| Colosseum. | Verona. | Capua. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length of interior | 639 | 522 | 645 |
| Breadth of interior | 527 | 417 | 530 |
| Length of arena | 298 | 252 | 289 |
| Breadth of arena | 186 | 149 | 174 |
| Height of first order | 35 | 29 | 36 |
| Entire height of interior | 174 | 91 | 169 |
| No. of orders[198] | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Actual height of ruins | 171 | 62 | 75 |
| No. of arches | 80 | 72 | 80 |
| Circuit | 170 | 134 | 178 |
| Gates | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Width of arches | 15 | 12½ | 15 |
| Breadth of pilasters | 8 | 6⅓ | 8 |
The Amphitheatre at Pola, in Istria.
This fine structure is built of beautiful white stone, almost marble, in large blocks without mortar, but it had metallic fastenings, which have all disappeared, and left their marks behind them. There are two rows of arches, and above a line of square windows; also a curious stone parapet, with very distinct indications of arrangement for spreading the velarium or vela (the awning). There is only one line of columns, but there was originally a second, and most of the bases of them are still in situ. The amphitheatre is built against a rocky mountain, which causes the northern part of the ellipse to be much lower than the outer one. There are numerous passages and substructures, except on the rocky half of the building. There are two principal entrances facing each other, and in a line with them is a trench exactly similar to the one in the Colosseum, and at Capua, &c. These canals for conducting water into the arena can still be seen, and there seems no doubt of its having been used for naumachia. There are but few remains of the seats, except a large accumulation of débris, and traces of the stairs and vomitoria. The whole line of the podium is also perfectly preserved, but no trace of the concentric euripus found in other amphitheatres. The most puzzling parts of the structure are four rectangular towers, which appear to have had no special staircases leading to them from the ground; antiquaries, with all their ingenuity, have not yet given any satisfactory explanation of these objects. They were most probably for the music, as in the circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia, near Rome, where one tower remains at each end of the carceres[199].
The amphitheatre at Nîmes, in Aquitaine, still has a wooden floor with trap-doors in it; the present floor is not ancient, but no doubt replaces an old one; there is no staircase, and the only access to the passages below is by a step-ladder, and the arrangement of the substructures is quite different from that in Rome, or at Capua, or Puteoli. There are large masses of stone at intervals to support the floor, and wide passages between them. On two of these massive piers are inscriptions, with the name of the architect, the same inscription repeated twice, in characters of the third century. There are no signs of naumachia, or of aqueducts; the seats and the superstructure are more perfect than usual, and have a very fine effect.
At Arles the superstructure also is very grand, but there are no substructures under the arena visible. It is partly cut out of the rock, the lower part supported by massive substructures, but no passages in them are visible. Excavations have not been made there, and the doorways appear to be filled up to half their height, as at the Porta Tiburtina in Rome.
At Bordeaux the ruins of the amphitheatre are called the (arènes) arena, and it evidently had a boarded floor covered with sand, as in the Colosseum; and the superstructures, with the seats, are more perfect than in Rome. There is a great general resemblance, but the details are not the same. The Colosseum is the only amphitheatre which has double corridors round it, and the absence of this outer passage makes a different arrangement of the stairs to the vomitoria necessary in this and other amphitheatres, where the people went straight out through each archway.
Substructures compared.
In treating of the amphitheatres in general, and corroborating the account given in this work of the Colosseum, it must be borne in mind that in every theatre a considerable space is required behind the scenes for the use of the actors. The performances in an amphitheatre would equally require such space for the performers when off the stage, and the only space to which they could possibly retire is under that stage which is called the arena, because it was covered with sand; and it has been shewn that in these substructures there are numerous passages and contrivances for the machines to send up the wild beasts to be hunted, the men and the dogs to hunt them, and the athletes for the wrestling matches; we have also canals for water for the keels of the vessels, in some instances, but not in all; in some cases, the vessels employed could only have been rowing-boats, rates. We have also mention of battles with swords in the naumachia, and of many men being killed. This seems to make it clear that the principal amusement consisted in the crew of one vessel trying to board the other, and the defendants preventing their doing so in every way that they could, either by throwing them off into the water, or with swords and spears.
At Pozzuoli, where the substructures are nearly perfect, there are remains of an intermediate passage, as if for men to run along; and this has been traced to communicate with the Emperor’s seat, and is thought to have been for messengers to go with orders, and to give the necessary directions. All that remains of this intermediate passage are the corbels for carrying a wooden gallery upon. There are similar corbels for an intermediate passage between two floors in the Colosseum, but here in the upper part, apparently for the sailors to run along to furl or unfurl the awning, not in the substructures; there also appear to have been separate stairs and vomitoria for that passage, and as we know that several hundred sailors were employed in the Colosseum, such an arrangement would be quite necessary.