Rollo in Naples

by Jacob Abbott

The guide led the way through all these places, and it was not until after walking about through them for some time that Mrs. Gray and the children obtained a full conception of the magnitude of the structure. The guide told them that it contained room for forty thousand people.

"What a dreadful place it must have been!" said Rosie, as she followed the guide round through the subterranean chambers.

"They used to hoist the cages that contained the wild beasts up through these openings," said the guide, pointing to some large circular openings in the masonry above, "and then open the gates, and let them out into the arena. The cages were so contrived that when the keeper opened the door to let the beast out, by the same motion he shut himself in, so as to be safe out of his way. He then, afterwards, got out behind, by another door."

There was a very wide and deep canal open in the centre of the arena, with a communication for water connected with a vast reservoir a little way off. By means of this canal the whole of the arena could be flooded with water, so as to form a little lake for naval battles. The guide took the party down to the bottom of this canal, and showed them a large, circular opening in the masonry below, for drawing off water. This opening connected with a conduit, which ran off towards the sea.

The spectacles which were exhibited by the ancients in such buildings as these were real combats of beasts with one another, or of beasts with men, and sometimes of men with one another. At first, the men who were compelled to maintain these combats were convicts, who were condemned to them as a punishment for their crimes. The beasts were lions, tigers, and other ferocious animals that were caught in the forests in Africa, or in other remote parts of the Roman empire, and brought to the great cities for this special purpose.

A great many of the early Christians were compelled to meet these beasts in such conflicts, in the persecutions which they endured. The rulers of the country chose to consider them as criminals for being believers in Jesus, and so doomed them to this dreadful punishment.

It was shocking to think of the scenes that had probably been enacted in this very amphitheatre; and Mrs. Gray and Rosie, after they had examined it in every part, were not sorry to go away.

Rollo next directed the coachman to drive to the Temple of Serapis. The curiosity of the Temple of Serapis, which stands on the shore, just at the entrance of the town, is, that it is partly under water. It seems that from the effects of earthquakes, or from some other similar agency, the whole coast in this region rises and falls in the course of ages, and that at the present time it is several feet lower than it was in the days of the Romans. The consequence is, that many structures which were originally built upon the land, are now partly or wholly submerged in the sea. In passing along the coast in a boat, you can see a great many of these ruins in the water. There is one, however, which can be seen without going out in a boat at all. It is a temple called the Temple of Serapis.

It stands on the margin of the shore, and the floor of it is now about a foot or two under water. This floor is very extensive, and a great many columns and other superstructures are still standing upon it, the whole of which can be easily explored by the visitor, by means of a raised stone pathway, made by the government, which traverses it in all directions. It is a very curious place indeed.