File:Pompeii; its history, buildings and antiquities - an account of the destruction of the city, with a full description of the remains, and of the recent excavations and also an itinerary for visitors (14769822231).jpg

Identifier: pompeiiitshist00dyer (find matches)
Title: Pompeii; its history, buildings and antiquities : an account of the destruction of the city, with a full description of the remains, and of the recent excavations and also an itinerary for visitors
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Dyer, Thomas Henry, 1804-1888
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Bell
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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er, which was divided into boxes, and appro-priated to them. The construction consists for the mostpart of the rough masonry called ojpus incertum, with quoinsof squared stone, and some trifling restorations of rubble.This rude mass was probably once covered with a moresumptuous facing of hewn stone; bxit there are now noother traces of it than a few of the key-stones, on one ofwhich a chariot and two horses is sculptured, on another ahead; besides which there are a few stars on the wedge-stones. At each end of the ellipse were entrances into the arenafor the combatants, through which the dead bodies weredragged out into the spoliarium. These were also the prin-cipal approaches to the lower ranges of seats, occupied by • TertuUian, Apol. 40. 242 POMPEII. the senators, magistrates, and knights, by means of corridorsto the right and left which ran round the arena. The endsof these passages were secured by metal gratings against theintrusion of wild beasts. In the northern one are nine
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Plau of the Amphitheatre at Pompeii. places for pedestals to form a line of separation, dividing theentrance into two parts of unequal breadth. The seats areelevated above the arena upon a high podium or parapet,upon which, when the building was first opened, there THE AMPHITHEATRE. 243 remained several inscriptions, containing the names ofduumvirs who had presided upon different occasions. Therewere also paintings in fresco, one representing a tigressfighting with a wild boar ; another, a stag chased by a lioness;another, a battle between a bull and bear. Other subjectscomprised candelabra, a distribution of palms among thegladiators, winged genii, minstrels, and musicians, but alldisappeared soon after their exposure to the atmosphere.The amphitheatre comprises twenty-four rows of seats, andabout 20,000 feet of sitting-room: it would consequentlyafford accommodation for something more than ten thousandpeople, exclusive of those who were obliged to take up withstanding room. Bronze H

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