 was a pit excavated 6m below ground level with earth from the excavations heaped up into embankments that served as a seating area. All that divided the audience from the spectacle below them was a 2 metre balustrade which would have offered poor protection for those on the nearest seats during wild beats fights.
The south and east sides of the structure were contained by the city walls which were joined by purpose built retaining walls to enclose the north and west. External staircases built into the walls were the earliest access ways to the seating areas which was initially wooden. There were only two entrances to the arena itself: the Porta Triumphalis which was used for the opening ceremony procession of gladiators and the Porta Libitinensis which was the exit point for the dead.
Improvements were made to the design and appearance of the amphitheatre during the repairs of 62AD. A new seating area was constructed and brick buttresses were added to support the access tunnels. A covered walkway was added in the seating area allowing access via stairways to the internal access corridor to allow the city’s elite to enter the amphitheatre through the main arena entrances rather than the external stairways.The balsrade of the arena was painted with bright panels depicting gladiator fights. Two inscribed statue niches over the northern entrance indicate this was funded by C. Crispus Pansa and his son.
The chief difference between Pompeii’s amphitheatre and later design is the lack of external structures. The arena is built on solid ground, without the underground vaults and cells for the containment of gladiators and animals found in later amphitheatres. The only internal feature was a simple corridor cut into the earth base of the cavea. Running the circumference of the amphitheatre, it was used to access to the arena.
The Popularity of the Games in Pompeii.
The arena accommodated all social classes, demonstrating the universal popularity of the games. The 35 rows of seats which could accommodate 20000 people were divided into three areas to accommodate three distinct social groupings of spectators from the city and its outlying regions: the ima, media and summa cavea. The media was kept for the general populace whilst the ima cavae ran around the arena and was kept for well to do. Slaves and women and the lowest classes viewed the games form the summa cavae, at a distance from the show. Protection from the sun was provided by velaria suspended above the crowd from the top of the arena.
The external walls of the amphitheatre were covered with posters praising the gladiators and recording the outcome of the contests. The Thracian Celadus is described as the ‘hero’ and ‘heartthrob of the girls’. The area around the amphitheatre developed into an area of taverns and eateries to provide pre and post games’ refreshment. Signs painted on the arena walls marking out rented spaces indicate that temporary booths were set up just outside the arena walls, selling souvenirs, food and drink.
Pompeii-The Last Day by Paul Wilkinson. 2003. BBC Books.
The world of Pompeii ed. John J Dobbins and Pedar W Foss. 2007. Routledge: London and New York.