Transcript The Colosseum

The Colosseum
Abigail Braddock
“Houses of Mortals and gods:
Latin Language in Context”
NEH Summer Institute 2006
Table of Contents
Introduction
Literature on the
Colosseum
Why was it built?
Development of
Amphitheaters
Why is it called the
Colosseum?
Who built it?
When Was it built?
Construction of the
Colosseum
Features of the
Colosseum
Legacy of the
Colosseum
A Tale of Two Colosseums
• Marvel of engineering and design
• Symbol of depravity, decadence, and
cruelty
Measurements
•
•
•
•
•
Largest amphitheater in the Roman world
189 meters long
156 meters wide
48 meters high
Intact outside perimeter measured 545
meters.
Literature on the Colosseum:
• Martial, De Spectaculis I
Barbara pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis,
Assiduus jactet nec Babylona labor.
Nec Triviæ Templo molles laudentur honores,
Dissimuletque Deum cornibus ara frequens.
Aere nec vacuo pendentia Mausolea
Laudibus immodicis Cares in astra ferant.
Omnis Cæsareo cedat labor Amphiteatro:
Unum pro cunctis Fama loquatur opus.
(From the Latin Library)
Veneble Bede (8th cent.)
• Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma;
quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma;
quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus ("as
long as the Colossus stands, so shall
Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome
shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the
world")
Literature on the Colosseum:
• Martial, De Spectaculis I (Translation)
“Let Barbarous Memphis speak no more of the
wonder of her pyramids, nor Assyrian toil
boast of Babylon; nor let the soft Ionians be
extolled for Trivia’s triumph; let the altar of
many horns say naught of Delos; nor let the
Carians exalt to the skies with extravagent
praises the mausoleum poised in empty air.
All labor yields to Caesar’s Amphitheater.
Fame shall tell of one work in lieu of all.”
Literature on the Colosseum:
• Martial, De Spectaculis II
Hic ubi sidereus propius uidet astra colossus
et crescunt media pegmata celsa uia,
inuidiosa feri radiabant atria regis
unaque iam tota stabat in urbe domus;
hic ubi conspicui uenerabilis Amphitheatri
5
erigitur moles, stagna Neronis erant;
hic ubi miramur uelocia munera thermas,
abstulerat miseris tecta superbus ager;
Claudia diffusas ubi porticus explicat umbras,
ultima parts aulae deficientis erat.
10
Reddita Roma sibi est et sunt te preside, Caesar,
deliciae populi, quae fuerant domini.
(From The Latin Library)
Literature on the Colosseum:
• Martial, De Spectaculis II (English translation)
Just here, where Nero’s skyey colossus sees stars,
and the scaffolding towers up high, right in the way,
once shone the nasty halls of that cruel king,
and only the one Golden House in all of Rome.
Just here, where the Amphitheatre’s honoured pile
rises, towering before our eyes, was Nero’s lake.
Just here, where we gaze at Titus’s thermal baths,
swift gift, proud acres razed the poor man’s roof.
Where the Claudian colonnade spreads wide its shade,
that golden palace’s outermost corner came to an end.
Caesar, Rome’s back to herself, now you’re in charge,
and the master’s pleasures are the people’s now.
Translation courtesy of Tony Kline
http://www.tonykline.co.uk/PITBR/Latin/Martial.htm
Why was it built?
• Rome needed an amphitheater
• A partially stone structure constructed in
29 B.C. by Statilius Taurus proved too
small.
• Caligula started progress on amphitheater,
but it was stopped by Claudius
• Nero built an amphitheater on the Campus
Martius, but it too had been destroyed.
Development of Amphitheaters
• In earlier examples, most ancient arenas for funerary
games were simply open spaces bound by a wooden
fence and finished with a platform
• originally temporary structures made of wood or wood
with a stone foundations- nothing remains of them
• Amphitheaters developed out of a need to hold
gladiatorial contests in specifically designed spaces.
• For more information on the invention of the
amphitheatres, see Pliny the Elder (Historia Naturalis,
XXXVI, 116-120).
Development of Amphitheaters
The first amphitheater was constructed in Capua.
