The area under the catwalk in each quadrant contains eight cell-like rooms (A in [Fig. 9.5]), each big enough to hold a man, and approached by a short corridor. Opening out of each corridor, forward and to the left of a man sitting in the cell, are three adjoining shafts, a small square one (a), a large rectangular one (b), and another square one (c) of medium size. How are these to be explained? Cozzo reasoned that a beast was released from his cage near the center of the substructure, into the corridor (1) shown in [Fig. 9.6], with a portcullis (a) at the end of it. The portcullis was raised, and the beast charged into the transverse corridor (2). This was too narrow for him to turn back; he was therefore forced to go forward into the open elevator-cage (3). The attendant in the cell (A in the previous figure) then released a counterweight, whose rope ran in shaft (a) of [Fig. 9.5], while the weight itself rose and fell in shaft (c); the elevator-shaft is (b). The elevator door then closed; the elevator rose, activated by the counterweight, to position (4) in [Fig. 9.6]. The beast emerged into the narrow upper-level corridor (5–6), raced up the ramp (7), and emerged, slavering for fresh meat, through the trapdoor (8) into the arena.
Fig. 9.5 Rome, Coliseum, beast elevator.
(G. Cozzo, Ingegneri Romana, Fig. 170)
Fig. 9.6 Rome, Coliseum, beast elevator, elevation.
(Cozzo, op. cit., Fig. 175)
Fig. 9.7 Rome, Coliseum, model, showing colossal statue of Nero (left center). Arch of Constantine (bottom left), and gladiators’ barracks (right center). (P. Bigot, Rome Antique, fac. p. 44)
This is not the only ingenious device in the Coliseum. The substructure piers along the arena’s long axis are cut obliquely. Why? Cozzo reasoned that on them rested, at an angle below the horizontal, hinged sections of the area flooring, on which stage sets could be placed, and the whole section of flooring raised by counterweights to the arena level, to provide appropriate backdrops or scenery for the fights. Against such backdrops, scenes from myth or history were acted out, the protagonists tortured to death before delighted spectators. We hear of 11,000 beasts, and 5,000 pairs of gladiators, fighting to the death in one session in the arena. In 1937, demolition of houses east of the Coliseum revealed the ground plan of part of the gladiators’ barracks, with armory, infirmary, baths, and, for training bouts, a miniature amphitheater, with seats for rabid fans ([Fig. 9.7]). To celebrate the millennium of Rome, in A.D. 248, elephants, elk, tigers, lions, leopards, hyenas, hippopotamuses, a rhinoceros, zebras, giraffes, wild asses, and wild horses (captured in Africa; see [Fig. 13.5]) were slaughtered in the Coliseum. This market of flesh did not cease till the sixth Christian century.