FOOTNOTES
[17] Ibid. [VII.], [VIII.], [XXVI.]
[20] See Plates [XXVII.], [XXVIII.], [XXIX.], [XXX.], [XXXI.]
[21] Ibid. [XXXII.], [XXXIII.], [XXXIV.], [XXXV.]
[22] See the Part of this work on the Forum Romanum and the Via Sacra for evidence of this.
[23] “Fecit et nova opera ... item amphitheatrum urbe media, ut destinasse compererat Augustum.” (Suetonius, Vespasianus, c. 9.)
[24] Plinii Nat. Hist., lib. xxxvi. c. 24, s. 8.
[25] Dionis Hist., lib. xliii. c. 25.
[26] “Non patiemur duos Caios, vel duos Nerones, ne hac quidem gloria famæ frui: docebimusque etiam insaniam eorum victam privatis operibus M. Scauri, cujus nescio an ædilitas maxime prostraverit mores civiles, majusque sit Sullæ malum, tanta privigni potentia, quam proscriptio tot millium. Hic fecit in ædilitate sua opus maximum omnium, quæ unquam fuere humana manu facta, non temporaria mora, verum etiam æternitatis destinatione. Theatrum hoc fuit. Scena ei triplex in altitudinem, CCCLX columnarum, in ea civitate, quæ sex Hymettias non tulerat sine probro civis amplissimi. Ima pars scenæ e marmore fuit: media e vitro, inaudito etiam postea genere luxuriæ: summa, e tabulis inauratis.” (Plinii Nat. Hist., lib. xxxvi. 24. 7.)
[27] The meaning of this appears to be that the upper part was temporary, and was removed shortly afterwards, as is related in another place; but the substructures were permanent, or eternal.
[28] Dionis Hist. Rom., lib. xxxvii. c. 58.
[29] Justi Lipsii de Amphitheatro liber, 1684; et apud Grævii Thesaurus Ant. Rom., Lugd. Bat. 1699, folio, vol. ix.
[30] “Alter in Amphitheatrali cavea cum adfuturus spectaculis introiret.” (Ammiani Marcellini, lib. xxix. 1, Valentinianus, &c., A.D. 371.)
“Quid pulvis Caveæ semper funebris et illa
Amphitheatralis spectacula tristia pompæ.”
(Prudentius contra Symmachum, lib. i. l. 384-5.)
“... stat cardine aperto
Infelix Cavea et clausis circum undique portis
Hoc licuisse nefas pavidi timuere Leones.”
(Statii Silvæ, lib. ii. 5; Leo Mansuetus imp., l. xi.)
[33] Claudianus de laudibus Stilicho, lib. iii.
[34] Lipsius has collected a host of extracts from the classical authors respecting this great amphitheatre, and the arrangement and amusements in it; but as the substance of these is given in the usual classical dictionaries, especially Dr. Smith’s, and they do not affect the history of the building, it is not necessary to repeat them here.
[35] Polybii Hist., i. 84.
[36] Cassiodori Variar., lib. v. epist. 42.
[37] Livii Hist., xxxix. 22.
[38] Ibid., xliv. 18.
[39] Sig. Fabio Gori has collected all these passages, and given an Italian translation of them in his work entitled Le memorie storiche, i giuochi e gli scavi dell’ anfiteatro Flavio. Roma, 1874.
[40] Suetonii Julius Cæsar, cap. 39.
[41] That is, chariots on two wheels and others on four wheels.
[42] “In minore Codeta, defosso lacu.”
[43] Vessels with two, or three, or four rows of oars.
[45] Every square yard of this part of Rome has been trenched in the search for statues in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and records of these numerous excavations are carefully preserved in the Miscellanea of Fea. Had there been any such building as would be required for this purpose anywhere near his palace, it must have come to light, and nothing of the kind has been found.
[47] The basin of Nero was possibly cut through the layer of tufa, which underlies the whole soil of Rome, down to the clay under it. In some excavations made under my direction in a cave under the Aventine, near the Marmorata, which was the mouth of the Aqua Appia, a level bed of white clay was found under the tufa rock of which the Aventine Hill consists; this would account for the walls in the central part built of concrete and brick, on this clay foundation, having been frequently damaged by earthquakes, while the great stone arcades, being built upon the tufa rock, did not suffer from the shocks. Clay is always a bad foundation to build upon, and there are always settlements in buildings that rest upon it. The objection to this theory is, that the surface of the water would be twenty-one feet below the arena and the foot of the podium.
[49] In the ancient catalogue of the Emperors and their works, known as “Catalogus Viennensis Imp. Rom. apud Eccard.,” under Vespasian, it is stated that he dedicated the first three steps of the amphitheatre, implying that three were already finished even in his time.
[A.D. 70.] “Hic prior tribus gradibus amphitheatrum dedicavit;”
That Titus added two more.
[A.D. 81.] “Hic amphitheatrum a tribus gradibus patris sui dura adjecit.”
And further, that Domitian completed the building up to the clypea, that is, the top cornice at that time, when the upper storey was of wood.
[A.D. 92-96.] “Domitianus Imp. ... Amphitheatrum usque ad clypea.”
[50] See Plates [V.], [VI.], [XV.], [XVI.]
[51] Photos., Nos. 3136, 3137.
[52] Photos., No. 3204.
[53] This platform was, perhaps, constructed of a great number of timbers fastened together. Lucan has described such a platform with a tower on it. (Pharsal., lib. iv. 420, sqq.)
[54] Dionis Hist., lib. lxii. cap. 15.
[55] Ibid., lib. lxi. Nero, vi. c. 9 and 17.
[56] Ibid., lib. lxvi. c. 25.
[57] Ibid., lib. lxii. Nero, iii. c. 15, and 20, 22.
[58] “Spectacula magnifica assidue et sumptuosa edidit, non in amphitheatro modo, rerum et in circo ... ac in amphitheatro, navale quoque.” (Suetonii Domitianus, c. 4.)
