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ROMAN

AMPHITHEATRES
THEATRES
CIRCUSES
AMPHITHEATRES
Amphitheatres are "theatres in the round" ‘amphi’- means ‘around’
in Greek. An amphitheatre is for action: it's a sports arena, where the
spectators sit around the field. They need to see, but they don't really
need to hear, so an amphitheatre can be much larger.

Colosseum IS THE largest and THE most famous ancient Roman


amphitheater. The emperor Vespasian, who ruled Rome from ad 69 to
79, began construction of the city’s Colosseum and his son, the
Roman emperor Titus, dedicated it in ad 80. The Colosseum was
completed by Vespasian’s younger son, Domitian, who succeeded
Titus as emperor in 81. The structure was originally called the Flavian
Amphitheater. Modifications and restorations necessitated by fires
and earthquakes were made to the Colosseum until the early 6th
century. In succeeding centuries the Colosseum suffered from
neglect, earthquakes, and damage done by builders. Still, slightly
more than one-third of the outer arcades, comprising a number of the
arches on the north side, remain standing. The inner skeleton, which
supported the cavea (seating space), is also substantially intact. All
marble, stucco, and metal decorations, however, are gone.
The Colosseum in Rome
(70-82) is best known for
its multilevel system of
vaults made of concrete.
It is called the Colosseum
for a colossal statue of
Nero that once stood
nearby, but its real name
is the Flavian
Amphitheater. It was used
for staged battles
between lions and
Christians, among other
spectacles, and is one of
the most famous pieces of
architecture in the
world.Art Resource
the first record of a gladiatorial
fight dates back to 264 BC, when
the sons of Brutus Pera offered
such a spectacle in the Forum
Boarium in Rome (an area on the
left bank of the Tiber used as a
cattlemarket) to honour the memory
of their father. Again in 216 the
Forum  hosted a combat of 22
pairs of gladiators; in 183 sixty
pairs of gladiators fought at the
funerals of Publius Licinius
Crassus; in 174 a show lasted for
three days. For a long time in Rome,
for lack of a proper amphitheatre,
the shows were organized in the
Forum or in the Circus Maximus.
In 384 BC censor Gaius Maenius
had wooden balconies built on top
of the shops around the Forum,
and since then the word "maenianum"
indicated the stalls of an
amphitheatre.
TIER SYSTEM
Each seating level at the Colosseum was
reserved by law for people of a specific
status or profession. These levels
reflected the rigid social and class
POOR WOMEN
system of imperial Rome. The emperor had & SLAVES
a special reserved box seat at the arena-
side; directly across from him was
another box reserved for the Vestal
Virgins, the priestesses of the goddess
Vesta. Senators also had arena-side
PLEBIANS
seats; they brought their own chairs and
sat in white togas with the broad purple
stripe that designated their senatorial KNIGHTS
class. Directly above the senators sat
the knights (known as equites), followed SENATORS
by ordinary Roman citizens (plebians). The
knights and plebians also wore togas to
the Colosseum. In the highest seats at the
back of the amphitheater sat all women
other than the Vestal Virgins, together
with slaves and the very poor. ARENA
SECTION
The stage of the arena was
made of wood, which was
covered with sand to absorb
the blood of wounded
gladiators and wild beasts.
Most gladiators were
prisoners of war, slaves
bought for this purpose, or
condemned criminals. Some
free men volunteered to
become gladiators; they were
paid by sponsors and then
made to swear a solemn oath
of absolute submission to
their trainers. Gladiators
who managed to survive
several battles often became
public heroes and many
accumulated great wealth in
the arena.
Beneath the stage of the
arena, the Colosseum featured
a complex network of tunnels,
temporary holding pens for
the wild beasts, and cells for
doomed prisoners awaiting
battle up above. The
underground maze also held a
variety of state-of-the-art
machinery. For example, a
hand-operated elevator raised
animals from the basement to
the arena above.
Counterweights and pulleys
raised elaborate stage sets
from underground up into the
arena, as if by magic. And trap
doors in the arena stage
enabled gladiators to make
dramatic entrances.
On days featuring gladiatorial
shows, nearly 50,000 spectators
would enter the Colosseum and
take their seats under the shade of
an elaborate awning, all in as little
as 15 minutes. The Colosseum's
remarkable efficiency in directing
its crowds was due to the Roman
introduction of individual tickets
and assigned seating. Each ticket
was marked with a number
corresponding to 1 of 76 clearly
designated public entrances. There
were 80 entrances in all: 76 for
the general public, 2 for
gladiators, 1 for magistrates, and
1 reserved for the emperor.
Tickets also designated a specific
level and seat number, and each
level was reserved for spectators
of a particular social or political
status.
During the 1st ten years of its existence
the stadium was filled wit hwater and was
used for mock navel battles but later
however the romans realized thet it was
damaging the foundations as well as the
wooden flooring.
Accounts of the Colosseum’s inaugural
games in ad 80 refer to the arena
suddenly being filled with water for re-
enactments of famous sea battles.
Archaeologists have determined that an
aqueduct leading to the site of the
Colosseum could easily have filled the
arena by using the hydraulic lifting
mechanisms that were installed
underground at the east and west ends
of the amphitheater. Less clear,
however, is how the Colosseum could
have been kept watertight long enough
to stage the spectacles before large
crowds.
THEATRES
Theatre, one of the oldest and most popular forms of entertainment,
in which actors perform live for an audience on a stage or in an
other space designated for the performance. The space set aside for
performances, either permanently or temporarily, is also known as a
theater.
Thus, A theatre is a space with a stage, and the audience is on one
side of it. People need to hear, so a theatre is relatively small.

