probably taken from that part of the second wall of Rome which passed
under the south end of the Palatine close at hand; each block of tufa,
being of large size and a ton in weight, was likely to be brought from
the nearest point. It has been mentioned that there are piers of
travertine at short intervals, as if the builders were afraid to trust
the soft tufa to carry so great a weight[102]. These piers go right
through the walls from top to bottom, to carry the weight of the upper
gallery when full of people; tufa is too soft a material to be trusted
for this purpose, and the brick facing did not add materially to the
strength. It is faced with cut stone (travertine) on the exterior, and
with brick on the interior. The work, as said before, was evidently
carried on for a long time. Three periods may be perceived[103] in the
stonework, with apparently an interval of some years between them. The
upper storey is of a later date, of the time of Alexander Severus and
Gordianus, and was evidently completed in great haste, of materials
previously prepared, (as may be distinctly seen in the interior); this
upper wall is built also in the most slovenly manner, with portions of
cornices and of columns, or fragments of old tombs, built into it as mere
pieces of stone[104]. On the interior of this wall large corbels remain
distinctly visible, which could only be for the floor of the wooden
gallery.
In the lower series of seats the vaults under them are not original,
except those on the ground-floor; and in the corridors the large corbels
for wooden floors and galleries still project from the face of the wall
very distinctly[105]. The mixture of stone and brick in the construction
is curious, and in several parts indicates the great repairs in the fifth
and sixth centuries recorded by inscriptions found during the excavations.
There is a series of arches on the first floor within, some of them
begun, and some completed, in stone, but the greater part have springing
stones only upon the stone jambs, the arches afterwards being completed
in brick, and brick vaults introduced in place of the original wooden
floors and galleries; above, nearly all is brick, except the corridors
and the outer facing. The construction of this part is very good
throughout; the stones are in large oblong blocks, closely fitted
together, originally held with iron clamps, fragments of which remain,
as may be seen or felt in the interior of the building in apertures of
the wall: the holes where other iron clamps have been, are left all over
the face of the building, and in the corridors, always at the edges of
the stones, where in rusting they have split the stone and fallen out.
They were of this form [symbol][106]. On the west side, where the outer
wall is gone, the inner wall (now external) shews distinctly the flat
pilasters of stone carried up nearly to the top, but left unfinished, and
continued with brick afterwards.
Nothing is known with certainty of the architect of the work; an
inscription found in the Catacomb of S. Agnes, in memory of Gaudentius,
has given rise to the legend that he was the architect[107], and that he
afterwards suffered as a martyr within its walls. Twelve thousand Jewish
slaves are said to have been employed upon it during five years, and ten
million Roman scudi expended upon it in the same time.
The fine tomb of one of the family of the Aterii found at Cento Celle,
and now preserved in the Lateran Museum, is covered with panels of
sculpture of numerous buildings packed closely together, of which there
is reason to believe some are only designs, and were never executed.
This makes it probable that it was the tomb of an architect, and one of
the sculptures represents the Summa Sacra Via as he thought it ought to
have been. One building is a triumphal arch, with a colossal figure under
it, and an inscription on the cornice—ARCVS IN SACRA VIA SVMMA; another
triumphal arch has the inscription ARCVS AD ISIS. Between these two is
seen the Colosseum looking down upon it, represented as of two storeys
only, and not quite the same as the existing building, but the figures
under the arches are shewn as on the coin. Another sculpture on the same
tomb represents the machine for raising large stones to the top of a high
wall or building, described in Part III. of this work (Construction,
p. 91). From the circumstance of this machine being represented upon
the tomb, it seems most probable that the person here interred was the
inventor, or had made some improvement in it, and that it was especially
intended for the Colosseum, for which it certainly would have been very
useful. The date of the tomb is of the first century[108]. Such a machine
is mentioned by Vitruvius, and similar machines are still in use in some
parts of Switzerland.
The numerous walls that intersect the space under the stage shew clearly
that there could be no area in this theatre, that there is no open space
excepting on the stage itself, and this was the boarded floor, called the
_arena_, from the sand with which it was covered. The latter is quite a
different thing from an _area_, and yet almost all the modern writers
on the antiquities of Rome fall into this mistake. The passage cited in
a previous page from Dio Cassius, who describes what he saw, is quite
decisive that the arena was a boarded floor covered with sand.