Development of Amphitheaters
In Pompeii, an amphitheater was constructed around 80 BC which developed the
cavea system of underground passages which was supported by a system of
radial walls connected by sloping vaults and interrupted by rings of tunnels, was
progressively elevated from the ground and support structures were replaced by
walls to create a panorama effect. This style was used in the construction of
Pompey’s Theater.
Development of Amphitheaters
• Three issues involved in planning the Roman
Amphitheater
– Since shows were sponsored by high officials, they
must be grand so they had to provide facilities for
grandeur in a limited amt of space
– Large and diverse audiences-senate decree in the
Augustan era established a hierarchy for assigning
seats
– How to quickly evacuate in case of emergencyestablished regular paths to and from seats
Why is it called the Colosseum?
• In antiquity, the Colosseum was known as
the Amphitheatrum Caesarum Flavium or
just the Flavian amphitheater.
• Termed Colosseum in the middle ages
from a colossus statue of Nero
Why is it called the Colosseum?
• The colossus of Nero was
a 120 foot bronze statue
built by Zenodorus
originally placed in the
Domus Aurea.
• At the death of Nero,
Vespasian changed it into
a statue of the sun.
• Some historians say that it
was moved by Hadrian in
128 AD nearer to the
Colosseum.
Why is it called the Coloseum?
• A recent reconstruction of an inscription on one
of the Colosseum’s blocks reads:
“The emperor Vespasian ordered a new
amphitheater to be built from the booty [of the
Jewish War in 70 A.D.]”
• This was not the principal dedicatory inscription
which would have run around the parapet
• The block was found in 1813 at arena end of
east entrance so scholars believed that it could
have formed the lintel of the door.
Who Built it?
• Colosseum was a
monument to sheer
Roman organizational
ability.
• Amphitheater
commissioned by
Vespasian who was
proclaimed emperor in 69
A.D.
Who Built it?
• Vespasian characterized
as “down to earth” and
possessing a “solid
middle-class character,”
and he built the
Colosseum as one who
understood the needs of
the masses.
• Thus, the Colosseum
reflected Vespasian’s
outlook
When was it built?
• Based on the brainchild of Augustus,
Vespasian began construction in 70 A.D.
and completed up to the third story in 79
A.D.
When was it built?
• Based on the brainchild of Augustus, Vespasian began construction
in 70 A.D. and completed up to the third story in 79 A.D.
• Suetonius, De Vita XII Caesarum, Divius Vespasianus, Liber VIII,9.1
Fecit et nova opera templum Pacis foro proximum, Divique Claudii
in Caelio monte coeptum quidem ab Agrippina, sed a Nerone prope
funditus destructum; item amphitheatrum urbe media, ut destinasse
compererat Augustum.
• “He also undertook new works, the temple of Peace hard by the
Forum and one to the Deified Claudius on the Caelian mount, which
was begun by Agrippina, but almost utterly destroyed by Nero; also
an amphitheatre in the heart of the city, a plan which he learned that
Augustus had cherished. “
• Source:http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Sueton
ius/12Caesars/home.html
When was it built?
• Top level of structure was
finished by his son Titus who
inaugurated it in 80 A.D. with
games lasting for 100 days.
When was it built?
• Domitian later added the top
story to the façade, of which
none survives, and
underneath, which was
previously a work yard.
When was it built?
• Legend believed that the Colosseum was
built by 15,000 captives from the Jewish
wars.
• This was unlikely because of the skilled
and specialized workforce of craftsmen
using local materials
• The captives could have been used to
transport stones from quarries
Construction of the Colosseum:
Preparing the site
• Built on land reclaimed from Nero’s estate
after draining the artificial lake.
• Engineers erected drains to ensure
adequate drainage toward the Circus
Maximus, part of which was lost when the
Metro was built.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Materials
• 100,000 cubic meters of Travertine quarried at
Tivoli
– used because of its high resistance to stress and wear
– Drawbacks to use:
• Calcinated in fire
• Expensive to quarry
• Tends to split when cut vertically
– Used in heavy traffic areas including: floors and perimeter
porticoes of lower levels, internal tiers leading to the upper
levels, landings on the stairs, surface channels for running water,
tiers for the audience, the podium wall and perimeter walls of
the four main entrances at the far ends of the major and minor
axes.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Materials
• Peperino rock used for blocks in both
underground chambers and radial passageways
on the first level between the second and third
annular corridors and wide walls connecting the
supporting travertine pillars
• Yellow tufa cut into pieces for the cement vaults
and the original nuclei of walls
• Gray tufa used at the base of the brick radial
walls of the first level and between the third and
forth annular corridors filling a cavity between
the wall and its foundation
Construction of the Colosseum:
Materials
• Stone blocks fit together with metal clamps.
