In this instance the arches are sixty in number on each story. The attached columns of the lower arcade are square pilasters with Doric capitals, and those of the upper range are round and of the Corinthian order.
FIG. 9. AMPHITHEATRE, ARLES.—Exterior.
The design may possibly have originally included an attic story; but this, if it ever existed, which seems to be doubtful, as not a single stone of it has been found, has entirely disappeared.
Mérimée points out that the mouldings and enrichments of the remainder are all carefully finished, which would not likely have been the case had the building not been carried up to its full height, as the Romans were in the habit of executing all that class of carved work after their buildings were completed—the stones for the ornament being only roughly blocked out at first. We shall meet with a quantity of this preparatory work in the Amphitheatre of Nimes, where it has been left unfinished.
The Amphitheatre of Arles, as was to be expected in the capital, is the largest building of its class in Gaul. It is built after the Roman manner, with enormous blocks of carefully cut stone set without cement, and the staircases, passages, &c., are strongly vaulted.
FIG. 10. AMPHITHEATRE, ARLES.—Interior.