RAMBLES IN ROME
Russell Forbes

A noble wreck in ruinous perfection."—BYRON".
The vast amphitheatre erected in the centre of ancient Home by Vespasian was known to the ancient Romans as the Flavian Amphitheatre. It was begun by the Flavian emperors A.D. 72, and dedicated A.D. 80. It is 157 feet high, and is 1900 feet in circumference, and was built by the captive Jews after the fall of Jerusalem. Originally the upper story was of wood, but this was burned down, and it was rebuilt with travertine stone like the rest of the edifice.
Martial tells us that its site was formerly occupied by the artificial lakes of Nero; and Marcellinus (xvi. x. 14) says,
"The vast masses of the amphitheatre so solidly erected of Tiburtine stone, to the top of which human vision can scarcely reach." All the brickwork we now see are repairs at various dates after the dedication; but there is enough travertine left at different points to show that it was originally built of this stone, as recorded by the historian. For nearly five hundred years it was the popular resort of the Roman populace and their betters. There were eighty arches of entrance, and it held one hundred thousand people, and could be emptied in ten minutes; such were the order kept and regulations observed that there was no confusion.
It was devoted to the exhibition of wild beasts, their fighting together, gladiators fighting together, or with beasts, and naval fights. On these latter displays the stage or arena was moved, water let in, and naval fights represented in real earnest.
Suetonius ("Vespasian," vii.), says, " He began an amphitheatre in the middle of the city, upon finding that Augustus had projected such a work." Ibid. ("Titus," vi.): " He entertained the people with most magnificent spectacles, and in one day brought into the amphitheatre five thousand wild beasts of all kinds."
The last display was given by Theodoric in 523; and in 555 the lower part was destroyed by a flood from the Tiber, when
the whole of Rome was under water for seven days. From then we must date the ruin of the Flavian Amphitheatre—the Romans themselves hastening on the work, using the material for building purposes. "
Which on its public shows unpeopbd Rome, And held uncrowded nations in its womb."—JUVENAL.
It is held by the Roman Church, on the authority of an inscription found in the Catacombs, that the architect of the Colosseum was one Gaudentius; but that inscription only says that he was employed there. We believe the architect to have been Aterius, whose monument is now in the Lateran, and upon which several buildings are represented of which he was no doubt the architect, also the machine used to raise the stones into their places. He flourished at the end of the first century, and, no doubt, these buildings shown in relief upon his tomb were erected by him, the dates agreeing; for
if not, why should they be there represented?
First, we have an arch which says on it, " Arcus ad Isis. Now if we compare this with the Arch of Constantine, we find it is the same without the attic. Then we have the amphitheatre without the upper story; then an arch (query, Arch of Domitian?). Then another arch with the words, "Arcus in Sacra Via Summa:" compare this with the Arch of Titus, and, minus the restorations, it will be found to be the same. Then there is a temple agreeing with the descriptions of that of Jupiter Stator upon the Palatine. All these buildings were erected or rebuilt about this time, and from being recorded on this monument of the Aterii, tend to show that Aterius
was the architect of them.
When perfect, the Colosseum consisted of four stories—the lowest, of the Doric order, 30 feet high; the second, Ionic, 38 feet high; the third, Corinthian, about the same height; and the fourth, also Corinthian, 44 feet high. The holes in the cornice with the corbels below them were to receive the masts that supported the velaria, on the outside.
The numerous holes in the stone were made in the middle ages for the purpose of extracting the iron cramps that kept the stones from shifting. The long diameter is 658 feet, the shorter 558 feet; the arena is 298 feet by 177 in its widest part.
The last performance was a bull-fight, held at the expense of the Koman nobles, in the year 1332. Many martyrs are said to have perished in the Colosseum during the persecutions of the early Christians, and among others S. Ignatius, who was brought from Antioch to be devoured by wild beasts. Benedict XIV. consecrated the building to the Christian martyrs, A.D. 1570.
In excavating the Basilica of S. Clement, the Eev. Father Mullooly found (1870) the remains of S. Ignatius, and had them carried with great ceremony over the scene on the anniversary of his martyrdom.
At the present day there remains sufficient to indicate the construction of the building, though but a small portion of the immense outer shell, which originally both adorned and formed an impenetrable girdle round the whole, has been preserved. In the interior, a great deal of rebuilding has been necessary for its preservation.
Vast as the building is, its construction is easily understood; a simple segment of the whole serving to show how all the others succeed one another like the cells of a bee-hive. The upper part was originally of wood only, and was burned, having been set on fire by lightning. The three lower stories only are of the time of the Flavian emperors; the upper story was rebuilt and added in the third century, and only finished in the time of the Gordiani, as is shown by the coins representing it. The imperial entrance was from the Esquiline side, between the arches No. 38, 39, which is without number. Commodus constructed an underground passage from the arena to the Palatine, which has not yet been discovered, his so-called passage (on the right in entering') being that by which the dead bodies were carried from the arena. Dion Cassius says: " Upon the last day of the sports his helmet was taken off and fell through the door where the dead used to be carried out."
The area, basement, or ground-floor, was flooded for the naval fights. Surrounding this were the dens, in front of which was a channel for fresh water for supplying the animals with drink—a spring still supplies it; about ten feet above was the movable stage sprinkled with sand for the combats, and hence called the arena. A few feet above the arena was the podium, or seat of the emperor, vestal virgins, &c., protected from the arena by iron bars. Behind the podium was a double portico, which ran round the whole building.
