I. COLOSSEUM, VIEW OF THE MOST PERFECT PART OF THE EXTERIOR IN 1870. II. COLOSSEUM, PART OF THE EXCAVATIONS IN 1878, SHEWING THE INNER WALLS TO SUPFORT THE FLOOR: AND THE DENS. PLATE XXVII. III. PROBABLE restoration of part of the substructure at the time of the dedication, when the lions and other animals used to leap on to the arena. This shews 1. A lion which has just come out of his den into an iron cage. 2. A cage with a lion in it, being pulled up by cords and pulleys to the level of the arena, on which he leapt, as recorded by contemporary authors. 3. A cameleopard leaping out of a cage on to the arena. This animal is mentioned as one of those that were then exhibited. Above this is seen the arcade of the lower gallery for spectators, and the recesses under it left for the actors to take refuge in at the time of the fight of wild beasts, or in bull-fights. Also part of the screen of lattice-work in front of the gallery; but this is not in situ. I. Chambers of the House of Hortensius, afterwards of Augustus, excavated by Signor Rosa for Napoleon III., about 1870. This kind of reticulated-work is of the time of Sylla, or Julius Cæsar. Similar small chambers occur in many houses of that period at Pompeii. In this house, and in all the palaces of the Emperors of the first century, the chambers of the ground-storeys only had walls of stone or brick, and these were always small, as for bed-chambers. The state apartments, on the upper floor, were usually of wood until after the time of the great fire of Nero, which spread so rapidly from that cause. The same thing may be seen in many houses at Pompeii, where the apertures left for the great beams of the upper floor can still be seen. II. CHAMBERS OF THE PALACE OF TIBERIUS. THIS palace almost joined on to that of Augustus, which had been originally the house of Hortensius, the orator, of the time of Cicero. It was separated from it only by a narrow street, the pavement of which remains visible, but the palace was of considerable extent. In addition to the part on the upper surface of the Palatine, another part is on the 'lower level of the Germalus; there are remains of a hot-air chamber on that level communicating with the hypocaust under the floor of another room on the higher level, which also remains visible. The construction of the walls of this agrees exactly with those of the guard-chambers at the back of the northern wall of the Prætorian Camp, which is of the time of Tiberius. Suetonius mentions that only three palaces were allowed to be built on the original part of the Palatine, those of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula, of all of which there are considerable remains. |