[59] Dionis Hist., lib. lxii. c. 18.
“Omnis Cæsareo cedat labor Amphitheatro:
Unum pro cunctis fama loquatur opus....”
(Martialis, De Spectaculis, Epigr. 1.)
“Hic, ubi conspicui venerabilis Amphitheatri
Erigitur moles, stagna Neronis erant.”
(Ibid., Epigr. 2.)
[61] Taciti Ann., xv. 42.
[62] Ibid., lib. xiv. c. 15.
[63] Ibid., c. 31.
[64] “... lacu in ipso navale prælium adornatur, ut quondam Augustus, structo cis Tiberim stagno; sed levibus navigiis et minori copiâ ediderat.” (Taciti Annal., xii. 56.)
[65] “Igitur in stagno Agrippæ (Tigellinus) fabricatus est ratem, cui superpositum convivium aliarum tractu navium moveretur ... volucres et feras diversis e terris, et animalia maris Oceano abusque petiverat.” (Taciti Annal., lib. xv. c. 37.)
[66] Taciti Ann., lib. xv. c. 42.
[67] Ibid., lib. xiv. c. 15.
[69] Santi-Bartoli (in a paper printed in the Miscellanea, by Fea, vol. i. p. ccxxiii.) states that in his time a quantity of leaden water-pipes, which carried water from the Thermæ of Titus to the Colosseum, were found in an orchard north of the Colosseum.
[70] Suetonii Nero, c. 12.
[71] This dedication is referred to by Eutropius thus,—
“Hic [Titus] amphitheatrum Romæ ædificavit, et in dedicatione ejus quinque millia ferarum occidit.” (Eutropius, lib. vii. c. 14. See also Cassiodorus, Variar. l. v. op. 42. Opera omnia, ed. 1679, fol. vol. i. p. 94, c. 2.)
The account by Suetonius, writing some eighty or ninety years previously, is very clear:—
“Amphitheatro dedicato, thermisque juxta celeriter exstructis, munus edidit apparatissimum largissimumque. Dedit et navale prœlium in veteri naumachia: ibidem et gladiatores: atque uno die quinque millia omne genus ferarum.” (Suetonius Titus, c. 7.)
These old naumachia were the same as the stagnum navale, the old place for such amusements on the spot. They have been supposed to be the Naumachia of Augustus in the Trastevere, but without authority; and the mention of the gladiators in connection with them implies that it was at the same place.
[72] See Photos., Nos. 3268, 3269, and the drawing of this restored in Plates VII. and XV.
[73] See p. [37], and Plate [X.]
[74] Photos., Nos. 1761, 1762.
[75] Photos., No. 3279, and Plates [II.] and [XX.]
[76] It is important to notice this, because some able architects did not see it at first sight, and imagined that these brick arches rested upon the stone piers, which was evidently not really the case, though it appears to be so.
M. Viollet-le-Duc, one of the most eminent architects of our time, says that an experienced architect would cut through old tufa walls of this kind as easily, and with as little scruple, as he would cut through cheese, and the brick facing made no material difference.
[77] “... item stagnum maris instar, circumseptum ædificiis ad urbium speciem.” (Suetonii Nero, c. 31.)
[78] Photos., Nos. 3282, 3285.
[82] Photos., No. 3268, 3269.
[83] Photos., Nos. 3203, 3205, 3282, 3283. In some parts a brick wall of the fifth or sixth century has been introduced between the two old tufa walls, during the repairs after the earthquakes. This is at first sight rather puzzling, until it is examined and properly considered.
[84] Photos., No. 3271.
[85] Photos., Nos. 3285, 3286.
[86] For elephants there are four larger dens provided, two on either side of the central passage. See the Plan.
[87] Photos., No. 3282.
[88] See Plates [XVI.], [XVII.]
[89] This vivarium is a triangular piece of ground, the wide end of which touches the wall of the Amphitheatrum Castrense; the narrow end is only just wide enough for the body of a man to pass through an aperture made in it, as the ground is between a wall of Aurelian on the inner side, and a wall of the Sessorium on the outer side, preserved by Aurelian as an outwork. This was the scene of the celebrated ambuscade of Belisarius, by means of which the Goths were driven away from Rome, as described by Procopius (De Bello Gothico, lib. i. c. 22.)
PRO S. IMP. M. ANTONI . GORDIANI . PII
FELICIS AVG. ET TRANQVILLINAE SABI
NAE AVG. VENATORES IMMVN. CVM CV
STODE VIVARI PONT. VERVS MIL. COH
VI. PR. CAMPANIVS VERAX. MIL. COH. VI
PR. FVSCIVS CRESCENTIO ORD CVSTOS
VIVARI. COHH. PRAETT. ET VRBB
DIANAE AVG. D. S. EX. V. P.
DEDICATA XII. KAL. NOV.
IMP. D. N. GORDIANO AVG. ET POMPEIANO COS.
(Inscription found in Rome in 1710, and printed by Nibby, Roma Antica, vol. i. p. 386.)
[91] A compartment of this is shewn in one of the graffiti, found in the excavations of 1874.
[92] “Caius princeps in circo pegma duxit.” (Plinii Nat. Hist., xxxiii. 16.)
[93] “Ludiviæ sunt, quæ ad voluptatem oculorum atque aurium tendunt. His annumeres licet machinatores, qui pegmata per se surgentia excogitant, et tabulata tacite in sublime crescentia, et alias ex inopinato varietates, aut dehiscendentibus quæ cohærebant, aut his quæ distabant, sua sponte coeuntibus aut his quæ eminebant paulatim in se residentibus.” (Seneca, Epist., 88, s. 19.)
“Sic pugnas Cilicis laudabat, et ictus;
Et pegma et pueros inde ad velaria raptos.”
(Juvenal, Satyr iv. 121, 122.)
