The venues in the Roman world were slow to develop, but eventually became increasingly grand in scale. Roman use of concrete as well as the man power of the Roman army meant larger buildings could be built and in areas that Greeks were incapable of building. The results are ruins which continue to intimidate and impress the modern viewer.
Circus The oldest building type is that of the Circus; this is the venue where Roman chariot racing and other equestrian events occurred. These spaces were anywhere between 250m to over 600m in length. Seating capacity likewise varied from about 15,000 to 150,000. These venues were curved at one end and straight at the other. The straight side housed the starting gates for the chariots and the audience watched on the sides. These stands typically included a luxury box for the sponsor of the games. The course was sand and an actual person served as a “sprinkler” covering the sand periodically with water to keep the sand from flying up and ruining the view of the spectators. Along the middle of the track was a rectangular installation referred to as the spina or the euripus. This space, not found in earlier Greek hippodromes, was the dividing wall between drivers moving in opposite direction. The spina generally housed trophies of previous victors, shrines to divinities, and statues. Most famously, the Emperor Augustus dedicated an Egyptian obelisk in the middle of the spina at Rome. This monument was so noteworthy that other circuses around the empire copied it. The spina was marked on either end with three conical turning posts. Also at each end were markers that would help keep track of how many laps the chariots had completed; these markers were dolphins and egg-shaped object, for unknown and baffling reasons (Dodge, 2014).
Circus at Carthage. Mosaic. 3rd century CE.
View of the Circus at Caesarea Maritima. Dennis Jarvis. CC BY-SA 2.0
Circus Maximus The most famous, largest, and oldest Roman circus is the Circus Maximus in Rome. Laid out by the Roman king Tarquinius Priscus in the early 6th century BCE, the Circus Maximus sits in one of the most prominent areas of the city, at the base of the Palatine hill and in the emperor’s own backyard. In fact, the emperor’s palace looked out over the Circus Maximus and an elaborate luxury box was accessible from his house. The entire monument stretched 621m by 118m and by the modifications of the Emperor Trajan in the 2nd century CE, it housed around 150,000 people. The space was used primarily for chariot races, but we also know that over spectacle events, including a disastrous elephant hunt put on by Pompey the Great, occurred there. The most notable feature of the Circus Maximus, as noted above, was the obelisk of Augustus, brought from Egypt and set up in the spina to celebrate his conquest of that country (Futrell 2006, Dodge 2014).
Current view of the Circus Maximus
Drawn plan of the Circus Maximus
View of Circus Maximus in 1978. (Carptrash CC BY-SA 3.0)
Amphitheater Probably the most iconic of Roman building types is the amphitheater, a venue created by smashing two free standing theaters together, forming an elliptical arena surrounded by stands. The amphitheater was the venue where Roman blood sport—gladiators, beast hunts, and public executions—took place across the empire. In fact, the name of the performance floor, Arena, is from the Latin Harena, which means sand. It was covered with sand because sand soaks up blood! The earliest known amphitheater is in Pompeii and was built from 80-70 BCE by two local magistrates after Pompeii became an official Roman colony. Southern Italy seems to be an early adapter of amphitheaters as performance spaces. By the Late Empire, however, there were 250 amphitheaters all over Roman territory. Many of these were similar to the most famous one, the Colosseum, built in tiers using Roman cement. But in more remote locations, and early versions (like Pompeii), engineers were more creative using bedrock, and earthen ramps to create small-scale amphitheaters. These were particular common on the frontier lines and in England. Amphitheaters were regularly found in provincial capitals and centers of Roman power; events that took place there were often directly associated with the emperor (such as his birthday) and run by the imperial priests. The buildings themselves were built by local magistrates and were a huge expense. They could seat anywhere from 3,000 to 50,000 people. It was common to find these venues on the outskirts of a town, not only due to space, but also as a way to appeal to neighboring towns and people in the country side. Common features of amphitheaters include underground chambers for animals and prisoners, luxury box for sponsors, dedicated entrances to ease movement, and a retractable roof made of canvas. The seating arrangements were strictly regulated under Augustus so that the first few rows were for senators and the wealthiest, then the equestrian class, then middle class and lower classes, finally in the nose bleeds were the slaves and the women. Only the vestal virgins were allowed close enough to see the action (Futrell 1997, Dodge 2014).
Fresco of Nucerian riot at Pompeiian Amphitheater
Amphitheater at Arles. Jmalik BY 2.5
Arena floor of the amphitheater at Italica
Colosseum The Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum, was the largest amphitheater in the Empire and built in the heart of Rome, next to the forum. It was begun by the Emperor Vespasian in the site of Nero’s pleasure lake. A fire in 64 CE burned a large neighborhood in Rome. Instead of rebuilding the houses, Nero claimed the territory for himself and constructed an elaborate palace, which included a huge personal lake and colossal statue of himself. Upon Nero’s forced suicide in 68 CE, Vespasian (his eventual successor) worked hard to erase the memory of Nero and prove himself a favorite of the people. He began construction on the amphitheater with funds from his conquest of Judaea. They also re-carved the giant statue to be the guise of the Sun god. Hence, the Flavian amphitheater became known as the Colosseum (the place next to the colossus). The amphitheater was first inaugurated in 80 CE by Vespasian’s son Titus and again a year later by his brother, Domitian. The Colosseum holds about 50,000 people and is made of concrete, travertine stone, lead, and tufa. It was covered with marble and filled with statues. There are 76 different entrances (Welch 2007).
View of interior of the Colosseum with exposed substructure
View of Colosseum. Lit in the evening. (Diliff CC BY-SA 2.5)
Diagram of the seating arrangement at the Colosseum
Bath-Gymnasium Complex Roman bathing was a critical part of Roman social practice and the existence of a bath building in a city became an essential feature of its Romanness. Roman bathing practices consisted of a cold room, a warm room, and a hot room. Bath buildings also included a locker room for changing and sometimes a small exercise yard, a swimming pool, and other subsidiary rooms. In the Imperial periods, Roman architects combined the basics of the Roman bathing elements with the spaciousness of the Greek gymnasium. This created large and elaborated Bath-gymnasium complexes, which were a staple dedication of emperors in Rome and elsewhere, including complexes dedicated by Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Titus, Trajan, and most famously Caracalla and Domitian. In addition to being architecturally dynamic and elaborate, they were beautifully decorated spaces filled with mosaics of athletes, as well as statues of gods, goddesses, emperors, and athletes. Some of our best examples of Greek athletic sculptures are Roman copies displayed in bath-gymnasium complexes (Newby, 2005).
Plan of the Baths of Diocletian
Floor mosaic of athletes from Baths at Ostia. 3rd century CE (Camelia.boban CC BY-SA 3.0)