The archæology of Rome, Part 7

by John Henry Parker

A.D. 445. The amphitheatre was much repaired by the Prefect Rufus Cecina Felix Lampadius, under Theodosius II. He restored the seats, the arena, and the podium, as appears from an inscription[135] dug up on the spot in 1814, and fixed on the wall within the building to preserve it. These repairs are supposed to have been required in consequence of the damage done during the siege by the Goths under Alaric, or more probably from the effect of the earthquake mentioned by Paulus Diaconus[136] as taking place in that year, when he says that many of the great buildings in Rome were damaged.

A.D. 508. The Prefect Venantius Basilius also repaired the arena and the podium, which had been damaged by an earthquake[137].

It was again used for the show of wild beasts under Theodoric in A.D. 519[138], and under Anicius Maximus, A.D. 523. These were the last occasions on which we have any mention of these savage exhibitions. In the beginning of the eighth century it appears to have been still perfect, from the well-known proverb preserved in Bede’s Excerptiones patrum, Collectanea, &c.; that the Colosseum and Rome would stand or fall together[139]; but during that century it was again seriously damaged by an earthquake, and it was then so much in ruins that it was not used until the eleventh, when it was converted into a fortress, and the southern side is said to have been much damaged by Robert Guiscard and his Normans, but more probably by the travertine stone being carried away for building materials.

In 1130, it became the chief fortress of the Frangipani family, and Pope Innocent II. took refuge here from the anti-pope Anacletus[140].

In 1142, the Roman people had driven out the barons, and had possession of this with their other fortresses, as appears from the records of the Roman Senate at that period[141]. But the Frangipani[142] soon recovered it, and the pope of their party, Innocent III., A.D. 1180 (called by the opposite party the anti-pope), was their guest; and from hence he fulminated his excommunication against the emperors, but he was soon afterwards captured and banished.

In 1160, Alexander III.[143] (Bandinelli of Siena, called the orthodox Pope) in his second year, being besieged by the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, abandoned the Lateran Palace, and took refuge in the stronghold of the Frangipani, with his brothers and their families. He there held courts, treated causes, and also waited for opportunities. At that time the Colosseum gave its name to the district around it. The fortifications included part of the Palatine Hill, with the Arch of Titus, on which was a large tower.

Under Gregory IX., A.D. 1227, the Annibaldi family obtained a decree from Frederic II., requiring the Frangipani to cede to them one-half of the Colosseum fortress, which might have led to its entire destruction; but Innocent IV., in 1244, rescinded the engagement, and declared this building to be under the direct dominion of the Holy See. During the residence of the Popes at Avignon, the Colosseum belonged to the Annibaldi or Annibaldeschi, who were then in the ascendant[144]. In 1312, the Emperor Henry VII. obliged them to give it up, and placed it under the care of the municipality, who appropriated it to bull-fights; but this only lasted until 1332, when eighteen youths of noble families were killed by the infuriated bulls, of which a minute account is given in the chronicle of Monaldeschi, printed in Muratori’s collection[145].

In 1349, it was again damaged by the earthquake described in Petrarch’s letters; after this the great families entered into a compact, in 1362, to make the ruins common property as a quarry, by which all might profit[146]. In 1381, the senate gave a portion of the arcades to the Chapter of the Lateran, for a ward to their hospital. Their badge, the head of Christ between two candlesticks, is carved over some of the archways.

In 1438, Eugenius IV. built two walls to connect the Colosseum with the monastery of S. Pietro in Vincoli, in order to prevent the evil doings that were going on there; but after the death of that Pope, the Roman people went in a crowd and pulled down those walls which had shut them out of the great building. The monks stated to Flaminius Vacca that they had preserved the deed of gift, and if they ever had a pope from their monastery, it would be acted upon[147].