[96] Photos., No. 3283.
[97] Photos., No. 3286, and Plate [VII.]
[98] Photos., No. 3263.
[99] Those English people who remember Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London about 1820, must know that there was always a sheet of water or reservoir under the stage, and trap-doors in the floor by which sea-monsters could be introduced. The amusements of the old Roman people seem to have been frequently of this kind. Naval fights in boats might have been performed in the Colosseum, and a great deal of machinery must have been required to remove the floor and replace it.
A wooden Roman bridge still remains under water near Compiègne in France, of which M. Peigné Delacourt has published an account, with engravings of it, so that wood under water is preserved in the same manner as when it is buried in a wet soil. This is well known in the case of piles for bridges, and in those under the city of Amsterdam.
[101] It appears evident from the inscriptions from the College of the Arvales that the seats were regularly and permanently allotted to different persons holding different offices, according to their rank. The lower seats being of marble, the upper ones of wood.
There are many inscriptions relating to the seats in the different theatres and amphitheatres in Rome:
LOCA . ADSIGNATA IN AMPHITEATRO
L . AELIO . PLAVTIO . LAMIA . Q . PACTVMEIO
FRONTONE . COS .
ACCEPTVM . AB . LABERIO . MAXIMO
PROCVRATORE . PRAEF . ANNONAE
L . VENNVLEIO . APRONANO . MAG .
CVRATORE . THYRSO . L
FRATRIBVS . ARVALIBVS . MÆNIANO .
I̅ . CVN . X̅I̅I̅ . GRADIBVS . MARM . VIII.
GRADVI . P . V = GRAD . VIII . PED .
V≡£ . F . PED . XXXXIIS . GRADV. I . VNO .
P . XXII S . ET . MAENIANO . SVMMO .
I̅I̅ . CVN . V̅I̅ . GRADIB . MARM . I̅V̅ .
GRADV . I . VNO . P . XXII S . ET .
MAENIANO . SVMMO . IN . LIGNEIS .
TAB . LIII . GRADIBVS . XI . GRADV .
I PED . V = GRAD . XI. PED . V = = —)
F̅. PED . LXIII S = = — SVMMA . PED .
Cxxviiii S = = —
(Gius.-Ant. Guattari, Roma descritta ed illustrata, &c. Roma, 1805, 4to., vol. ii. p. 13.)
[102] Photos., No. 3279.
[103] See p. [6], and Plates [II.] and [XX.]
[104] See Photos., No. 367.
[105] One series of these corbels in the upper corridor seems to have been for a wooden gallery, for the use of the sailors going to furl or unfurl the awning.
[106] Some clamps of the same form were found, in 1870, in the interior of the wall of Servius Tullius, (in the part destroyed for the railway,) where the stones were joined together by them.
[107] sIc PREMIA SERVAS VESPASIANE DIRE PREMIATVS ES MORTE GAVDENTI LETARE CIVITAS VBI GLORIE TVE AVTORI PROMISIT ISTE DAT KRISTVS OMNIA TIBI QVI ALIVM PARAVIT THEATRV̅ IN CELO. This inscription only shews that he was employed upon the work; it is preserved in the church of S. Martino a Monti. See Nibby, Roma nell’ anno MDCCCXXXVIII. parte i. Antica, p. 400.
[108] See Photographs, Nos. 1500 and 1501, and the Photo-engraving, Plate XXIII. of Supplement to vol. i.
[109] See Photos., No. 488, and Plates [XXIV.], [XXV.]
[110] L’Anfiteatro Flavio descritto e delineato dal cavaliere Carlo Fontana. Nell’ Haia, M.DC.XXV. fol. max.
[111] These views of buildings on coins appear to have been made from the architect’s designs before they were carried out, and were sometimes altered. There is no representation of the Colossus of Nero in any of them. For the shallow channel of water, see Photos., No. 1759.
[112] See No. 302, and 488 c.
[113] On bad impressions of this coin the Meta Sudans looks like a second smaller figure, or of a youth; but on good impressions the Meta Sudans is distinct, and the figure behind it overtops it by the head and shoulders only.
[114] See No. 488 c.
[115] “... Romæ templum Hadriani, honori patris dicatum, Græco-stadium post incendium restitutum, instauratum amphitheatrum,” &c. (Jul. Capitolinus-Antoninus Pius, c. 8, ap. Script. Hist. Aug.)
[116] Dionis Cass. lib. lxxii. c. 17-22.
[117] “Postea in theatris tantum umbram fecere: quod primus omnium invenit Q. Catulus, cum Capitolium dedicaret. Carbasina deinde vela primus in theatro duxisse traditur Lentulus Spinter Apollinaribus ludis.... Vela nuper colore cæli, stellata, per rudentes iere etiam in amphitheatro principis Neronis.” (Plinii Nat. Hist., lib. xix. c. 6.)
[119] Photos., No. 185.
[120] This is reproduced in Plate [XXI.]
[121] Photos., Nos. 167, 185.
[122] See Regio III., Castra Misenatium.
[123] Calpurnius has usually been considered as a writer of the third century, but the most recent editor of his Eclogues (Haupt) shews that he was contemporary with Nero and Titus, and Dean Merivale is of the same opinion.
“Vidimus in cœlum trabibus spectacula textis
Surgere, Tarpeium prope despectantia culmen,
Immensosque gradus, et clivos lene jacentes....
Ordine quid referam? vidi genus omne ferarum....
Non solum nobis silvestria cernere monstra
Contigit: æquoreos ego cum certantibus ursis
Spectavi vitulos, et equorum nomine dignum,
Sed deforme pecus (i.e. Nilo).
Ah trepidi quoties nos descendentis arenæ
Vidinus in partes ruptaque voraginæ terræ
Emersisse feras!