Roman theaters first appeared in the late Republic. They were


semicircular in plan and consisted of a tall stage building abutting a
semicircular orchestra and tiered seating area (cavea). Unlike Greek
theaters, which were situated on natural slopes, Roman theaters
were supported by their own framework of piers and vaults and thus
could be constructed in the hearts of cities. Theaters were popular
in all parts of the empire; impressive examples may be found at
Orange (early 1st century ad), in France, and Sabratha (late 2nd
century ad), in Libya
The seating capacity of Rome's
Teatro Marcello, the largest
theatre in the Roman Empire, was
approximately 12,000. The cavea
(the semi-circular bank of seats)
would hold another 2,000
standees, bringing the total to
about 14,000. The theatre was
begun in 46 BC under the reign of
Julius Caesar and dedicated to
Claudius Marcello by Augustus
Caesar between 13 and 11 BC. The
outside diameter of the cavea was
about 425 feet. The theatre, which
still exists, became a fortress
during the middle ages, the Pallazo
Savelli [designed by architect
Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1537)]
during the Renaissance, and is
presently an upscale apartment
complex. Obviously the remains of
this theatre are not open to the
public.
Throughout Western
theatrical history, there
have been six major types of
theater buildings and basic
arrangements of audience
seating: (1) the proscenium
or picture-frame stage, (2)
the arena stage, or theater
in the round, (3) the thrust
or open stage, (4) the
amphitheater, (5) the black
box or studio, and (6)
created or found space. All
are still used but with
varying degrees of
popularity.
this is the ground plan of a typical
Roman Theatre as published by
William Smith in A Dictionary of
Greek and romanAntiquities (1875).
The main features are the semi-
circular orchestra and cavea, the
narrow stage (pulpitum), the scena
frons with 18 columns and five
openings, and the arcade which
surrounded the cavea. two of the Roman theatre
five openings contain periaktoi, the
three sided rotating prism that the
Greeks may have used to indicate a
change in location. Also, there are
no entrances into either the
orchestra or the cavea.In rugged
country Roman architects, like
their Greek predecessors, carved
their theatres out of the hillside.
On flat land the cavea was
typically supported by two or more
tiers of Roman arches. Greek theatre
The Theatre of
Marcellus, Rome (23-13
B.C.), was the first
permanent theatre in the
capital. It was built on
level ground near the
river Tiber, with all the
seating raised on arcaded
and vaulted
substructures which
ingeniously incorporated
radially aligned ramps
and circumferential
corridors to provide
access to it. The tiers of
seating were semi-circular
and the stage ran from
side to side in front of it,
backed by a tall
enclosing wall. The lower
order in the external
façade is Doric and the
next is Ionic.
Roman Theatre at Volterra.
These are the ruins of one
of the better preserved
Roman theatres. The main
features are the three
sections of the semi-
circular cavea and
orchestra, the footings for
the narrow stage (pulpitum),
and the remains (including
seven white columns) of the
two story scena frons. This
structure, unlike Teatro
Marcello, was carved out
of the very rocky hillside.
For obvious safety reasons,
only a small portion of this
excavation (or scavi) is open
to the public.
CIRCUSES

The Roman circus was an adaptation of the Greek Hippodrome.


The term is also applied to the events that take place in the
enclosure. Combats between gladiators, between wild beasts,
and between men and wild beasts, usually held in an
amphitheater, were also sometimes held in circuses. Tiers of
seats surrounded the circus except at the end where the stalls
for the horses and chariots were located. In the center of the
circus, extending lengthwise almost from end to end, was a low
wall, the spina, around which the riders or charioteers rode.
The Roman populace often demanded “bread and circuses” from
political candidates. The Roman general Pompey the Great is
said on one occasion (55 bc) to have sponsored five days of
circus games during which 500 lions and 20 elephants were
killed. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of the
Renaissance, the Roman circuses were gradually dismantled for
their building stones. however, few traces of the circuses
remain.
circus maximus
The holding capacity for the Circus
Maximus was a quarter of a million
people. This is about one quarter of
Rome’s population. It was built in the
6th century B.C. by Tarquinius Pricus
the fifth king of Rome. The history of
Circus Maximus is troubled. It was
twice destroyed by fire and on two
occasions the stands collapsed
killing many people. There was a long
barrier (spina) that ran down the
middle of the track. In additions to
obelisks, fountains, statues, and
columns, there are also two temples
on the spina, one with seven large
eggs and one with seven dolphins. At
the end of each lap of the seven lap
race one egg and one dolphin would
be removed from each temple to keep
the spectators and the racers
informed on how many laps had been
completed.
In the Circus Maximus, unlike
the theatres of the day, both
men and women could sit
together. After a fire in 31
B.C., Agustus constructed the
pulvinar which was used as an
imperial box to watch the
games and where the images of
the Gods were installed after
having been brought in
procession from the capitol.
The Emperor had a reserved
seat as did the senators,
knights, those who financially
backed the races, those who
presided over the competition,
and the jury that awarded the
prizes to the winners. In 10
B.C., Augustus also erected
an obelisk on the spina as a
dedication to the Sun and a
monument of his conquest of
Egypt.
Although the Circus
obelisk Maximus was designed for
chariot racing, other
events were held there,
including gladiator
combats, wild animal hunts,
athletic events,
processions, and even mock
naval battles. Caeser
Track showed wild beasts in the
circus and had a water
channel ten feet wide and
ten feet deep dug around
the arena to serve as a
protective moat. In A.D. 63,
Nero filled in the channel
to provide space for
additional seating and so
spina the animal fights were
transferred to the
Colosseum.

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