300 tons of iron needed to clamp blocks
together. The surviving chunks in the walls are
where the iron was stolen.
• Other walls were made of cement and then
covered with brick facing-such as substructures
in the lower part of the cavea- designed to
support a lesser burden and not weigh to
heavily on the walls underneath
• It is estimated that over 200 ox carts of stones
needed to be supplied each day of
construction.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Materials
• It is estimated that over 200 ox carts of stones
needed to be supplied each day of
construction.
• There is evidence of many colors used in
construction
– Fragments of plaster painted black, green, red, and
yellow
– Mosaic fragments in different colors
• Bricks in herringbone pattern used on a large
scale because of its elasticity and the ease of
replacing it.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Materials
This diagram shows
the general location of
various construction
materials incorporated
in the Colosseum.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Logistics
• Logistical
considerations must
have been worked out
well in advance:
– Bricks, quicklime, quarried
stone, and equipment to be
located and transported to
site.
– Employment of skilled
laborers
– Acquisition of unskilled
laborers
Construction of the Colosseum:
Foundation
• Laid out with ropes swung
from carefully established
points serving as the 8
centers of the curvature for
each of the circle segments
(method decreased in
accuracy proportional to
the length of the rope)
• After substructures
completed, annular lines
defined by using shorter
lengths of rope measuring
from the edge of the arena
rather than the original
points
Construction of the Colosseum:
Foundation
• Follows a design that
mimicked the cosmological
map of the universe, a net
of radial and annular lines
which when applied to the
surface of a globe,
become meridians and
parallels. At every
intersection of this grid
rose a forest of travertine
piers ascending like tree
trunks forming the main
structural and load bearing
elements of the edifice.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Foundation
• The foundation was 13 meters deep made of
Roman cement because it could be set in damp
condition. Due to the concrete’s composition, it
does not need to lose water by evaporation to
set.
• Around the foundation a reinforcement brick wall
was built 3 meters wide and 6 meters deep and
a similar wall was built inside on the internal
side.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Foundation
• 4 +1 underground tunnels connected
the amphitheater to the surrounding
buildings.
• These were constructed by casting
concrete around wooden boxing.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Process
• The Italian engineer Cozzo purported that it was
constructed by erecting a skeletal structure like
modern steel-framed buildings.
• By Vespasian’s death, only the two lowest layers
were built and the barest skeleton
– Engineers erected two co-centric walls behind
exterior and created radial passages of travertine
piers that ran straight up through the structure
independent of walling and high enough to support
ceiling
Construction of the Colosseum:
Process
– When piers reached points where
they had to support vaults that
carried staircases, a springing was
left in stone
– At a pier’s tallest height, vaults
were constructed but not at lower
levels
– Brick arches built by linking piers,
and on these, sloping barrel vaults
built which supported banks of
seats.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Process
• During the reign of
Titus, men were
employed to fill in
spaces between piers
and to build staircases
in the lower sets of
vaults on the
springings provided.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Process
• Mixture of materials employed extended
working season since masonry can be
quarried and worked all year while concrete
was affected by extremes of temperature.
• Two advantages to building the second story
first (according to Cozzo)
– Workmen infilling could work under cover
– Top vault provided a platform on which material
was stored for upper story
Construction of the Colosseum:
Process
• After first two levels
finished, scaffolding
was built to support
topmost parts of
building
• On inner side of piers
of third story, huge
projecting corbels
were left to support
scaffolding on inside
of building.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Process
• Domitian completed the building, adding the
topmost story of the façade
• In alternate bays were bronze shields and
square windows.
• Cozzo suggests that square windows were
used to support transverses during
construction
• Also, Domitian built top most story of
seating, summum maenianum, of wood so
that the thrust would not be too great.
Construction of the Colosseum:
Process
• Diagram of
possible
various phases
of construction
Features of the Colosseum:
Exterior
Façade was a direct descendent of the Theater of Marcellus.