Et coit in rotulam teretem quo lubricus axis
Impositos subita vertigine falleret ungues
Excuteretque feras auro quoque torta refulgent
Retia, quæ totis in arenam dentibus extant,
Dentibus æquatis: et erat mihi crede Lycota
Si qua fides, nostro dens longior omnis aratro.”
(T. Calpurnii Siculi Bucol. Ecloga vii.)
[125] Dionis Cass. lib. lxxviii. c. 25.
[126] “Opera publica ipsius præter Æden Heliogabali Dei ... et amphitheatri instauratio post exustionem ... nulla extant.” (Lampridius, Antoninus Heliogabalus, c. 17, ap. Script. Hist. Aug.)
[127] “... sumptibus publicis ad instaurationem theatri, circi, amphitheatri, et ærarii, deputavit.” (Lampridius, Alexander Severus, c. 24.) There are coins of this emperor with the amphitheatre on the reverse. See Plate [XXV.]
[128] “Fuerunt sub Gordiano Romæ elephanti triginta et duo, quorum ipse duodecim miserat, Alexander decem: alces decem, tigres decem, leones mansueti sexaginta, leopardi mansueti triginta, belbi, id est hyænæ, decem, gladiatorum fiscalium paria mille, hippopotamus et rhinoceros unus, archoleontes decem, camelopardali decem, onagri viginti, equi feri quadraginta, et cetera hujusmodi animalia, innumera et diversa: quæ omnia Philippus ludis sæcularibus vel dedit vel occidit.” (Jul. Capit. Gordianus Tertius, c. 33.)
[129] This celebration shews that the chronology then accepted by the Roman people is the same as that of Livy, which is used as the chronological table of buildings prefixed to this work.
[130] Suetonius in Gordiano III., c. 33.
[131] Herodian, lib. i. c. 8. Ammianus Marcellinus mentions the same exhibition, and the same number of lions leaping out at once, lib. xxxi. c. 19. See Plates [VI.] and [VIII.]
[132] “Centum jubatos leones.” (Vopiscus in Vita Probi, c. 19.)
[133] “Eam autem denunciationem adque interpretationem, quæ de jactu amphitheatri scripta est, de qua ad Heraclianum Tribunum, et magistrum officiorum scripseras, ad nos scias esse perlatum.” (Codex Theodosianus, lib. xvi. tit. x. lex 1. Imp. Constantinus ad Maximum, A.D. 321.)
[134] “Amphitheatri molem solidatam lapidis Tiburtini compage, ad cujus summitatem ægre visio humana conscendit.” (Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xvi. c. 10.)
[135] SALVis . dd. NN. THEODOSIO . ET . PLACIDO . valentiniano . augg. RVFvS CAECINA . FELIX . LAMPADIVS . VC. et . inl. praef. vrb. HAReNAM . AMPHITEATRI . A . NOVO . VNA . CVM . Podio . et . portis . postiCIS . SED . ET . REPARATIS . SPECTACVLI . GRADIBVS restitvit.
[136] Paulus Diaconus, Miscell., lib. xiv.; ap. Murat. Rer. Ital. Script., vol. i. p. 96, c. 1, A.
[137] This appears from another inscription found in 1813:—
DECIVS MARIVS VENANTIVS BASILIVS V̅ C̅ et INL̅. PRAEF V̅RB PATRICIVS CONSVL ORDINARIVS ARENAM ET PODIVM QVAE ABOMINANDI TERRAEMOTVS RVIN PROSTRAVIT SVMPTV PROPRIO RESTITVIT.
[138] “Muneribus amphitheatralibus diversi generis feras, quas præsens ætas pro novitate miraretur, exhibuit. Cujus spectaculi voluptates etiam exquisitas Africa sub devotione transmisit.” (Cassiodori Chronicon, A.D. 519; inter opera ejus, ed. 1679, fol., tom. i. p. 195, col. 2.)
[139] “Quamdiu stat Colysæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet Colysæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus.” (Bedæ Opera, Basileæ, 1563, fol., vol. iii. col. 651.)
[140] Card. de Aragonia, Vita Innocentii II. apud Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. iii. p. 1, p. 435 B.
[141] Cort. de Senatu Romano, lib. vii. c. 1, §. 168.
[142] Delle Memorie Sacre, e profane dell’ Anfiteatro Flavio di Roma, &c., dal Canonico Giovanni Marangoni Vicentino. In Roma, 1745, 4to. Cap. l. p. 49, Codice pergameno, Scritto dal celebre Onofrio Panvino inedito ed intitolato, de Gente Fregepanica.
[143] Card. de Aragonia, Vita Alexandri III. ap. Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. iii. p. i. p. 459.
[144] Albertino Mussato, Hist. Aug., lib. v.; ap. Murat. Rerum Italic. Script., tom. x. c. 454. Nibby, Roma nell’ anno MDCCCXXXVIII, parte i. p. 413.
[145] Rainaldi Annal. an. 1244; Panvin. de gente Frangipani; Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, tom. xii. col. 535, 536. Nibby gives a more complete and accurate version of this occurrence from a better text, though modernized. See Roma Antica, part i. p. 414.
[146] “... et præterea se omnes emendarent de faciendo tiburtinam (travertini) quod esset commune id quod judicitur.” (Fea, Dissertazione nelle Ruine di Roma, p. 398.)
[147] F. Vacca, Memorie ap. Fea, lxxiv. p. 72.
[148] Poggio the Florentine, writing in 1425, says that a large part of the building was reduced to lime by the stupidity of the Romans:—“... atque ob stultitiam Romanorum majori ex parte ad calcem delatum.” (Poggio, de Varietate Fortunæ, lib. i.)
[149] Flaminio Vacca, Memorie, 72; Marangoni, Memorie dell’ Anfiteatro Flavio, p. 57, quoted by Nibby, Roma nell’ anno MDCCCXXXVIII, parte i., Antica, p. 418.
