The amphitheatre is a Roman invention, but … What is an amphitheatre?IMO nobody has explained it better than Bill Thayers in his page on the subject: Now before we start, repeat after me: an amphitheatre and a theatre are different types of buildings.Amphi-theatres are “theatres in the round”: amphi– means “around” in Greek.A theatre is …

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HOW WAS THE COLOSSEUM BUILT ?The following is my translation of the chapter on the building philosophy of the Colosseum (from Giuseppe Cozzo, Il Colosseo – Fratelli Palombi Editori – Roma, 1971). An approximate estimate of the workers necessary to build the amphitheatre, in the brief span of time confirmed by historical documents, concluded that …

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