A great number of large marble columns and capitals of the Composite
order, rudely worked, as if on purpose to be seen from a great distance
only, have rolled down from the edge of the upper gallery to the arena
below, probably in an earthquake. They must have fallen before the
substructures were filled up with earth, as many of them were found at
the bottom on the old pavement, which they had damaged by falling upon
it, and some have made holes through great walls, and were found lying
with half the column on the inner side of the wall, and the other half
on the outer one. Probably the cords for the awning were caught on the
entablature of this colonnade as they passed, the length from top to
bottom being too great to keep them tight. There must have been at least
a hundred of these columns; possibly there were two colonnades, the
second on the edge of one of the lower galleries, but they are work of
the third century, not earlier, and as the upper gallery was added at
that time, they must have belonged to that period.
The Flavian Amphitheatre and Meta Sudans are represented on four coins
of the emperors, one of Vespasian[109], A.D. 80, with the head of Titus,
and inscription on the obverse. This is a bird’s-eye view, represented
with the walls of the two storeys, and with the Meta Sudans on one
side, and a double range of columns on the opposite side, one over the
other. This medal was used by Fontana in his plans and drawings of a
restoration[110], though he does not give an engraving of it. The upper
storey is very different from the existing building; in the interior the
upper gallery is evidently represented on this medal as of wood; the
colonnade or arcade, of two storeys, connecting the amphitheatre with the
Cœlian, seen on the coin, was most probably to carry the shallow open
channel of water from the Aqueduct[111]. The second of Domitian, nearly
the same as the last, but with a double arcade instead of colonnade; the
third of Alexander Severus, with the Meta Sudans[112] on the right, and
a group of figures on the left. There are two coins of this emperor with
the same subject on the reverse, not of the same size, and not quite
alike. The fourth of Gordianus III., with the legend on the obverse,
IMP . GORDIANUS . PIVS . FELIX . AVG.; on the reverse the view of the
Colosseum, as if looking down upon it, with the masts for the awning,
and a wild-beast hunt going on at a high level, certainly not at the
bottom (as has been said). On the left, standing behind the Meta Sudans,
is a colossal figure about fifty feet high[113]. On the right is a small
building which is just below, and a gable end to the roof, probably
the _piscina_ of Alexander Severus, of which we have remains. Over the
Colosseum is the legend MUNIFICENTIA GORDIANI AVG.[114] In this the upper
storey is represented as of stone.
A.D. 150. By the time of Antoninus Pius the amphitheatre needed repairs,
as we learn that it was restored by him[115].
In A.D. 191, Dio Cassius, who was a Roman senator in the time of
Commodus, was an eye-witness of the games, and gives an account of the
manner in which that emperor amused himself in this amphitheatre.
“He used to put on, before he entered the amphitheatre, a tunic
with sleeves made of white silk embroidered with gold, and
thus habited we (the Senators) saluted him; but on entering it
he put on his purple robe sprinkled with gold, like a Greek
_chlamys_, and a gold crown with Indian jewels; he was also
accustomed to carry a _caduceus_ like Mercury. In the street
some one carried before him a lion’s skin and a club. But when
he went into the theatre he sat on a gold seat. He also entered
the theatre in the costume of Mercury, and threw aside the
other things which he had carried except the tunic.
“On the first day he alone killed a hundred bears with javelins
thrown from the paths in the upper part. For the amphitheatre
being everywhere divided by diametrical partitions, each
division having a roof, round which he could go, he could the
more readily strike down the wild beasts, who were themselves
divided into four divisions....
“These things being done on the first day, on other days
he descended from the upper place into the area of the
amphitheatre, and killed the fatted beasts when they came near
to him, or were led to him, or brought in cages; he killed a
tiger, and an hippopotamus, and an elephant: having done these
things he went away. Then after dinner he went through the
gladiatorial exercise armed as a gladiator, with the shield
on his right arm, and holding the wooden sword in his left
hand, of which he was very proud, as he was left-handed....
For fourteen days exhibitions of this kind were continued, and
I can certify that we senators always came with the knights,
except Claudius Pompeianus, the senior, he never was there, but
sent his sons to see the shows....