[150] Bellori, Vita di Domenico Fontana. Roma, nell’ anno MDCCCXXXVIII, &c., parte i., Antica, pp. 414-417. (Le Vite de pittori, &c., Roma, 1728, 4to. p. 93.)
The space enclosed within the outer walls is six acres, and there is an extraordinary difference of climate between the northern and the southern side. Dr. Deakin published a work on the Flora of the Colosseum: he found 423 species of plants, belonging to 253 genera.
Over the door now generally used is a painting of the heavenly Jerusalem and the Crucifixion, of the time of Paul III., A.D. 1534-50, in the style of the older pilgrimage pictures. At the time it was painted the passage appears to have been filled up with earth to such a height as to make the picture a conspicuous object in leaving the building; at present it is quite above the heads of the passers-by, and is seldom noticed or seen.
[151] The interior of the building is still grand in its ruins. This is well shewn in the photograph (No. 1195,) with the cross, and the altar, and the stations erected by the pope about 1750, and destroyed in 1874, in order to excavate the whole of the area. A restoration of the interior according to Canina can also be seen in another photograph (No. 724).
[152] Etudes Statistiques sur Rome, par le Conte P. N. C. de Tournon. Paris, Didot, 1821, 8vo., 4 vols., and deuxième edition, 3 Volumes en 8vo avec atlas, Paris, 1858.
The fine set of drawings made for the French Government at that period are now preserved in the British Museum, and fully bear out what I had stated before I had seen them. They clearly shew that the French excavations were not carried down more than ten feet. The tops of the arches of the lower passage are shewn in the drawings, but these excavations appear to have been stopped by water rising to that height. See Plate [III.]
[153] See No. 1742, and Plate [III.]
[154] Probably the aqueduct which passes there had a hole made in it; the same aqueduct goes on from this side of the building to the south-east end. This occurred again in 1874, and a steam engine had again to be employed. This passage, before it turns, goes in the direction of the castellum aquæ of the time of Alexander Severus, of which there are considerable remains between this point and the Cœlian. The specus of an aqueduct of the same period passes along between the Cœlian and the amphitheatre, near the surface of the ground; a portion of this was visible in 1874.
[155] See Photograph, No. 367.
[157] In the summer of 1875 they were again suspended for want of funds to pay for the steam-engine, which costs a pound a-day.
[158] Of which an account has been given in pages [5], [6], [10], [13], [14], [21], [35], of this chapter.
[161] About the year 1865 a new drain was made by the Municipality under that road, and when it was nearly finished the old drain of the Empire (?), or of the time of Sylla (?), was found under it at a considerably lower level. It is fifteen metres below the surface of the ground, and so much filled up with earth that it is considered (in 1876) quite impracticable to have it cleared out and repaired.
[162] Photos., Nos. 3203, 3283.
[163] For the pegmata, see p. [14], and the authorities quoted in the note.
[164] See Plates [XVIII.], [XIX.], and Photos., No. 3283, and the graffito of the net, Plate [XXIV.]
[165] See Photos., No. 3201, and Plate [XIX.]
[166] See the evidence of this, p. [13].
[167] See Plates [XIII.] and [XVI.]
[168] Dionis Cass. Hist. Rom., lib. lxxii. c. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21.
[169] Some scholars say that those scenes could not have taken place on this site, because the Flavian Amphitheatre was not built in the time of Nero. But it has been shewn that an awning in the amphitheatre of Nero is described by Pliny, writing at the time, during the life and reign of Nero, as he uses the expression principis Neronis, which he could hardly have used after his death. No other site but this can be found for such a large building as an amphitheatre, and this is close to the Golden House of Nero. In any case athletes or wrestlers, and naumachia or naval fights, are part of the tradition of many Roman amphitheatres, and there are sufficient remains of the substructures in many places to prove that this tradition is well founded. The corridors of the Flavian Emperors, though splendid additions to this great theatre, were not necessary for the performance of those pantomimes. It has also been shewn that the old tufa walls must be earlier than the time of Nero, and are probably of the time of Sylla.
[170] See Plates [IV. to X.]
[171] They were made at the suggestion of the author of this work, rather sooner than would otherwise have been the case, in order that he might be able to see them. Signor Rosa unfortunately began pulling down the walls of the substructure, calling them “Frangipani walls.” The Frangipani family had possession of the Colosseum in the twelfth century, but the construction of that period is totally different from any of the walls in the Colosseum, either above or below the level of the arena. The Minister of Public Instruction fortunately arrived in Rome in time to stop their demolition, and obtained an Act of Parliament, in 1875, appointing a general Archæological Commission for all Italy, with Signor Fiorelli, from Pompeii, at the head of it; and no individual will in future be permitted either to destroy antiquities, or to build anything new, without the consent of the Commission.
[172] See No. 3202, and p. [27].
[173] See No. 3201.
[174] See No. 3263, and Plate [VII.]
[175] See No. 3203.
[176] The plan of one section of this enormous building (see No. 183 and Plate [XIV.]), and those of the six different floors or storeys, shew the admirable arrangement of the seats and passages, and vomitoria for the rapid exit of the people, as well as the plan of the whole building would do. The magnificent stone arcades of the Flavian Emperors, A.D. 80, appear in many parts to be built against brick walls and galleries of the time of Nero, originally built for the spectators of the old Naumachia. (See No. 3205, 1762.)
[177] The amphitheatre is 1,837 Roman feet in circuit, 638 long, 535 wide, and 165 high from the ground, besides 21 feet for the substructures, so that the whole height was 186 feet. The Roman foot is not quite so long as the English foot, but the difference is trifling. The number of spectators was 87,000 according to the Regionary Catalogue; modern authorities say that the measurement shews this number to be rather exaggerated.
[178] See Nos. 1081, 1762.
[179] See No. 1346.
[180] A coin of Titus shews a colonnade, and one of Domitian also. See Plate [XXV.]
[182] See No. 1761.
