Amphitheater of Pompéi
The Amphithéâtre of Pompéi was built in 80 av. J. - C. under the order of the magistrates Duumvirs Caius Quinctius Valgius and Marcus Porcius. It is certainly oldest Amphithéâtre of the Roman world, which was used then as model for all those which were built thereafter.
It had between 12.000 and 20.000 places, and its measurements were of 135 meters length and 104 meters broad. Taking support on a quay level, it is partly dug in the ground on several meters. The staircases of access are located outside the building and the doors of the Western slope give directly on the arena. With the difference in the others Roman amphitheaters built later, that of Pompéi does not have undergrounds. It nevertheless is already equipped with a velarium , i.e. of a cover in fabric which was deployed in the event of rain or of strong sunning: one sees remainder still today the rings which were used as points of anchoring.
It is a building imposing, imposing, in which were held the Circus games and the combat of gladiators, if appreciated of Pompéiens which devoted to these spectacles the major part of their spare time.
It is in this Amphithéâtre that in 59 a. J took place. - C. a brawl between the Plèbe of Pompéi and that of the city close to Nocera (town of Campanie), during a combat of gladiators, which degenerated quickly, following what Néron and the Sénat of Rome prohibited for ten years the battle dress and pronounced the exile of the organizer of the spectacle, Livinéius Régulus.
| Random links: | Castandet | Othoman Egypt | Valença (Portugal) | Nine Miles (group) | Sarah Briguet | Chingachgook |