“But of the rest of the people many did not go into the
amphitheatre, and some after they had seen a little went away,
some from being ashamed of what they saw done there, others
from fear, because it was reported that the Emperor wished
to kill some of them with arrows as Hercules formerly killed
the Stymphalidæ.... This fear was common to all, belonging
not more to others than to us; for even to us Senators he did
things in such a manner, that for any cause we expected to be
killed. He even killed an ostrich and cut off its head, when
he came to the place where we were seated, holding in his left
hand the head and in his right his bloody sword, and saying
nothing, he moved it grinning, to shew he would serve us in the
same manner; and which many people laughed at seeing our fear,
&c.... These things being done he comforted us, and ordered
us, when he was fighting in the manner of a gladiator, to go
into the theatre in our habits and cloaks as knights: in which
costume we were not accustomed to go into the theatre except
on the death of the Emperor. It happened also to him that on
the last day of the games his helmet was carried through the
door by which the dead were usually carried, which things, in
the opinion of many, were done to indicate to every body his
approaching death. It is certain that soon after he died, or
rather was killed[116].”
The spectators were protected from the heat of the sun by a great awning,
which was suspended from masts or poles at the top by cords. Pliny
mentions an awning painted in imitation of the sky, with stars in it, in
the amphitheatre of the Prince Nero[117]. There were similar poles at
the bottom also, to support the lower end of the cords over the heads of
the spectators in the galleries[118]. These are likely to have had the
great beams of the screen in the front of the _podium_ fixed to them. The
contrivances for supporting them at the top were very ingenious, and can
still be seen. On the exterior there is a row of corbels, ten feet below
the summit, for the ends of the poles to rest upon, and holes are left in
the cornice for them to pass through. These masts stood full twenty feet
above the walls; and on the inner side of the upper wall are also corbels
for the cords to be fastened to, to keep them upright. At the bottom of
the galleries, in front of the _podium_, there are similar contrivances
to support the poles for the awning, a recess in the wall of tufa, with
a piece of travertine let in for the lower ends to stand upon, and long
corbels on each side to support and stiffen the lower part[119]. The
central space was not covered over, and the athletes were exposed to
the weather. There is an excellent representation of an amphitheatre,
with the awning partly closed and partly open, in a fresco-painting of
the first century at Pompeii, which has been engraved in the valuable
Journal of Pompeii, edited by the learned Keeper of the Museum, Sig. Com.
Fiorelli[120]. The construction of the upper walls is quite different
from, and very inferior to that of the great arcades; this belonging
to the third century, not to the first; and part of it has all the
appearance of having been completed in a great hurry, as we see in the
interior many pieces of stone evidently prepared for other parts of the
building, and used as blocks of old material only, some with inscriptions
on them, apparently taken from tombs[121]. The tradition is that the
Emperor Gordianus insisted on the completion of the building-contract by
the time appointed, which was done with great difficulty.
A large number of sailors were kept continually employed in furling and
unfurling the great awning, and attending to the machinery. They had a
camp provided for them near at hand, called Castra Misenatium, because
the sailors came originally from the fleet at Misenum (in the bay of
Naples). The exact site of this camp has not been ascertained. Some
suppose it to have been on the Cœlian, near where the _navicella_, or
model of a galley in marble, now stands[122], but it was not in that
Regio; it must have been on the Esquiline, immediately to the north of
the great building, or on the Velia. The awning was called _vela_ or
_vehela_, an old Latin word, from which came also the name of _velabrum_,
meaning “sails.” The modern name “veil” is supposed to come from it.
Calpurnius[123] describes a visit to Rome by a country lad, and gives an
account of the amphitheatre:—
“We saw the theatre (amphitheatre) with interwoven beams
rising to heaven, so high as almost to overlook the Tarpeian
rock, and the immense steps and the sloping passages gently
descending.... What shall I describe further? I saw all kinds
of wild beasts, ... not only those carniverous monsters of
the forest, but sea-monsters together with fighting bears. I
saw seals, and herds of shapeless animals bearing the name of
horses (hippo-potami), but deformed, the offspring of the
Nile. Oh how often have we trembling seen the arena sinking
in parts, and a gulf burst open in the ground from which wild
beasts have emerged[124].”
In A.D. 217, the amphitheatre was struck by lightning and burnt under
Macrinus, as we are told by Dio Cassius. This passage shews that the
upper storeys were of wood, and that there was much woodwork about the
galleries and corridors.
“The amphitheatre also was struck by lightning on the very
day of the Vulcanalia (23rd of August), all was consumed to
such an extent that the upper precinct and whatever was on
the area was burned, and all the remaining part shivered in
pieces by the heat; nor could the fire have been extinguished
by human means, although there was plenty of water, had there
not also been copious and vehement rain from the heavens. All
the gladiatorial games, consequently, for many years were
transferred to the Stadium[125].”