[183] See Nos. 1758, 1759, 1760, 1763.
[184] They are more clearly shewn in another photograph, No. 827.
[185] See No. 367.
[186] See No. 185.
[187] They were, however, not always of stone or brick; in places where stone was scarce, they were frequently of wood only.
[192] See pp. [1], [8]. That the amphitheatres were among the finest buildings of the Romans in all their cities it is hardly necessary to say; it seems clear that they were first built for the favourite amusement of the hunting of wild beasts, and that the first name for them was Theatrum Venatorium; but the gladiators were soon introduced, for the further amusement of the people in the same buildings. Both amusements are believed to have been used in Greece before they were introduced into Rome, but they were in use in Rome before the time of the Empire. At first, the amphitheatres were temporary buildings of wood only (as has been shewn), but there were several of these. After the great Flavian amphitheatre was completed, this seems to have been the only one in Rome; but those of several other cities, such as Capua and Verona (see the learned work of Scipio Maffei, Verona Illustrata, Milano, 1876, parte quarta) must have been nearly equal to it.
[193] The following inscriptions, found upon the spot, agree with the construction, as is always the case when the true date can be ascertained. The first is of the time of Hadrian, A.D. 120, (No. 43 in chapter vii. of the work of Francesco Alvino, which contains the ancient inscriptions found upon the spot); the second (No. 48 of the same collection) appears to be of Septimius Severus and Pertinax, A.D. 192; the third in point of date (No. 16 in the collection) records restorations by Lampridius:—
XLIII.
IMP. CÆS. T. ÆLIO
HADRIANO AVG
PATRI PATRIÆ
SVBLEVATORI ORBIS
RESTITVTORI OPE
RVM PVBLICORVM
INDVLGENTISSIMO
OPTIMAQ. PRINCIPI
CAMPANI
OB INSIGNEM ERGA EOS BE
NIGNITATEM D. D.
XLVIII.
IMP. CÆS. DIVI M. ANTONINI
GERM. SARM. FIL. DIVI COMMODI
FRATRI DIVI ANTONINI PII NEPOTI
DIVI HADRIANI PRONEPOTI DIVI
TRAIANI PARTHICI ABNEPOTI DIVI
NERVAE ADNEPOTI
SEPTIMIO SEVERO PIO PERTINACI
ARABICO ADIABENICO P.P. PONT. MAX
TRIB. POT. I̅I̅I̅I̅. IMP. VIII. COS II. PROC
COLONIA CAPVA
XVI.
POSTVMIO LAMPADIO
V. C.
ET INLVSTRI CON. CAMPANIAE
RESTITVTORI PATRIAE
ET REDINTEGRATORI OPERVM PVBLICORVM
By a singular coincidence, Lampadius was also the name of the Prefect who restored the Flavian amphitheatre in A.D. 445; but though the surname is the same, the prename is not, he was probably of the same family.
[195] This would be at least equal to £200 of modern money.
[196] Anfiteatro Campano illustrato e Restorato da Franceso Alvino terza edizione col paragone di tutti gli anfiteatri D’Italia ed un cenno sugli antichi monumenti di Capua. Napoli, 1842.
[197] The Neapolitan palm is ten inches English measure. If the measurements of Signor Alvino are reduced to English measure, they do not agree with those of Messrs. Taylor and Crecy for the Colosseum; as he used the same scale for all three, the proportions are the same.
[198] In Rome these are Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite; at Verona, all Tuscan; at Capua, all Doric.
[199] I am indebted for this clear account of the amphitheatre at Pola to Lord Talbot de Malahide, who was there in October, 1875. The excellent drawings of Mr. Arthur Glennie, who resided at Pola for one whole summer, also agree perfectly with the excellent account of that remarkable building, which further contributes to illustrate the Colosseum at Rome. An excellent account of Pola appeared about the same time in the Saturday Review, but this is more general, not so specially written with this object in view.
[200] “Notissimus eques Romanus elephanto supersedens per catadromum decucurrit.” (Suetonii Nero, cap. xi. Xiphil. lxi.)
“Ego eo vocabulo funem intelligo, qui summo theatro alligatus, declinis ad imum theatri pertinebat solum defigebaturque, per quem descendere maximi periculi et artis atque adeo miraculi erat.” (Turnebo, Adv. xxvii. 18.)
[201] “Icarus, primo statim conatu, juxta cubiculum ejus (Neronis) decidit, ipsumque cruore respersit.” (Suetonii Nero, c. 12.)
“Vidimus in cœlum trabibus spectacula textis
Surgere, Tarpeium prope despectantia culmen.”
(Calpurnii, Ecloga vii. v. 23.)
[203] “Erat mons ligneus ad instar incliti montis illius, quem vates Homerus Idæum cecinit, sublimi instructus fabrica, consitus viretis et vivis arboribus summo cacumine, de manibus fabri fonte mænante, fluviales aquas eliquans.” (Apulei, Metamor., lib. x. c. 30.)
“Mobile ponderibus descendat Pegma reductis
Inque chori speciem, spargentes ardua flammas
Scena rotet: varios effingat Mulciber orbes
Per tabulas impune vagus, pictæque citato
Ludant igne trabes, et non permissa morari
Fida per innocuas errent incendia turres.”
(Claudianus, De Consulatu Mallii. v. 325.)
[205] “Memorabile maxime Cari et Carini et Numeriani hoc habuit imperium, quod ludos populo Romano novis ornatos spectaculis dederunt, quos in Palatio circa porticum statuti pictos vidimus ... centum pantomimos et gymnicos mille pegma præterea, cujus flammis scena conflagravit quam Diocletianus postea magnificentiorem reddidit.” (Vopiscus in Carino, cap. 18, ap. Script. Hist. Aug.)
“Hic ubi sidereus propius videt astra Colossus,
Et crescunt media Pegmata celsa via,
Invidiosa feri radiabant atria regis.”