Features of the Colosseum:
Exterior
•First three levels consisted of 80 arches with
openings 4.2 meters high sent on pillars with
semi-columns 2.7 meters wide that formed 76
gates and 4 entrances.
•First level- Doric capitals with arches 7m
high above which was an architrave
beneath a smooth frieze and a molded
cornice.
•Second level- Ionic capitals
•Third level- Corinthian capitals with a
double crown of acanthus leaves that
were curved at the top. There were four
leaves on the bottom and five on top.
Features of the Colosseum:
Exterior
•Fourth level- fill wall with pilasters placed on high
pedestals that divided 80 panels which consisted of ionic
bases and Corinthian capitals.
•Statuary found on third level
•Bronze shields likely melted in fire of 217 A.D.
•Velarium-protected people from sun
•One theory states that ropes which supported it were
attached to masts which projected above the cornice
of the outer wall
•Another theory projects that ropes were attached at
the ground level to winches fixed to a row of bollards
encircling the building which were manned by the
imperial fleet.
Features of the Colosseum:
Exterior
Reconstruction of Colosseum exterior
Features of the Colosseum:
Entrances
• There were more than 80 entrances.
• Seventy-six were numbered to correspond to
the spectators' tickets.
• Two were reserved for the emperor and his
guests. These led directly to the podium.
• Two were for the gladiators
– Porta Triumphalis
– Porta Libitinaria (Libitina was the Roman goddess of
death) was the gate through which the bodies of
those slain in the arena were carried out to an
unmarked grave beyond the walls of the city.
Features of the Colosseum:
Seating and Social Engineering
• On the ground floor, archways were tiered
to give access to different parts of seating
• Vomitorium- passageways that controlled
people by two sets of gates
• Admission was by ticket
• Arena held 50,000 people
• Spectators arrived either on foot or in
litters.
Features of the Colosseum:
Seating and Social Engineering
• Emperor and Vestal versions faced each other in boxes
• Five levels of seating:
– Primo settore• lowest area accommodating members of the senatorial elite
• Four large marble terraces, with a cloakroom in front and short
flights of stairs leading up to their places, three steps for each
quarter of the building
• Landing supported by the podium wall and was bordered on the
arena side by a marble parapet
• Senators brought their own chairs, called bisellia
– Maenianum primum- first sector
• Equestrian class
• 8 marble esteps and furnished with a walkway accessible by flights
of 16 stairs, for four each quarter of the building
– Both Primo settore and Maenianum primum were the first level of
exterior
Features of the Colosseum:
Seating and Social Engineering
• Five levels of seating (cont’d)
• Maeniamum secundun inum
–
–
–
–
Greatest number of tiers and most spacious
Could be reached through the second and third levels
Second level of the exterior
For plebs
• Maenianum secundumt summum, the lower and upper second
sector
– Third row and the passageway above the third row
– For plebs
• Maenianum summum in ligneis, the upper wooden sector
–
–
–
–
–
For poor, slaves, women
80 partitions (tabulations) corresponding to the divisions in the attic wall
11 tiers of wood beneath the portico
Most difficult part to reach
Panorama offered great view
Features of the Colosseum:
Seating and Social Engineering
Features of the Colosseum:
Seating and Social Engineering
• Legislation about who sat where begun by Augustus
• Boys who were not of age sat with tutors in a specific
sector, as did serving soldiers on leave, scribes, heralds,
foreign dignitaries, and priesthoods
• Grave diggers, actors, and former gladiators were barred
from attending
• The Lex Roscia (67 B.C.) banished women to the
highest seats
• The wedge of marble seating down low at east end is an
erroneous piece of reconstruction from the 1930s.
Features of the Colosseum:
Seating and Social Engineering
Features of the Colosseum:
Seating and Social Engineering
Suetonius De Vita XII Caesarum, Divius Augustus, Liber II,44.1
Spectandi confusissimum ac solutissimum morem correxit ordinavitque,
motus iniuria senatoris, quem Puteolis per celeberrimos ludos consessu
frequenti nemo receperat. Facto igitur decreto patrum ut, quotiens quid
spectaculi usque publice ederetur, primus subselliorum ordo vacaret
senatoribus, Romae legatos liberarum sociarumque gentium vetuit in
orchestra sedere, cum quosdam etiam libertini generis mitti deprendisset.