The restoration was begun in the time of Heliogabalus[126], and continued
through the whole reign of Alexander Severus[127], A.D. 222-235; and
finished under Gordianus III., A.D. 244, as has been shewn by his coin.
In A.D. 248 the games, which had been transferred for a time to the
Circus Maximus, were again celebrated here.
In A.D. 238-44, we learn that the number of wild beasts kept in Rome for
the use of the amphitheatre during the time of the Emperor Gordianus
was as follows: 32 elephants, 10 elks, 60 tame lions, 10 tigers, 30
leopards, 10 hyenas, 1 hippopotamus, 1 rhinoceros, 10 wild lions, 10
camelopards, 20 wild asses, 40 wild horses, and many other wild animals,
besides two thousand hired gladiators[128]. All these, the Chronicler
adds, were exhibited or slain by Philippus, at the Ludi Sæculares which
he celebrated with great pomp for the thousandth[129] anniversary of the
foundation of Rome, A.D. 248, when he had gladiatorial and wild-beast
exhibitions in the amphitheatre[130].
Herodian[131], the Greek historian, writing about the middle of the
third century, says that a hundred lions, killed in the amphitheatre
by Commodus, appeared to leap out from under the earth. More strictly
speaking, they came from under the sand on the stage, as they were sent
up in cages which opened at the top, and naturally sprang out as soon as
liberty was given to them.
In A.D. 250, another fire took place under Decius, but the damage was
speedily repaired.
In A.D. 280, the Emperor Probus in his triumphal shows again had a
hundred lions killed in the amphitheatre[132].
In A.D. 320, the amphitheatre was again damaged by lightning, but was
soon restored by Constantine[133]. An attempt was made, A.D. 325, to
abolish the barbarous combats, and the exposure of convicts, but this
was not effected until the martyrdom of Telemachus, an Oriental monk,
A.D. 403, who made a pilgrimage from the East on purpose to be martyred
here, and during one of the sanguinary shows he rushed into the midst,
and falling on his knees, entreated the spectators to have mercy on their
victims. He was immediately stoned to death, but so great a sensation
was caused by this martyrdom, that the emperor Honorius was able to take
advantage of it to suppress the shows.
In A.D. 357, the amphitheatre is described by Ammianus Marcellinus as
perfect, and as a marvellous work, from its great height, and its immense
size. He also mentions the massive walls of rough stone, or concrete
(_moles_), bound together by travertine (_lapis tiburtinus_)[134].
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].
In the fifteenth century, the great palace of S. Mark of Venice, built
by Paul II., 1464-1471, at the south end of the Corso, the Farnese in
1534, the Cancelleria in 1495, the Borghese in 1590, and many other
edifices[148], were built out of this quarry.
In the sixteenth century it was used for miracle plays; this practice
began under Paul III. in 1540[149], a purpose to which it had previously
been applied on Good Friday in each year by the “Confraternity of the
Gonfalone;” this is mentioned as early as 1263.
We have one vestige of this remaining, a view of Jerusalem with the
Crucifixion, painted on the wall over the principal entrance then in use
at the north end over the arch, and seen in going out as we look up. It
shews to what a height the earth had then been raised to make this a
convenient place for such a picture.
Sixtus V. proposed to turn it into a cloth manufactory, and drawings for
that purpose were actually prepared by his architect, Fontana[150], in
1590; but the design was abandoned at the death of the Pope.
In 1703 it was again damaged by an earthquake, and soon afterwards
Clement XI. destroyed the lower arches of the western side of the
corridor, and used some of the stone to build the steps at the Port
of Ripetta, on the Tiber. He employed other parts as a warehouse for
saltpetre for the neighbouring manufactory of gunpowder, on the hill
adjoining, near the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, still indicated by
the name of the street, and this manufactory continued in use until 1811.
In 1728, Benedict XIII. consecrated the whole area, at the instigation of
a Carmelite friar, Angelo Paoli. A small chapel was made under one of the
archways, and dedicated to _S. Maria della Pietà_. In 1741, a hermit was
appointed to reside here, but in the following year he was stabbed by an
assassin, and although the wound did not prove fatal, the Pope ordered
the closing of every ingress by gates locked and barred. About the same
period, Leonardo da Porto Maurizio, a Minorite friar, drew immense
congregations to his sermons in the Colosseum.
In 1749, Benedict XIV. ordered the erection at his private expense
of the central cross, and the fourteen stations of the _Via Crucis_,
which remained until 1874, when they were removed for the ground to be
excavated.