under Benedict, in the presence of a very numerous assembly. The same
ceremony was repeated a few years afterwards under Clement XIII.
The outer arcade on the south-western side of this colossal building was
entirely destroyed in the middle ages by the Pontifical families, who
used it as a stone-quarry for building their great palaces. This enables
us to see more clearly the construction of the walls of the corridors and
front of the three periods:—
First, the arches on the ground-floor, built of travertine.
Second, the first-floor, also of travertine, not long after the
other.
Third, the upper storey, of brick on the inner side, of the
beginning of the third century.
We also see the numerous holes left by the iron clamps with which the
edges of the stones were bound together, according to a Roman fashion
which has been in use from the time of Servius Tullius to the present
time. On the north-eastern side the front is perfect, and we see the
ornamental columns and cornices in the two lower storeys, and in the
upper one the corbels for the masts to carry the awning, with holes in
the cornice to let them pass through. One of the arches of the lower
storey has been restored in the time of the Gordians, A.D. 220-238, and
is a good example of the still good construction of that period, though
not so good as that of the time of Titus and Vespasian[151].
In 1810, when Rome was incorporated in the French Empire, the Governor,
Baron Daru, placed the Colosseum under the direction of the Roman
architect Valadier, to carry on regular excavations, which were
continued for four years, from 1810 to 1814; of these works the Comte de
Tournon[152], then prefect, has written an account.
In 1812, under the French, the ruins of the walls and the surface of the
vaults were weeded of the vegetation which threatened their ultimate
destruction, and the uprooting of the shrubs had become necessary to save
the walls. In sixty years they had again grown up so vigorously that
another weeding was absolutely required, and in November, 1870, the whole
of the ruins of the Colosseum were cleared of weeds and shrubs, under the
direction of Signor Rosa, who was appointed by the Italian Government to
superintend the works, and to carry on excavations on a large scale, from
that building to the Forum Romanum. There is no doubt that it was quite
time this clearing should take place, as the roots of the plants were
in many parts displacing the stones, and would soon have done serious
mischief. There was a great outcry against this necessary work by the
botanists and the lovers of the picturesque, but archæologists must
approve of it. Many things are now brought into view more clearly than
they were before.
A view of these excavations was taken and engraved in 1813. It
represents clearly the passages round it, and two straight parallel
channels down the middle of it for the naval fights, which were in
reality not a representation of sea-fights but of river-fights. In 1814,
and again in 1867, the subterranean passage leading from the Amphitheatre
on the side next the Cœlian was excavated as a private speculation in
search of treasure, which was not found; but the passage was left open as
we now see it[153].
In 1864-5, considerable excavations were made between the Colosseum and
the Cœlian, in search of treasure supposed to have been buried there,
but only a subterranean passage was found. The work was interrupted by
water gushing out in great abundance,—to such an extent that the area of
the Colosseum was completely inundated, and the water was obliged to be
drawn off by a steam engine[154]. The passage then discovered is still
left open; the upper part of the vault only is removed, which formed the
floor, or rather supported the floor, of another passage on the present
level of the ground, leading from the _podium_, or lowest storey, towards
the Cœlian. The point where the water gushed out and stopped the work
was just outside of the site of the outer wall, long since destroyed on
that part of the building. The great excavations of 1874 shewed that
this passage turned to the left or south when it reached the outer wall,
and followed the line of it until it joined the outer end of the long
straight passage down the centre of the building.
The upper wall on the north side, where it remains perfect, formed the
back of the wooden gallery over the corridors for the common people, and
was faced with brick, but the greater part of the ancient brickwork had
fallen down, and has been copied in modern times; a great deal of the
back of the stone wall, left exposed, shews the hasty construction[155],
in the time of Gordianus.
The remains of Aqueducts and _Piscinæ_ have already been mentioned[156],
but some further account of them seems to be requisite. A _piscina_
always consists of four vaulted chambers, two above and two below,
and the middle wall of the two lower chambers has small holes in it,
for straining the water as it passes through. The lower chamber of a
_piscina_ is also known by having no windows in it, and the lining
being of the water-cement (_opus signinum_). The lower chambers of two
_piscinæ_ only remain; of the northern one the middle wall between the
two lower chambers is the only part now visible, this is faced with
_opus reticulatum_ of the time of Nero, and has the usual small holes
for water-pipes through the wall. The southern one is of brickwork of
the third century, of the time of Alexander Severus; of this there is
much more remaining, one end with the usual boldly projecting buttresses
to support the weight of water, and part of two other chambers of the
reservoir.
The excavations which had been made in the time of the first Napoleon and
of Pope Pius VII., 1810-1814, were filled up again after drawings and
plans had been made of them. They were not considered satisfactory by
scholars because the excavations had not gone deep enough, having been
stopped by water, as very often happens in Rome at certain periods of the
year, when the springs are high. They were again suspended by the same
cause in the spring and summer of 1874, but Signor Rosa, with his usual
energy, obtained machinery and a steam-engine to pump the water out[157].