(Martialis, De Spectaculis, Ep. 2.)
[207] “Catabolum erat locus, in quo feræ erudiebantur sive ad mansuetudinem sive etiam ad crudelitatem, quam in bestiarios exercerent.” (Papias.)
“Catabolum est clausura animalium, ubi desuper aliquid jacitur.” (Vossii, Lexicon Etymologicum.)
The Catabolensis or Catabolici were the men who fed the wild beasts, and threw down their food from the small passage before mentioned. (See p. [17].)
[208] “Addidit alia die in Amphitheatro una missione centum jubatos leones, qui rugitibus suis tonitru excitabant; qui omnes e POSTICIS interempti sunt, non magnum præbentes spectaculum quo occidebantur. Neque enim erat bestiarum impetus ille, qui esse e caveis egredientibus olet.” (Vopisci Probus, c. 19, ap. Script. Hist. Aug.)
[209] “Ut sæpe faciunt amphitheatrales feræ diffractis tandem solutæ POSTICIS.” (Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 27.)
[210] “Stat. Cardine aperto—Infelix cavea.” The door opening on a hinge or a pivot.
[211] “Feras lybicas una die centum exhibuit, ursos una die mille.” (Julii Capitolini, i. c. 3, ap. Script. Hist. Aug.)
“... Auro quoque torta refulgent
Retia, quæ totis in Arenam dentibus extant.
... nec non, ubi finis Arenæ,
Proxima marmoreo peragit spectaculo muro:
Sternitur adjunctis ebur admirabile truncis,
Et coit in rotulam, tereti qua lubricus axis
Impositos subita vertigine falleret ungues
Excuteretque feras.”
(Calpurnii, Ecl. 7.)
[213] “Fertur in euripis vino plenis Navales Circenses exhibuisse.” (Lampridii Antoninus Heliogabalus, c. 23, ap. Script. Hist. Aug.)
“Quidquid et in Circo spectatur et amphitheatro,
Dives Cæsarea præstitit unda tibi:
Fucinus et pigri taceantur stagna Neronis:
Hanc norint unam sæcula Naumachiam.”
(Martialis de Spect. Ep. 28.)
That is, the stagna in the amphitheatre were supplied by an aqueduct from the lake of Fucino. This lake has been drained in 1874-75 by Prince Torlonia, by carrying out the project of the great engineers of the time of the Emperor Claudius, and making an emisarium, on even a grander scale than the one partially made in the time of Claudius, on a similar plan to those of the lakes of Albano and Nemi.
“Respice terrifici scelerata sacraria Ditis,
Cui cadit infausta fusus gladiator arena,
Heu male lustratæ Phlegetontia victima Romæ.
Nam quid vesani sibi vult ars impia ludi?
Quid mortes juvenum, quid sanguine pasta voluptas
Quid pulvis Caveæ semper funebris et illa
Amphitheatralis spectacula tristia pompæ?
Nempe Charon jugulis miserorum se duce dignas
Accipit inferias, placatas crimine sacro.
Hæ sunt deliciæ Jovis Infernalis: in istis
Arbiter obscuri placidus requiescit Averni.”
(Aur. Prudentius Clem. contra Symmachum, 379-389.)
[216] 2. “Casu in meridianum spectaculum incidi, lusus expectans et sales et aliquid laxamenti, quo hominum oculi ab humano cruore acquiescant. 3. Contra est: quidquid ante pugnatum est, misericordia fuit. Nunc omissis nugis, mera homicidia sunt. Nihil habent quo tegantur; ad ictum totis corporibus expositi, nunquam frustra mittunt manum mittunt. Hoc plerique ordinariis paribus et postulatitiis præferunt non galea, non scuto repellitur ferrum. Quo munimenta? quo gladii artes? Omnia ista mortes meræ sunt. Mane leonibus et ursis homines, meridie spectatoribus suis objiciuntur. 4. Interfectores interfecturis jubentur objici, et victorem in aliam detinent cædem, exitus pugnantium mors est ferro et ignores geritur. Hæc fiunt dum vacat arena.” (Sen., Epistolæ ad Lucilium, 7.)
[217] See Photos., Nos. 3273, 3274, and Plates [XXIII.], [XXIV.]
“Prima dicte mihi, summa dicende Camœna,
Spectatum, satis et donatum jam rude quæris,
Mæcenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo.”
(Horatii Epist., lib. i. 1.)
“Dum peteret pars hæc Myrinum, pars illa Triumphum;
Promisit pariter Cæsar utrâque manu.”
(Martiali de Spectaculis, Epig. 20.)
[220] “Fuerunt sub Gordiano Romæ elephanti triginta et duo, gladiatorum Fisculium paria mille.” (Julii Capitolini Gordianus tertius.)
[221] Suetonii Titus, c. 9.
[222] “Jam ad spectaculum supplicii nostri populus convenerat: jam ostentata per arenam periturorum corpora mortis suæ pompam duxerant.” (Quinctil., Decl. 9.)
[223] Lampridii Commodus Antoninus, 16.
[224] “Contra consuetudinem (Commodus) pænulatos jussit spectatores, non togatos ad munus convenire, quod funeribus solebat, ipse in pullis vestimentis præsidens. Galea ejus per portam Libitinensem elata est.” (Lampridii Commodus Antoninus, ap. Script. Hist. Aug., c. 16.) This circumstance is also mentioned by Dio Cassius, as quoted previously.
[225] “Inter carnifices et fabros Sandapilarum.” (Juvenal, Sat. viii. 175.)
[226] “Ruinart Acta Martyrum Sincera.” (ap. Grævii Thesaurus, tom. ix.)
“Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei
Vitabit Libitinam.”
(Horatii Odæ, lib. iii. ode 30.)
“Effert uxores Fabius, Christilla maritos,
Funereamque toris quassat uterque facem.
Victores committe, Venus, quos iste manebit
Exitus, una duos ut Libitina ferat.”