Fragments of the marble chimeras, with long wings, that ornamented the seats of the podium have been found. The three successive tiers were called cavea. Above these was a tier for the people ; above this one for the " gods;" thus making six in all. The amphitheatre seated eighty-seven thousand people, and there was standing room for thirteen thousand more.
The walls standing upon the area, composed of tufa, travertine, and brick, old material re-used, were built at a period long after the building was dedicated, when the naval fights being abandoned there was no longer any occasion for a movable stage or arena as before. They contained the machinery for the stage above, and for the lifts or pegmata to send men or beasts from the area to the arena.
Probably these are the walls thus alluded to by Dion Cassius: " [He Commodus] divided the theatre into four parts by two partitions that cut through diametrically, and by right angles, to the end that from the galleries that were round about he might with greater ease single out the beasts he aimed at." "
The emperor having employed himself in shooting from above descended afterwards to the bottom of the theatre, and there slew some other private beasts, whereof some made toward him, others were brought to him, and others were shut up in dens.
Returning after dinner, he used the exercises of a gladiator, with a shield in his right hand, and in his left a wooden sword. After him fought those whom he had chosen in the morning at the bottom of the theatre." Also, in his life of Septimius Severus, he says: " There was a kind of cloister made in the amphitheatre, in the form of a whip, to receive them [the wild beasts]. On a sudden there issued out bears, lions, ostriches, wild asses, and foreign bulls."
The walls before us are of very bad construction, evidently repairs of a late date: they are the work of either Lampridius, prefect of Rome under Valentinian III., 425-455, who repaired the steps and renewed the arena; or of Basilius, who restored the podium and arena after their destruction by an earthquake in 486—this we learn from two inscriptions standing at the entrance. Half way, on each side, two large passages have been discovered choked up with mud : they were the aqueducts to bring the water for the naumachice from the reservoirs upon the Esquiline and Cseliau Hills respectively; from the small openings in the blind arches the water also poured out over the top of the dens, thus forming cascades all round. At the end opposite the present entrance a long passage has been opened, above the level of the area floor; below this passage is the great drain, with the remains of the iron grating to prevent large objects going down:
this and the passage were closed by flood-gates on naval representations, which can be clearly seen in the construction. On the right and left of this passage, connected with it, but at a lower level, two dens have been cleared out, 27 yards long by 5 wide, containing six holes in the floor, in the centre of square blocks of stone, and these holes are faced with bronze, evidently the sockets into which metal posts were fixed to which the beasts were chained. On the fragments
depicting scenes from the arena, the animals are shown with a long piece of rope or chain dangling from their necks, which seems to bear out our idea that they were attached to posts fixed in these sockets, and that as they were wanted the chain or rope was cut, and they were free to rush upon the arena.
The corbels round the front of the line of arches under the podium are in pairs, and between them the masts were inserted to support the awning on the inside, as the holes and corbels supported the masts on the outside; for we find on examination that those inside are exactly in a line with those outside at the top of the building.
These corbels are 29 inches deep, and from them to the level of the area is 10 feet, and to the present surface 11 feet; between each pair of corbels are chases 19 inches wide, ending on a block of travertine for the masts to rest on, the chases coming down the yard below the corbels, which are 15 feet apart. They probably helped to " Recently removed to clean out the drain.support the arena, and show what the height of this wooden arena must have been, and that from its vast size it must have had a framework and supports: the numerous holes on the area, in travertine, were for the heels of the supports; one of these, a square one, has remains of the decayed timber in it.
In the central passage, resting on the area and extending as far as the excavations, is an ancient wooden framework in a decomposed state. Various suggestions have been made as to its vise,—we suppose it to be the framework and joists of the flooring covering the central passage; others, a sort of tramway for running the cages along,—but till the whole space has been cleared out it is impossible to arrive at a correct estimate of its use.
Honorius, A.D. 395, having abolished the gladiatorial combats, probably the last display of wild beasts was that given by King Theodoric at the beginning of the sixth century.
The soil cleared out in the passage, dens, galleries, and area was found to be composed of mud deposited during a flood or floods by the Tiber, the composition of which may still be seen in parts of the long passage not yet cleared. The most remarkable of these floods, which lasted some days and did immense damage to the city, were those of A.D. 555, 590, 725, 778, 1476, 1530, 1557, and 1598.
We may presume, from the nature of the soil, that at some early date, probably A.D. 555, one of those terrible floods reached the Colosseum, and on the waters retiring a great deposit of mud was left, covering the old area floor and filling up the various passages and galleries, and that the authorities, instead of clearing out this deposit, added to it to make a solid floor, and used the arena above; for after that date we have no record of its being used, with the exception of the bull-fight.
By applying to the custodian, the visitor can ascend to the top, where a most magnificent view is enjoyed, the only way to get a good idea of its size and oval shape, and where the construction of the upper galleries can be studied. It will be seen that the arches forming the tiers of seats have at some date been filled in with brickwork, of the time of Alexander Severus and the Gordiani. The water-courses for keeping the building cool in hot weather can also be traced. The highest wall of all, the inside brick casing of which is partly gone, is built of fragments evidently not originally intended for the purpose for which they are used, corresponding to a great extent with the construction of the walls upon the area. The Colosseum was for a long time used as a quarry, from which several of the palaces in Rome were built.
Should the visitor be fortunate enough to see the ruin under moonlight, or when it is illuminated with Bengal lights, he will
see it in its grandeur, for " it will not bear the brightness of the day."

ABOUT THE COLOSSEUM