THE NEW CURIOSUM URBIS
Shakespere Wood

THE FLAVIAN AMPHITHEATRE, commonly called THE COLOSSEDM, a name it received in the middle ages, from the enormous proportions, which make it a Colossus among buildings. It was called the Flavian Amphitheatre, from the three Emperors of the Flavian family—Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. It was founded by Vespasian, about the year 72, on the site of the ornamental lake in Nero's garden. In the year 80, Titus dedicated it with games which lasted 100 days, and during which 9000 wild animals were slain on the arena; and it was completed by Domitian, who added the shields and ornaments which surmounted the cornice. According to the traditions of the Church, thirty thousand Jewish prisoners of war were employed in building it; and an inscription discovered in the Catacomb of St. Agnes— now in the crypt of the Church of Sta. Martina—has led to the supposition that the architect was a certain Gaudentius,who became a Christian, and himself suffered martyrdom on the arena. In form it is an ellipse, measuring 1848 feet in circumference. Externally it is divided into three series of arcades, one above the other, surmounted by an attic. The arcades are supported by great piers, with engaged columns on the exterior. The lowest, 35ft. 6in. in height, is of the Doric order; the second, 39 feet in height, is of the Ionic; the third, 39ft. 5in. in height, is of the Corinthian order; and the attic, which has Corinthian pilasters, measures 46ft. 7in. in height, with an entablature above of 4ft. 6in.—the total height being 165 feet. The extreme length from the external walls is 629ft. 6in., and the extreme width 527ft. 6in. The arena measures 288ft. 6in. long, by 182ft. 6in. wide. The height of the Podium from the arena is 22ft. 4dn. The Cavea, which was capable of giving accommodation to 87,000 spectators, was divided into four belts of seats, ranging upwards from the arena. First, the Podium— a platform on which were the seats for the Imperial family, the Vestal Virgins, Magistrates, and other members of the Government of the day. Second, the first Prcecinc- tiones, formed of 24 rows of seats one above the other, for persons of Senatorial rank. Third, the secjnd Proecinc- tiones of 16 rows of seats, for persons of the Equestrian order. Fourth, the Meniainum of 25 rows of seats, the upper 16 of which were of wood, for the Plebeian order. The entrance to the seats was through the 80 arches of the external portico, each fourth arch admitting to one of the four belts of seats in regular rotation. Each arch—with the exception of the four which formed the principal entrances, one at each end of the greater, and one at each end of the lesser axis—is numbered on the key-stone, the numbers remaining being from XXIII. to LIIII. In the arches over the two main entrances, at the end of the greater axis, were bronze chariots drawn by four horses; and marble statues stood in all the other arches of the second and third tiers. The spectators were protected from the sun's rays by a great Velarium, extended from 240 masts, which were passed through holes, 18 inches square, in the cornice, and stepped on the corbels below. The great number of holes in the walls were made during the dark ages, for the purpose of extracting the metal bolts used in the construction,* with the exception of a few in the lower arcade, which were made for the supports of the partitions, when, first Sixtus V., 1685-90, converted the Colosseum into a woollen manufactory, and afterwards Clement XI., 1700-21, turned it into a saltpetre manufactory, for the supply of his gunpowder mills, established among the remains of the Baths of Trajan. There is reason to believe that the outer wall remained entire until it was rent by the great earthquake in September, 1349. The earliest record of the materials being employed for other purposes is found in a letter written shortly after that event, i.e., in 1362, by the Bishop of Orvieto to Urban V., at Avignon, stating that he had met with little success in raising money by the sale of the stones of the Colosseum. During the middle ages it served as a great stone quarry. The Venetian Palace, the Can- celleria, the Farnese, and Barberini Palaces, and the Quay *It is an absurdity to suppose that these holes were caused by the rusting of the bolts cracking the stones and forcing the portions outwards. The marks of the tools employed for the purpose are visible in many places. The same thing was done at the Janus Quadrifrons, in the interior of the Column of Trajan, and other places, on the harder material of the marble blocks of which the marks of the pointed tools can be still more distinctly seen. at the Ripetta, to say nothing of a host of smaller edifices, were built of the great blocks abstracted from it. This spoliation continued till Benedict XIV., 1740-50, arrested the further destruction of the building by dedicating it to the blood of the Christian martyrs who suffered within it, and erected stations* around the Podium on the modern level. Finally, as portions of the outer wall at the fractured ends menaced ruin, Pius VII., in 1805, built the great buttress on the side towards St. John Lateran, and, in 1828, Leo XII. completed that on the side towards the Forum. It is an error to suppose that the Amphitheatre was constructed for the purpose of giving gladiatorial shows. It was a place built for the exhibition of wild animals, and wherein the spectators could see them, fight together, or with men, without the danger to which they were subjected when such games were given in the Circus. In all the earliest records, the Colosseum is called a hunting theatre : but, as it was admirably adapted for gladiatorial combats, many were given within it, together with every other variety of exhibition of a kindred nature, which, through the shedding of blood, whether of men or beasts, held the spectators under an overpowering fascination. Many Christians suffered martyrdom in the arena: not that they were absolutely brought here for execution, but, as it often happened that the number of the men called Bestiarii, who devoted themselves to the fighting with animals as a profession, was insufficient for the purpose, malefactors were given by the Government, or refractory slaves by their owners, to supply the deficiency, and among such malefactors were Christian men and women, condemned for the crime of superstition, and neglecting, or inciting to the *The excavations now in progress, have necessitated the removal of these stations. neglect, of the service of the gods. It is possible that distinguished persons, such as St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, were sometimes sent into the arena to give greater zest to the enjoyment if the spectators, and to serve as a greater warning. Excavations are now being carried on within the Colosseum, for the purpose of removing the many feet of accumulation under which the original level of the arena has hitherto been hidden. A portion of it has already been laid bare.

ABOUT THE COLOSSEUM