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The archæology of Rome, Part 7 cover

The archæology of Rome, Part 7

Chapter 50: Description of Plate XVI.
By John Henry Parker
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The author reports on late 19th-century excavations that revealed extensive substructures beneath the arena, showing earlier origins than commonly supposed and multiple construction phases from Scaurus and Nero to the Flavian emperors. The work describes underground features such as a movable boarded arena with corbels, animal cages with vertical lifts and trapdoors, canals and reservoirs for staged naval displays, and wide passages for scenery, and examines reused timber and stone, masonry of tufa, brick, and concrete, plus coins and graffiti as documentary evidence. It also traces repairs from earthquakes and argues the amphitheatre evolved over more than a century rather than being completed in ten years.

THE COLOSSEUM.
PLATE XVI.

SUBSTRUCTURES EXCAVATED IN 1875,
With probable Restorations of the Lifts or Pegmata.

THE COLOSSEUM—SUBSTRUCTURES IN 1875

WITH PROBABLE RESTORATION OF THE LIFTS OR PEGMATA

Description of Plate XVI.

SUBSTRUCTURES EXCAVATED IN 1875,
With probable Restorations of the Lifts or Pegmata.

The object of this plate is to make more clear to the eye what has previously been explained. An animal is represented first as coming out of the den behind the tufa wall into the cage, with the empty socket behind, as they actually remain, and a capstan with the cord is placed in the socket on the opposite side of the cage. The second is half-way up, to shew the action of the cords, which seems the only mode of explaining the things found. In the third the animal is leaping out on to the stage or arena, as described by Herodian. In front of the podium a piece of trellice-work is shewn in its place, taken from a graffito found on the spot.