The whole area was found to be undermined by chambers and passages, with
walls chiefly of brick, but some of tufa, with indications of several
different periods[158].
When the Pontifical Government returned to power in 1815, Pope Pius VII.
ordered the enormous buttress to be built, for supporting one end of the
wall then left broken, and preventing the ruin from extending further.
We have already lost forty-seven out of the eighty arches, which have
been destroyed for using the materials by previous Popes to build their
family palaces, or monasteries and churches, so that there remain only
thirty-three of the external arches of travertine. The other end of the
wall, near the Meta Sudans, was left in a dangerous state until that
was also supported by the great buttress of Leo XII. In 1828, Gregory
XVI. followed the example of his immediate predecessors, and rebuilt
in brick some arches of what had been the internal corridors, but had
become external, owing to the demolition of the great outer arcades in
earlier ages. In 1852, Pius IX. repaired the principal entrance from the
Esquiline side, and some more of the arches of the inner arcade.
Under the arena was all the machinery usual under the stage of a large
theatre; and much space was required for it. When the boards had to be
cleared off the central part, to leave open the four long channels of
water, which are seen in the view of the Colosseum taken in 1812[159],
and the space between them which was probably flooded to the depth of a
few feet for effect, the boards removed from the centre must have been
piled up at the sides, and on the large corbels before mentioned[160].
Apollodorus, the architect, in his celebrated reply to the Emperor
Hadrian, told him that _he ought to have_ prepared a place for the
machinery of the great amphitheatre under the platform, and in such a
manner that the great building should have been visible from the Forum
Romanum. The site intended by him for the temple evidently was the large
level platform on the Summa Sacra Via, on which S. Francesca Romana now
stands; and the place for the machinery intended by him was obviously
that excavated in the spring of 1874, under the south-east end of the
platform immediately opposite to the Colosseum, a very convenient place
for the purpose. There still remains a rude rubble vault, of the time of
the Republic, with a small aqueduct introduced in the time of the early
Empire to carry water to the fountains at each corner of the Porticus
Liviæ, which must have been on this site, but which did not extend to
the end. There is an excellent place for a temple at the end of the
_porticus_ or colonnade; and the platform could easily have been extended
several yards nearer to the Colosseum: it is evident that this is what
Apollodorus said that Hadrian _ought to have done_, but that he had not
done so.
At the south-east end, under the old entrance, at the present level of
the ground, a long passage has been found, with a series of square-topped
arches, at about fifteen feet below that level. This has been traced
further to the south, beyond the limits of the building; it must have
led from the great foss-way in that direction. There is a large and deep
drain extending from the south end of the Colosseum, turning at an angle
and passing at the foot of the Claudium to the Meta Sudans, near the arch
of Constantine. It was continued under the present Via di S. Gregorio,
and the south-east end of the Palatine[161].
In one part, near the south end, on the western side of the central
passage at the lowest level, which is twenty-one feet below the present
level of the ground and the top of the walls of the substructure, the
two ancient tufa walls (before mentioned) remain nearly perfect, with
the vertical grooves opposite to each other, evidently for lifts to
slip up and down, and in each instance in the wall on one side a hollow
is cut, for the counter-weight to work up and down[162]. These lifts
are very near together in the outer passage, in front of the _podium_,
but far below the bottom of it. Behind each of them is a small square
chamber under the passage in front of it, with a narrow entrance to
it, and a small stream of water running in front for the use of the
animals, as these are plainly the dens for the wild beasts to be placed
in temporarily, and there is just space enough for the animal to pass
through into the wooden cage (_pegma_[163]), which had two doors, one
at the side, the other at the top. When the cage on the lift was pulled
up to the level of the floor of the stage or arena, under one of the
trap-doors, the upper part was pulled up by a cord from below along with
the trap-door, and the animal thus placed at liberty sprang out on to the
stage. In the original pavement, which remains round a great part in the
passages, behind the place for each of the lifts, is a round hole for
the socket of a pivot to work in, evidently for the windlass for winding
up the cord[164]. It is calculated that there was one of these lifts in
front of each arch, and a den behind each, all round the _enceinte_ of
the building, so that all the wild beasts could spring on to the stage
at once with tremendous effect. The persons in the lower gallery were
protected by strong nets, and by bars that turned round on pivots, so
that the claws of wild beasts had no hold upon them.
