The bowels of the stadium provided living quarters and shops. This area was favored by Horace, a great poet, as a place to absorb a vulgar atmosphere (Nardo 50). Rome's other great stadium was the Colosseum. It was also called the Flavian Amphitheater, and it was the largest outdoor arena in the city of Rome. It survives today as one of the most impressive feats of Roman engineering and architecture. The Colosseum was constructed during the reign of Emperor Vespasian. It was dedicated in AD 80 and until the year AD 404 it was the site of battle between gladiators, fake naval battles, and other forms of entertainment. During the Middle Ages, stone was taken from it to be used in the construction of new buildings. The Colosseum is oval-shaped and could accommodate 50,000 people on four stories on wooden and marble benches. The Colosseum is 157 feet high, 510 feet wide and 620 feet long. A wall 15 feet high separated the spectators from the arena. It was made of brick and concrete with stone on the exterior. On the first three stories there are arches supported by columns. The fourth story was added at a later date for decorative purposes. Awnings were supported by poles on the fourth stories and protected the spectators from the elements. The Colosseum had 80 entrances, to of which were reserved for the emperor. A network of passages and rooms existed beneath the structure (Cornell and Matthews 90).Another famous Roman building is the Pantheon. It was built by the emperor Hadrian in AD 126. The Pantheon was dedicated to all of the Roman gods. It was constructed from brick and concrete and is circular. It measures 142 in diameter and its dome shaped roof rises 142 feet. A rectangular porch extols from the front of the building. The porch has a triangular roof supported by eight Corinthian columns. The interior is lit by an opening called an oculus at the top of the dome. A large amount of the building is original....
