| The amphitheatre which
towers over the town, was probably built in the 3rd century A.C.
to satisfy the soldiers of the legion. One of its side was dug
in the natural bank of peperino rock and the other one was built
on a semicircular substructure with 14 great niches. It could
host more than 10.000 spectators and through two main entrances
(vomitoria) it was possible to have direct access to the
arena.
This structure shows several irregularities and carelessness
because even though the construction works were directed by
the praefecti fabrum - a sort of experts, engineers in
charge of defining the encampment's order, its borders and its
buildings - they were carried on by the soldiers.
Several building's techniques were adopted: opus quadratum,
i.e. parallelepiped bricks to form a dry-wall; opus tufaceum,
i.e. peperino bricks sometimes with a layer made of bipedalis
(bricks with a side measuring two Roman feet) at the arches'
springer; opus listatum; i.e. layers made of peperino
bricks alternated with other types of bricks; opus mixtum,
i.e. a wall made of blocks alternated with brickworks each three
or four feet; and opus testaceum, i.e. walls, semi-pillars
and arches made of brickworks.
At the centre of the "cavea” there was the emperor
podium (pulvinar). One of the secondary entrances was
transformed in a small church during the Middle Ages. This amphitheatre
because of its size is one of the greatest monuments in the
surroundings of Rome
|
