Colosseum (Rome, Italy)
The spectators entered the amphitheater from under the arches of the lower level marked with figures from I to LXXVI and went up to their seats through staircases, the number of which was also 76. These seats were located around the entire arena in the form of rows of stone benches rising one above another (lat. gradus). The lower level or the podium was reserved exclusively for the Emperor, his family members, senators and Vestal Virgins; with that, the Emperor had a special uplifted sitting place (lat. pulvinar). The podium was separated from the arena by a parapet high enough to provide safety for the spectators and guard them from the animals on display. Seats for common public forming three levels (lat. maeniana) followed upwards according to the levels of the façade of the building. On the first level consisting of 20 rows of benches (now completely destroyed) the city’s authorities and persons belonging to the equestrian stratum were sitting; the second level consisting of 16 rows of benches was for those who had the right of Roman citizenship. The wall that separated the second level from the third was pretty high; the benches of the third level were located on a steeper sloping surface; this arrangement had a purpose of enabling the spectators sitting on the third level to see better the arena and everything occurring on it. The spectators of the third level belonged to lower strata. A portico encircling the entire perimeter of the building and on one of its sides adjoining its outer wall was above this level. On its roof during the spectacles sailors of the Emperor’s Fleet were placed whose task was to put up an awning (lat. velarium) to protect the public from burning sun rays or bad weather. This awning was attached by ropes to masts upon the upper edge of the wall. In many places of the outward cornice until now holes can be seen through which those masts were put; the masts’ lower ends were pressed against stones protruding from the wall like brackets that remain intact until now where the fourth floor has been preserved. The spectators’ seats were supported from underneath by a strong vault structure consisting of passing corridors (lat. itinera), cells for miscellaneous uses and staircases leading to the upper levels.
Under the arena by the foundation of the inner wall there were cells for beasts and closer to the middle of the arena, as it has been already told above, many walls, pillars and vaults that supported the arena and served for the purpose of immediate appearance on it from under the ground of people, animals, machines and props were found. Although the latest excavations spread to more than a half of all the square of the arena, the purpose of many of these walls and pillars is not exactly clear yet.
The Colosseum lost two thirds of its original mass; nevertheless, it is still unprecedented in its huge size: one architect in XVIII century decided to approximately calculate the number of the building material the Colosseum consists of and defined its cost in prices of that time worth of 1.7 million scudos. That is why the Colosseum has been from of old considered a symbol of Rome’s might.