DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42778#0162
96 THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT ROME.
poorness of the ground storey. In order to afford protection to
the first and second floor corridors, solid balustrades are carried
within the imposts of the arcades.
The complete entablature of each order is carried round without
a break, and this and the sturdy nature of the three-quarter detached
columns give a monumental effect to the Colosseum which it would
be impossible to rival. The applied decoration of the orders, their
superposition, and the jointing of the architraves, in principle are
all wrong, and should be condemned ; but the portions of the
external wall which remain, rising to their full height of 157 feet,
and the splendid nature of the masonry, disarm all criticism and
constitute the Colosseum as one of the most sublime efforts of
Roman architecture.
The velarium, the stretching of which was done by sailors who
were placed on the roof of the peristyle gallery round, extended over
the whole of the space reserved for the spectators. The arena was
certainly omitted, for there are arrangements for fixing the poles
at the lower end all round the edge of it; and it is most likely that
this enormous awning was made in strips and not in one piece.
A second example in Rome, the Amphitheatrum Castrense, was
built not earlier than the second century1, perhaps for the soldiers
of the imperial palace close by. It was built of concrete and faced
with brick, with brick pilasters and Corinthian capitals in moulded
terracotta built in courses ranging with the bricks. Originally
there were three storeys, the two lower ones with arcades, as shown
in a drawing by Palladio in the Burlington-Devonshire Collection
(see also Topographical Study in Rome in 1581, Roxburghe Club,
1916. Among other amphitheatres of importance taken in
order of dimension, are those of Capua, Verona, El Djem,
Pola, Arles, Nimes, and Pompeii. The amphitheatre at Verona
(Plate XLVII) has preserved nearly the whole of its stone seats,
but retains only four bays of its external walls. In the example
at Pola, on the other hand, the external walls exist, but the seats
have all gone, though their foundations still existed in the eighteenth
century2. In both these cases the masonry is rusticated, with
flat pilasters only between the arcades, so that the superposed
orders are not sufficiently emphasised and the general effect is poor.
1 Hulsen (Romische Topographic, i, 3, 249), conjectures that it may have
been built by Trajan, and Van Deman agrees; (A.J.A., xvi (1912), 417).
2 Durm. (op. cit., p. 689), notes that they were drawn by Stuart and Revett
(pt. 15, pi. X).
poorness of the ground storey. In order to afford protection to
the first and second floor corridors, solid balustrades are carried
within the imposts of the arcades.
The complete entablature of each order is carried round without
a break, and this and the sturdy nature of the three-quarter detached
columns give a monumental effect to the Colosseum which it would
be impossible to rival. The applied decoration of the orders, their
superposition, and the jointing of the architraves, in principle are
all wrong, and should be condemned ; but the portions of the
external wall which remain, rising to their full height of 157 feet,
and the splendid nature of the masonry, disarm all criticism and
constitute the Colosseum as one of the most sublime efforts of
Roman architecture.
The velarium, the stretching of which was done by sailors who
were placed on the roof of the peristyle gallery round, extended over
the whole of the space reserved for the spectators. The arena was
certainly omitted, for there are arrangements for fixing the poles
at the lower end all round the edge of it; and it is most likely that
this enormous awning was made in strips and not in one piece.
A second example in Rome, the Amphitheatrum Castrense, was
built not earlier than the second century1, perhaps for the soldiers
of the imperial palace close by. It was built of concrete and faced
with brick, with brick pilasters and Corinthian capitals in moulded
terracotta built in courses ranging with the bricks. Originally
there were three storeys, the two lower ones with arcades, as shown
in a drawing by Palladio in the Burlington-Devonshire Collection
(see also Topographical Study in Rome in 1581, Roxburghe Club,
1916. Among other amphitheatres of importance taken in
order of dimension, are those of Capua, Verona, El Djem,
Pola, Arles, Nimes, and Pompeii. The amphitheatre at Verona
(Plate XLVII) has preserved nearly the whole of its stone seats,
but retains only four bays of its external walls. In the example
at Pola, on the other hand, the external walls exist, but the seats
have all gone, though their foundations still existed in the eighteenth
century2. In both these cases the masonry is rusticated, with
flat pilasters only between the arcades, so that the superposed
orders are not sufficiently emphasised and the general effect is poor.
1 Hulsen (Romische Topographic, i, 3, 249), conjectures that it may have
been built by Trajan, and Van Deman agrees; (A.J.A., xvi (1912), 417).
2 Durm. (op. cit., p. 689), notes that they were drawn by Stuart and Revett
(pt. 15, pi. X).