AMPHITHEATRE, called sometimes Visorium, an edifice of an elliptical form, resembling two theatres turned towards each other, with a spacious area in the middle, on which were exhibited various kinds of games and spectacles, particularly combats of gladiators and wild beasts. To conceal the blood shed in these com bats, the area was strewed with sand, and was, from that circumstance, called the arena. The oval form of the amphitheatre is said to have been occasioned by the na tune of the games, which, obliging the combatants to pursue and retreat alternately, rendered it necessary that the ground should lengthen out a little from the centre. To accommodate immense crowds of specta tors, was another grand object in the construction of those edifices, lor which the elliptical form was pecu liarly favourable. The arena was surrounded by lodges or cells, containing the wild beasts which were to be produced in the combat. Immediately above these lodges was a gallery, called the podium, which com pletely surrounded the arena, and which was occupied by the senators, ambassadors of foreign nations, and other personages of the first distinction. In the centre of one side of this gallery, there was erected for the emperor a kind of throne, called sziggestum, covered with a canopy like a pavilion. This suggcstum was lined with silk, and decorated with the richest ornaments. The podium projected over the wall which surrounded the arena, and was elevated above it about 12 or 15 feet. It was secured in front by strong net-work, iron-rails armed with spikes, and with strong rollers of timber, which turned vertically, to prevent any irruption of the hunted animals. Behind this gallery there rose 14 ranges of seats, which were allotted to the equestrian order, and to the tribunes, both civil and military, whose number was very great, and constantly increasing, as all who had once filled the office were ever after en titled to the rank. Above these scats, other rows, ap
propriated to the lower orders, ascended to the summit, in such a manner, that the arena might be seen from every part, and that the whole interior of the building resembled a cratcra, or bowl, the cavity of which di minished gradually from the summit to the arena. The seats of the higher orders were covered with cushions, and the marble benches, in general, with boards. As the amphitheatres, like the theatres, were open in the top, they were provided with an awning, or curtain or different colours, which, by means of willies and cords, could be let down or drawn up at pleasure, and which were occasionally stretched to screen the spectators from the excessive heat or the rain. By means of se cret tubes, the spectators were besprinkled with per fumes, which counteracted the offensive smell arising from the blood and ordure of the wild beasts.
Besides the circular steps, which served as scats, there were others which formed stairs, or passages, and were called the precinction8, or belts. The passages, radiating towards the arena, intersected the scats in such a manner as to separate them into divisions, which widening as they approached the top, exactly resembled a wedge, and were for that reason called cunei. Near the amphitheatre there was a place called the spoliarium, to which those who were killed, or mortally wounded, were dragged by a hook. For a more particular de scription of amphitheatres, we refer our readers to