AMPHITHEATRE

AMPHITHEATRE, a spacious Building, either round or oval, having its Area or Arena encompassed with Rows of Seats, rising gradually one over another; with Porticoes both within and outside. See ARENA and ARENA. Among the Ancients, the Amphitheatre was appointed for the exhibiting of Spectacles or Shows to the People: as, the Combats of Gladiators, and those of wild Beasts. See SPECTACLE, GLADIATOR, etc. Their Theatre was built in the form of a Semicircle, only exceeding a just Semicircle by one fourth part of the Diameter; and the Amphitheatre was nothing else but a double Theatre, or two Theatres joined together: so that the longest Diameter of the Amphitheatre, was to the shortest, as 1 to 1. See THEATRE.



There are Amphitheatres still standing at Rome, at Nîmes, etc.—The Amphitheatre of Vespasian, called the Coliseum, and that at Verona in Italy, are the most celebrated now remaining of all Antiquity. See COLISEUM. Pliny mentions an Amphitheatre built by Curio, which turned on large Iron Pivots; so that of the same Amphitheatre, two several Theatres were occasionally made, whereon different Entertainments were presented at the same time. The Word is derived from the Greek ἀμφί (amphí), about, and θέατρον (théatron), Theatre; which comes from θεάομαι (theáomai), specto, contemplor; so that an Amphitheatre, strictly speaking, is a Place whence a Person may see all around him.

AMPHITHEATRE