Militem secrevit a populo.
2 Maritis e plebe proprios ordines assignavit, praetextatis cuneum suum, et
proximum paedagogis, sanxitque ne quis pullatorum media cavea sederet.
Feminis p196 ne gladiatores quidem, quos promiscue spectari sollemne
olim erat, nisi ex superiore loco spectare concessit. 3Solis virginibus
Vestalibus locum in theatro separatim et contra praetoris tribunal dedit.
Athletarum vero spectaculo muliebre secus omne adeo summovit, ut
pontificalibus ludis pugilum par postulatum distulerit in insequentis diei
matutinum tempus edixeritque mulieres ante horam quintam venire in
theatrum non placere.
Features of the Colosseum:
Seating and Social Engineering
Suetonius De Vita XII Caesarum, Divius Augustus, Liber II,44.1
(translation)
He put a stop by special regulations to the disorderly and indiscriminate
fashion of viewing the games, though exasperation at the insult to a senator,
to whom no one offered a seat in a crowded house at some largely attended
games in Puteoli. In consequence of this the senate decreed that, whenever
any public show was given anywhere, the first row of seats should be
reserved for senators; and at Rome he would not allow the envoys of the
free and allied nations to sit in the orchestra, since he was informed that
even freedmen were sometimes appointed. He separated the soldiery from
the people.
2He assigned special seats to the married men of the commons, to boys under
age their own section and the adjoining one to their preceptors; and he
decreed that no one wearing a dark cloak should sit in the middle of the
house. He would not allow women to view even the gladiators except from
the upper seats, though it had been the custom for men and women to sit
together at such shows. 3Only the Vestal virgins were assigned a place to
themselves, opposite the praetor's tribunal. As for the contests of the
athletes, he excluded women from them so strictly, that when a contest
between a pair of boxers had been called for at the games in honour of his
appointment as pontifex maximus, he postponed it until early the following
day, making proclamation that it was his desire that women should not
come to the theatre before the fifth hour.
Features of the Colosseum:
Floor and Underground
• Floor- oak wood
– Laid on top of underground walls
– Strewn with sand to absorb bodily fluids and prevent
slipping
• Around the arena walls was a curved tunnel,
part of it comprised a cryptoporticus which
contained radial passages and drains
• Maze of substructure underneath consisted of
32 cells around edge where animals were kept
Features of the Colosseum:
Floor and Underground
• Animals were driven underground under the
short ends of arena
– Each segment was completely separage
– Contained 8 cages close to the edge of arena
• Animals were driven along narrow passageway
which did not allow them to turn around
• Animals were raised to cages where they were
released to trapdoor which was designed so
they would race to the light
• 32 animals could be released simultaneously on
to the floor
Features of the Colosseum:
Scenery and Spectacle
• Scenery was the conspicuous feather in
the center of floor
• Scenery consisted of huge, hinged
platforms in the middle (pegmata)
• Masonry supports still seen today
• Hinged end at arena level and other end
was about five meters below
Legacy of the Colosseum
• Major fire 217 A.D. affected the uppermost level of
seating and arena
• Not fully operational again until 240 A.D.
• Further repairs were made after an earthquake in 443
A.D.
• Cassius Dio relates that it was frequently damaged
by lightening and earthquakes
• Gladiators and animal hunts continued into 523 A.D.
• In the late 6th century, small church installed using
arena as a cemetery
• In 12th century, it was rented out as houses and
workshops.
Legacy of the Colosseum
• Frangipani family built palace there in 1200.
• By 1362, outer south side had collapsed in heap
of stones.
• During Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries)
people quarried travertine blocks on outer rings
and miles of marble seating for many building
projects, including St. Peter’s Basilica.
• Declared sacred ground in 1675 and filled with
stations of the cross to commemorate martyred
Christians.
Legacy of the Colosseum:
Ecological Impact
• Game consumption emptied some lands of animal
species
• Before overgrowth of vegetation was cleared in
1871, over 400 species of plants grew on ruins, a
variety made possible both by seeds attached to or
ingested by animals and the Colosseum’s special
microclimate.
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