Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology | Page 9

sedet ?de Deus"--the god who sits in the middle temple.
The pantheon was built by Marcus Agrippa, son-in-law to Augustus C?sar, and dedicated most probably to all the gods in general, as the name implies. The structure is a hundred and fifty-eight feet high, and about the same breadth. The roof is curiously vaulted, void places being here and there for the greater strength. The rafters were pieces of brass of forty feet in length. There are no windows in the whole edifice, only a round hole at the top of the roof, which serves very well for the admission of light. The walls on the inside are either solid marble or incrusted. The front, on the outside, was covered with brazen plates, gilt, the top with silver plates, which are now changed to lead. The gates were brass, of extraordinary work and magnitude.
This temple is still standing, with little alteration, besides the loss of the old ornaments, being converted into a Christian church by Pope Boniface III. The most remarkable difference is that where they before ascended by twelve steps, they now go down as many to the entrance.
There are two other temples, particularly worth notice, not so much for the magnificence of the structure, as for the customs that depend upon them, and the remarkable use to which they were put. These are the temples of Saturn and Janus.
The first was famous on account of serving for the public treasury--the reason of which some fancy to have been because Saturn first taught the Italians to coin money; but most probably it was because this was the strongest place in the city. Here were preserved all the public registers and records, among which were the libri elephantini, or great ivory tables, containing a list of all the tribes and the schemes of the public accounts.
The other was a square building, some say of entire brass, so large as to contain a statue of Janus, five feet high, with brazen gates on each side, which were kept open in war, and shut in time of peace.
CHAPTER VIII.
Of other public Buildings.
Theatres, so called from the Greek {theaomai}, to see, owe their origin to Bacchus.
That the theatres and amphitheatres were two different sorts of edifices, was never questioned, the former being built in the shape of a semicircle; the other generally oval, so as to make the same figure as if two theatres should be joined together. Yet the same place is often called by these names in several authors. They seem, too, to have been designed for quite different ends: the theatres for stage plays, the amphitheatres for the greater shows of gladiators, wild beasts, &c. The following are the most important parts of both.
Scena was a partition reaching quite across the theatre, being made either to turn round or draw up, to present a new prospect to the spectators.
Proscenium was the space of ground just before the scene, where the pulpitum stood, into which the actors came from behind the scenes to perform.
The middle part, or area of the amphitheatre, was called cav?, because it was considerably lower than the other parts, whence perhaps, the name of pit in our play houses was borrowed; and arena, because it used to be strown with sand, to hinder the performers from slipping.
There was a threefold distinction of the seats, according to the ordinary division of the people into senators, knights, and commons. The first range was called orchestra, from {orcheisthai}, because in that part of the Grecian theatres, the dances were performed; the second equestria; and the other popularia.
[Illustration:
Ruins of the Flavian Amphitheatre, commonly called the Colis?um. Pl. 2.]
The Flavian amphitheatre, now better known by the name of the Colis?um, from its stupendous magnitude, excites the astonishment of the world. It was five hundred fifty feet in length, and four hundred seventy in breadth, and one hundred sixty in height. It was surrounded to the top by a portico resting on eighty arches, and divided into four stories. The arrangement of the seats was similar to that in the theatres; but there was a large box projecting from one side, and covered with a canopy of state for the accommodation of the emperor and the magistrates, who were surrounded with all the insignia of office.
As combats of wild beasts formed a chief part of the amusements, they were secured in dens around the arena or stage, which was strongly encircled by a canal, to guard the spectators against their attacks. These precautions, however, were not always sufficient, and instances occurred in which the animals sprung across the barrier.
This huge pile was commenced by Vespasian, and was reared with a portion of the materials of Nero's golden palace: its form was oval, and it is supposed to have contained upwards of eighty thousand persons.