: The top of all had still the same number of pillars adorned with gilded tablets. Between the pillars were set 3000 statues and images of brass. The cavea would holde 80,000 men. Tre structure which Curio afterwards raised at the funeral of his father, tho' inferior to the former in magnificence, yet was not less remarkable upon account of the admirable artifice and contrivance. He built two spacious theatres if wood, so ordered with hinges and other necessaries, as to bea ble to turn round with very little trouble. These he fet at first back to back, forthe celebration of the stage-plays and such like diversions, to prevent the disorder that might otherwise arise by the confusion of the scenes. Toward the latter end of the day, pulling down the scenes, and joining the two fronts of the theatres, he composed an exact amphitheatre, in which he again obliged the people with a show of gladiators. Pompey the Great was the first that undertook the raising of a fixed theatre, which he built very nobly with square stone; on which account, Tacitus tells us he was severely reprehended for introducing a custom so different from that of their forefathers, who were contented to see the like performances, in seats built only for the present occasion, and in ancient times standing only on the ground. To this purpose, I cannot omit an ingenious reflection of Ovid upon the luxury of the age he lived in, by comparing the honest simplicity of the old Romans with the vanity and extravagance of the modern in this particular: Tunc neque marmoreo pendebat vela Theatro, Nec fuerant liquido pulpita rubra croco. Illic quas tulerant, nemoroso Palatia, frondes Simpliciter positae: Scena fine arte fuit. In gradibus fedit popolus de cespite factis Qualibet hir sutas fronde tegente comas No pillars then of Egypt's costly stone, No purple fails hung waiving in the sun, No flowers about the scented seats were thrown. But sylvan bowers and shady palaces, Brought by themselves, secured them from the rays. Thus guarded and refreshed with humble green, Wond'ring they gazed upon the artless scene: Their seats of homely turf the crowd would rear, And cover with green boughs their more disordered hair. Juvenal intimates, that this good old custom remained still un- corrupted in several parts of Italy: ipsa dierum Festorum herboso colitur si quando theatro Majestas ; tandemque rcdit ad pulpita notum Exordium, cum personce pallentis hiatum In gremio matrisformidat rttsticus infans ; Aequales habitus illic, similemque videbis Orchestram et populum On theatres of turf in homely state, Old plays they act, old feasts they celebrate; The same rude song returns upon the crowd, And by tradition is for wit allowed. The mimic yearly gives the same delights, And in the mother.s arms the clownish infant frights. Their habits (undistinguished by degree) Are plain alike; the same simplicity Both on the stage, and in the pit you see. Some remains of this theatre of Pompey are still to be seen, at Rome, as also of those others of Marcellus, Statilius Taurus, Tiberius, and Titus, the second being almost entire. There were several of these Circi in Rome, as those of Flaminius, Nero, Caracalla, and Severus: But the most remarkable, as the very name imports, was Circus Maximus, first built by Tarquinius Priscus. The length of it was four stadia or furlongs, the breadth the like number of acres; with a trench of ten feet deep, and as many broad, to receive the water, and seats enough for 150,000 men. It was extremely beautified and adorned by succeeding princes, particularly by Julius Caesar, Augustus, Caligula, Domitian, Trajan, and Heliogabalus; and enlarged to such a prodigious extent, as to be able to contain, in their proper seats, 260,000 spectators. Naumachiae The Naumachiae, or places for the shows of sea engagements, are no where particularly described: but we may suppose them to be very little different from the Circus and Amphitheatres, since those sort of shows, for which they were designed, were often exhibited in the aforementioned places. Naumachiae Odeum was a public edifice, much after the manner of a theatre «, where the musicians and actors privately exercised before their appearance on the stage. Plutarch has described one of their Odeums at Athens (whence, to be sure, the Romans took the hint of theirs) in the following words: ' For the contrivance of it, in the inside it was full of seats and ranges of pillars ; and, on the outside, the roof or covering of it was made from one point at top, with a great many bendings, all shelving downward, in imitation of the king of Persia's pavilion.' The Stadia were places in the form of Circi, for the running of men and horses d. A very noble one, Suetonius e tells us, was built by Domitian. The Xysti were places built, after the fashion of portices, for the wrestlers to exercise inf. The Campus Martius, famous on so many accounts, was a large plain field lying near the Tiber, whence we find it sometimes under the name of Tiberinus. It was called Martius, because it had been consecrated by the old Romans to the god Mars. Here the young noblemen practised all manner of feats of activity; learned the use of all sorts of arms and weapons. Here the races, either with chariots or single horses, were undertaken. Besides this, it was nobly adorned with the statues of famous men, and with arches, columns, and porticos, and other magnificent structures. Here stood the Villa Publica, or palace for the reception and entertainment of ambassadors from foreign states, who were not allowed to enter the city. Several of the public Comitia were held in this field ; and for that purpose were the Septa or Ovilia, an apartment inclosed with rails, where the Tribes or Centuries went in one by one to give their votes. Cicero, in one of his epistles to Atticus, intimates a noble design he had to make the Septa of marble, and to cover them with a high roof, with the addition of a stately portico or piazza all round. But we hear no more of this project, and therefore may reasonably suppose he was disappointed by the civil wars which broke out presently after.

ABOUT THE COLOSSEUM