Colosseum Arena Floor

Gentle Readers,

This is my first post in nearly 8 months, and it's been prompted by a lecture I'm giving Friday at the Hamilton-Wenham Public Library (MA). I'm reprising a lecture on "Rome and Pompeii: (The Politics of) Discovering and Conserving the Past," which I've been fortunate enough to give on five occasions now. The purpose of the talk is to highlight the difficulties of preserving the past in Italy—and at what purpose the preservation is aimed. Normally I focus on the Colosseum, the shining symbol of "Romanness," and Pompeii, where preserving the massive archaeological site has presented major problems, many exacerbated by the deep-seated corruption at the local level.

This week we've had a new development in work on the Colosseum. Currently being refurbished with a generous but controversial grant (20 million Euros) by Diego della Valle, the President and CEO of Tod, a major corporation that sells shoes and other leather accessories, the Flavian Amphitheater (as it was called in antiquity) has become the subject of another controversy, this time sparked by a tweet sent by the Cultural Minister Dario Francheschini. This past Sunday he suggested that the full arena of the Colosseum be restored, concealing the hypogeum, the "underground" network of passages and cells used to hold animals and gladiators, replete with trap-doors and pulleys to allow them to emerge suddenly to heighten the performance. This idea was first put forward by an archaeologist, Daniele Manacorda, in the journal Archeo, but Minister Francheschini put forward this initiative as part of his broader mission to entice visitors to the Eternal City.

So, to put the question out for debate, should the Ministry spend millions of Euros to restore the arena floor in its entirety, especially when Italy is experiencing its third recession in six years?

A bit of background on the arena floor. The English word "arena," in fact, derives from the Latin word "harena," which means "sand." The wooden floor that covered the hypogeum would have been itself covered in a layer of sand, which was employed to absorb the blood that was shed during all sorts of games that took place there, including the two most popular, beast-hunts and gladiatorial combat. My colleague at UNH, who is an expert on Roman games, would want me to remind all of you that death was an acceptable but not inevitable outcome of gladiatorial combat, and our evidence suggests that it was actually a rather uncommon occurrence—not least because of the economic absurdity of investing in the training of a gladiator only to lose the commodity after spending a great deal of money on him (or, rarely, her).

Currently, there is only a portion of the arena floor that has been reconstructed to give visitors a sense of what the arena floor would look like:

Colosseum with partial restoration of arena floor. Photo from  www.travelnwisecom

The arena floor that you see in the picture above was reconstructed between 2000–2004 at the Flavian level, which represents its earlier phase. The Colosseum was begun by the emperor Vespasian (Flavius Vespasianus, thus the family name "Flavian," ruled 69–79 AD) after successfully completing his Jewish campaign, and was finished by his sons Titus (79–81 AD) and Domitian (81–96 AD). The reconstruction of even this level was only conducted after a series of archaeological studies over a four year period (a good overview of the process, with good photos, can be seen here).

What is the purpose of restoring the whole? First, it would offer "tours more suggestive of its original underground atmosphere," which is to say that it would offer a more authentic view of the arena in its original setting. The hypogeum would be hidden from view, as it would have been to the original audience. Second, having a complete arena would allow the modern Colosseum to be used for modern performances. An ungenerous reading of this would be that the Ministry sees the Colosseum as an even bigger potential cash cow. In addition to the receipts for over five million visitors (at 12 Euro a pop, we're talking about 60 million Euro a year), the Ministry can eek out even more money with presumably high-priced tickets for special events. There is, of course, a precedent for using ancient monuments as theatrical settings. In Rome itself, the spectacular Baths of Caracalla are used for operatic performances, and other amphitheaters, such as the one in Alba Fucens, are consistently used for plays and musical performances. A quick overview of the issue can be found here in the English version of ANSA.it, with a good picture of the Colosseum's interior from the early part of the 20th century, before the hypogeum was excavated.

What would become of the hypogeum? Currently, it is possible to visit the hypogeum by a special request, but the fact is that you only get to step a few feet into the area. This is quite different than my experience as a student back in 1991, when we were able to get a special permesso to walk throughout the whole hypogeum. It's quite an experience. It is unclear whether visitors would have greater access to the hypogeum if the plan to restore the whole arena floor goes through. If you want to walk through a hypogeum, I suggest a trip down south, either to the amphitheater in Capua or in Pozzuoli, where visitors have complete access to the amphitheater both above and below.

Underneath the amphitheater in Pozzuoli. The light is coming through grates in the arena floor. This picture was taken by a friend of mine at Washington University in St. Louis.

Amphitheater at Capua Vetere (photo 1977); today the channels have been covered so that visitors can walk on the arena floor and in the hypogeum. Photo taken from touritaly.org.

In other news, the Domus Aurea, Nero's massive villa built in the heart of Rome, reopened on Nov. 1. The Esquiline Wing of the villa, which features a room with a proto-dome but has been subject to subsidence and water infiltration (i.e. a threat of collapse), was closed in 2005 but is now open to visitors, thanks to one of the first examples of crowdfunded financing to restore and preserve ancient monuments. The hope of the Ministry is to open up more of the Domus Aurea than ever and to shore up the areas already excavated. The projected cost is 31 million Euros.

Also, to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of Augustus' death in 14 AD, the (so-called) houses of Augustus (well, a new part) and of Livia have been opened on the Palatine. It has been announced that Livia's house will only be open until 15 Feb., so make sure you visit it if you happen to be going soon!