(Martial. Epig., lib. viii. 43.)
[229] “Ferrarium vicinum, aut hunc qui ad Metam sudantem tubas experitur et tibias.” (Senecæ, Epist. 56.)
Some of the tubes or leaden pipes have been found (as before mentioned).
[230] “Ostium humile et augustum, et potissimum ejus generis, quod cochleam appellant, ut solet esse in cavea ex qua tauri pugnare solent.” (Varr. de Re Rustica, iii. 5.)
[231] “Edidit et Circenses plurimos a mane usque ad vesperam, interjecta modo Africanarum venatione, modo Trojæ decursione: quosdam præcipuos, minio et chrysocolla constrato circo nec ullis nisi ex senatorio ordine aurigantibus.” (Suetonii Caligula, 18.)
[232] “Inquietatus fremitu gratuita in Circo loca de media nocte occupantium, omnes fustibus abegit; elisique per eum tumultum viginti amplius Equites Romani, totidem matronæ, super innumeram turbam ceteram.” (Suetonii Caligula, cap. 26.)
A similar mania has sometimes been heard of in recent times in Paris and in London.
[233] “Bestiariis meridianisque adeo delectabatur, ut et prima luce ad spectaculum descenderet et meridie dimisso ad prandium populo persederet præterque destinatos, etiam levi subitaque de causa, quosdam committeret, de fabrorum quoque ac ministrorum atque id genus numero si automatum, vel pegma, vel quid tale aliud parum cessisset. Induxit et unum ex nomenclatoribus suis, sicut erat togatus.” (Suet. Claudius, c. xxxiv.)
[234] “Visumque jam est Neronis principis spectaculis arenam Circi chrysocolla sterni cum ipse concolori panno aurigaturus esset.” (Plinii Nat. Hist., xxxiii. 27.)
[235] “Subinde intraverunt duo Æthiopes capillati, cum pusillis utribus, quales solent esse qui ARENAM in amphitheatro spargunt.” (Petronii Sat., cap. 34.)
[236] Taciti Annales, lib. xi. c. 11.
[237] “Lithostrota acceptavere jam sub Sulla: parvulis certe crustis exstat hodieque, quod in Fortunæ delubro Præneste fecit. Pulsa deinde ex humo pavimenta in cameras transiere, e vitro: novitium e hoc inventum. Agrippa certe in Thermis quas Romæ fecit, figlinum opus encausto pinxit: in reliquis albaria adornavit: non dubie vitreas facturus cameras, si prius inventum id fuisset, aut a parietibus scenæ, ut diximus, Scauri, pervenisset in cameras. Quamobrem et vitri natura indicanda est.” (Plinii Nat. Hist., lib. xxxvi. 64.)
[238] Friedländer says that a compact floor of glass was found at Veii (vol. iii. p. 103).
[239] This remarkably fine pavement is still preserved (1876) at Præneste, now called Palestrina.
[240] Pliny, Nat. Hist., bk. xxxvi. 2, 3.
[241] Ibid. xxxvi. 24, 7.
[242] “Nerone secundum, L. Pisone consulibus, pauca memoria digna evenere: nisi cui libeat, laudandis fundamentis et trabibus, quis molem amphitheatri apud Campum Martis, Cæsar exstruxerat, volumina inplere: cum ex dignitate populi Romani repertum sit, res inlustres annalibus, talia diurnis urbis actis mandare.” (Taciti Annales, lib. xiii. c. 31.)
[246] The photo-engraver has unfortunately turned this photograph upside down, but it is not of much consequence, as the size and thickness of the bricks of Nero can be seen just the same. The space is so narrow that it was difficult to get a photograph of it at all; but this is just one of the cases in which a photograph is of great importance, because there is nothing in which artists are so careless as in the thickness of the bricks and of the mortar between them; there is nothing in which it would be more easy to play tricks, if they wished to do so.
[247] The fragment of sculpture placed upon this capital has nothing to do with it, being merely placed there by the workmen, but a photograph necessarily reproduces things exactly as they were found at the time the photograph was taken.
[248] The piers of tufa are represented as transparent, to shew the insertion of the consoles in them. This insertion, with the irregularity of the plan of the tufa piers, contrasted with the mathematical accuracy of the work of the Flavian Emperors, proves that they belonged to an earlier building.
[249] In other instances, the brick arches of construction appear to rest on the piers of travertine between them; but as these have been removed, and the brick walls stand equally well without them, it is evident that this is not the case. The tall piers of travertine reach the whole height of the building, to support the upper gallery. In the following plate the same remarkable construction is shewn more clearly, because in this instance the aperture left by the removal of the stone piers is visible in two storeys, and it is seen that three piers extended from the upper gallery to the ground, passing through all the other storeys.
[250] In this plate the coins are taken by photograph from the originals in the British Museum.
[251] Qy. Colonnade of Aqueduct, or Piscina Limaria.
[252] Qy. Reservoir (castellum aquæ) of the time of Alexander Severus, of which there are remains.
[253] For further details see the Descrizione di Pompeii per Giuseppe Fiorelli, Napoli, 1875, 12mo., pp. 56 and 70. All who are interested in Pompeii should have this valuable little work.
THE
ARCHÆOLOGY OF ROME,
BY
JOHN HENRY PARKER, C.B.
Hon. M.A. Oxon., F.S.A. Lond.;
KEEPER OF THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND ARCHÆOLOGY, OXFORD;
VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE OXFORD ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
AND OF THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ROME;
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE,
MEMBRE DE LA SOCIETÉ FRANÇAISE D’ARCHÉOLOGIE,
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS,
AND OF VARIOUS ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETIES, ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.
PART VII.
THE FLAVIAN AMPHITHEATRE,
COMMONLY CALLED
THE COLOSSEUM.
OXFORD:
JAMES PARKER AND CO.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
1876.