Under the long passage which comes in at the south end is a large drain
at a considerably lower depth; there are gratings in the paved floor of
the passage above opening into it, which had unfortunately been stopped
up in some of the great floods, but was partially cleared out as far as
the Meta Sudans in 1875. The paved floor of the passage over the drain
under the arena is three feet above the level of the pavement, which
is of herring-bone brickwork (_opus spicatum_), and the passage before
mentioned goes all round the building nearly under the edge of the
_podium_. Modern iron steps have been placed for people to descend to the
bottom of the building, and under these is seen the ancient iron grating
to prevent anything being carried off by the rush of water[165]. From
this it is evident that the great drain was to carry off the water used
in the canals for the _naumachia_, when the Emperor “ordered the water
to be let off and the boards to be replaced.” There are evident marks of
a great flood-gate or sluice drawn up, as a portcullis, at the entrance
to this drain. It also appears that the vessels were floated down on the
wooden framework on which they were dragged along, now made visible, but
it does not appear that they could have been floated up also to the level
of the canals. The space between the wooden floor of the _stage_, called
the arena, and the original pavement being twenty-one feet, the canals
were ten feet deep, and yet room is left for the passages and machinery
under them. Possibly, but not probably, the whole central space could be
floated, excepting just at the south end, where room was left for the
machinery. The vessels were probably never removed from the building, but
left under the vaults, and dragged out when required.
The tufa walls with the grooves for lifts belong to the earliest part of
the building, and must be earlier than the time of Nero[166], as has been
shewn; and his _stagnum navale_, or _naumachia_, his _venationes_, or
wild-beast hunts, and gymnasium, which are recorded as belonging to his
great palace, could have been nowhere else but on this spot.
We now see distinctly the large corbels[167] all round the building at
a certain height, about six feet below the present level of the soil,
for carrying the boards of the great floor covered with sand called the
arena, upon which the athletes wrestled, the wild beasts were killed, and
the persons condemned to death were torn to pieces by wild beasts; so
that the martyrdom of the early Christians who were condemned to death in
this manner took place on the sand of the _arena_, and not on the soil
of the _area_. These corbels, in some instances, at the south end of
the building, have the ends of them built into the old tufa wall, which
is cut away to receive them. This old wall is not so regular in plan as
the great work of the Flavian Emperors, the architect of which probably
intended to destroy these old walls ultimately. Dio Cassius (himself a
Roman senator) gives a vivid description of scenes which took place in
this Amphitheatre[168] in his presence, in the time of Commodus (as
has been said), which leaves no doubt about the matter. Similar scenes
are described in the time of Nero. The whole of the arena was, in fact,
supported in all directions by the walls of the chambers or passages not
more than ten feet apart; one object of which, no doubt, was to carry the
great boarded floor, that could be removed at pleasure by the order of
the emperor, and replaced as readily[169].
The excavations of 1874 and 1875[170] very much astonished the people
in Rome, and more especially the English visitors, who had been long
accustomed to consider the _area_ and the _arena_ to be the same thing;
they were amazed to see the whole of the area undermined with walls[171].
The walls that were first seen are for the most part brick walls of the
fifth century, and the inscription[172] found there in 1814 records that
they had been repaired by Lampadius, prefect, A.D. 442. This was after
they had been much damaged by an earthquake. Another inscription records
repairs of the _arena_ and the _podium_ by Basilius, prefect and consul,
A.D. 508, after another earthquake. A long subterranean passage[173] at
a considerable depth, leads out at the south-east end in the direction
of the church of S. Clement; this passage passes under a number of
square-topped arches or doorways, and has rather the appearance of having
been a state entrance at the time that the level of the street was as
low as that passage, that is, before the filling-up of the foss-ways,
which began in the second century. On each side of this passage is a long
narrow vaulted chamber parallel to it, under the corridor, and in the
pavement of each of these chambers is a series of six round holes lined
with hard copper or bronze, for a pivot to work in; they are somewhat
worn, and in a straight line one behind the other. The most probable use
for these was for a windlass or capstan to be worked in each, and by
these means to drag along the vessels in the canals before mentioned, as
extending down the centre of this colossal building.
It has also been mentioned that a very ancient wooden frame, calculated
for the keel of a vessel to slide upon, remained on the ground in 1875,
just within the passage at the south-east end of the building, as if
the vessels used in the sham fights could be placed out of sight in the
lofty central passage. This is said by those accustomed to dockyards to
have all the appearance of a dry dock, or a cradle for vessels to stand
upon[174]. We read of the vessels being divided into two nations or
sides, there were probably six on each side, and each nation occupied one
of the canals. It is probable that the surface between the two canals on
either side of this central passage, just under the level of the arena
(which was twenty-one feet above the brick floor), was flooded with two
or three feet in water, but the keels of the vessels were in the canals.
On either side of the passages before mentioned[175] are remains of other
walls of tufa, with vertical grooves in them, as if for lifts; the brick
walls, between those of tufa, have been introduced at a later period, and
in these instances the grooves are not opposite each other. This shews
that great alterations have been going on at different periods in these
subterranean works, some of which are earlier than the existing building,
and others considerably later[176]. In one place, near the south-east
entrance, the two old stone walls, with the vertical grooves, remain in
their original places facing each other, so that lifts might work up and
down in them.
