. Pompeii : its life and art . butit was considered a noteworthy event in Rome when, in 264 ,three pairs of gladiators fought in the Forum Boarium in cele-bration of funeral rites, as also when, on a similar occasion in216 , twenty-two pairs engaged in combat. Buildings were 206 THE AMPHITHEATRE 207 erected for gladiatorial shows in Campanian towns earlier thanat the Capital. As late as the year 46 the spectators whowitnessed the games given by Julius Caesar sat on wooden seatssupported by temporary staging; and the first stone amphi-theatre in Rome was built by Statilius Taurus i
. Pompeii : its life and art . butit was considered a noteworthy event in Rome when, in 264 ,three pairs of gladiators fought in the Forum Boarium in cele-bration of funeral rites, as also when, on a similar occasion in216 , twenty-two pairs engaged in combat. Buildings were 206 THE AMPHITHEATRE 207 erected for gladiatorial shows in Campanian towns earlier thanat the Capital. As late as the year 46 the spectators whowitnessed the games given by Julius Caesar sat on wooden seatssupported by temporary staging; and the first stone amphi-theatre in Rome was built by Statilius Taurus in 29 , almosthalf a century after the quinquennial duumvirate of Valgus andPorcius. The Amphitheatre at Pompeii is the oldest knownto us from either literary or monumental sources. In comparison with later and more imposing structures, ourAmphitheatre seems indeed unpretentious. Its exterior eleva-tion is relatively low (Fig. 91); as our section shows (Fig. 94),the arena and the lower ranges of seats are in a o-reat hollow. Fig. 91. — The Amphitheatre, seen from the west side. excavated for the purpose below the level of the dimensions (length 444 feet, breadth 342) are small whencompared with those of the Coliseum (615 and 510 feet, respec-tively) or even the amphitheatres at Capua or Pozzuoli; andthe lack of artistic form is noteworthy. The exhibitions held here must also have been on a modestscale. There were no underground chambers, below the arena,with devices by means of which wild beasts could be lifted upinto view and the sand suddenly covered with new limited means of this small city were not adequate to makeprovision for the elaborate equipment and costly decorationfound in the amphitheatres of larger towns. The arena, a view of which is given in Plate VI, is sur-rounded by a wall about 6\ feet high. This wall was coveredwith frescoes which, still fresh at the time of excavation, are 208 POMPEII fc~ now known to us only from copies in t
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