Architects had long wondered where the builders could possibly have
obtained such an immense mass of materials in so short a time, it was
therefore evidently natural that they should make use of anything that
served their purpose. It appears that in some parts the galleries for
the spectators of the old Naumachia were thus made use of as they stood,
without actually rebuilding them. The great tufa blocks of the second
wall of Rome were also used as old materials for the substructure of the
great stone arcades; but the builders, who had to add the upper gallery,
were afraid to trust the soft tufa to carry so great a weight[177], and
therefore built piers of travertine about four feet wide[178]. These
piers to support the upper gallery go right through the walls of all the
lower galleries, from the top to the bottom of the building (as has been
said on p. 12).
The architectural details of the Colosseum are much admired by
architects; the cornice-mouldings of the lower storey are good examples
of the style of the latter part of the first century[179]. The supply of
water for the naval fights must have been from the Aqueducts; the water
was brought from the Cœlian in a shallow channel, carried upon a lofty
double colonnade, or arcade[180]. It has been mentioned[181] that there
are slight remains of three reservoirs to receive it, which can be traced
by remains of the particular cement used only for the aqueducts[182]. The
continuations of the shallow channel along the corridors can be seen in
many places, and are shewn in the photographs[183].
In the upper storey of the third century, on the exterior, the corbels
for the masts to rest upon, and the holes in the cornice for them to pass
through, have been mentioned[184]. On the interior of this wall, now that
it has been stripped of plaster, and the wooden gallery that had been
built up against it has been destroyed, we see clearly how hastily it has
been built of old materials[185]. In other parts it has been cased with
modern brickwork, but the corbels for fastening the masts on the inside
are preserved[186].
THE EVIDENCE OF THE CONSTRUCTION, AND COMPARISON.
It is well known that the first principle of the modern science of
archæology is comparison. To compare small remains of one place with
more perfect remains of the same kind, and as far as may be, of the same
period, in other places. By these means, what has been destroyed in one
is frequently supplied by the corresponding part in another. This is
remarkably the case with regard to the amphitheatres, which are very
numerous; there was one to every Roman town of importance, and such large
buildings have almost invariably left remains visible[187]. It appears
nearly certain that the Colosseum in Rome was the earliest, and that
this was the type generally followed more or less closely by the others.
This was a gradual development, and not merely one original design;
the magnificent front and stone corridors of the Flavian emperors,
which constitute what is usually considered to be the amphitheatre,
were in fact built round a theatre previously existing[188]; that the
names of theatre or amphitheatre were used indifferently is implied
in many instances, and is distinctly shewn by an inscription found in
the Colosseum itself, and preserved on the spot, in which it is called
_theatrum_, and not _amphitheatrum_[189]. The theatre, or amphitheatre,
round which the corridors were built, has been shewn to have been in
parts of the time of Nero[190], and other parts earlier, most probably
the work of Scaurus in the time of Sylla[191]. This colossal building was
finished and consecrated by Titus in the year 80[192].
CAPUA.
The great amphitheatre at Capua is almost of the same size as the
Colosseum in Rome, and a remarkably exact copy of it; some say that it
was called by the same name, but this is rather doubtful, as persons
who have resided at Capua for years say they have never heard it so
called; the name is not of much importance: the plan and arrangements
are identical, and although the superstructure has been almost entirely
destroyed, the substructures at Capua are far more perfect than in Rome;
and here we have the mouth of an aqueduct perfect in these substructures,
and remains of canals for water, with the very massive walls to support
them, exactly as in Rome. The great drain to carry off the water also
remains, but on rather a different plan; instead of being carried under a
low arch at the end of the great central passage, as in Rome, the water
is conveyed into a large and deep well in the centre of the building,
with four small channels running into it, beside the great central
opening. From this well there is a large and deep drain leading to the
river. There are the same dens for wild beasts under the _podium_, and
in the pavement the same sockets for pivots to work in, to pull up the
cages, or _pegmata_, or lifts. The arena, instead of being a boarded
floor, is of brick, carried on vaults, with numerous square apertures
for the trap-doors. The central passage is vaulted at the two ends, but
open in the greater part. Round each of the openings there is a deep
groove, as if a wooden cover had been fitted tightly over each and made
water-tight, so that the surface of the arena might be flooded for naval
fights; but there is reason to believe that only rowing-boats, drawing
little water, were used in this instance, and not galleys.
The earliest part of the building at Capua is of the time of the Emperor
Hadrian, but only a small part of that period remains, as shewn by the
construction (reticulated work with a framework of brick). Most of the
walls in the substructure are faced with brick of the second or third
century, with later repairs[193].
PUTEOLI OR POZZUOLI.