Amphitheatre

{{main|Roman amphitheatre}}

File:The new old amphitheater in Pula Istria (19629095974).jpg, Croatia]]About 230 Roman amphitheatres have been found across the area of the Roman Empire. Their typical shape, functions and name distinguish them from Roman theatres, which are more or less semicircular in shape; from the circuses (similar to hippodromes) whose much longer circuits were designed mainly for horse or chariot racing events; and from the smaller stadia, which were primarily designed for athletics and footraces.Bomgardner, 37.

Roman amphitheatres were circular or oval in plan, with a central arena surrounded by perimeter seating tiers. The seating tiers were pierced by entrance-ways controlling access to the arena floor, and isolating it from the audience. Temporary wooden structures functioning as amphitheaters would have been erected for the funeral games held in honour of deceased Roman magnates by their heirs, featuring fights to the death by gladiators, usually armed prisoners of war, at the funeral pyre or tomb of the deceased. These games are described in Roman histories as {{Lang|la|munera}}, gifts, entertainments or duties to honour deceased individuals, Rome's gods and the Roman community.Dodge, Hazel, Amphitheaters in the Roman World, pp.545-553, Ch. 37 in "Blackwell companions to the Ancient World", edited by Christesen, P & Kyle, Donald, Wiley Blackwell, 2014

Some Roman writers interpret the earliest attempts to provide permanent amphitheaters and seating for the lower classes as populist political graft, rightly blocked by the Senate as morally objectionable; too-frequent, excessively "luxurious" {{Lang|la|munera}} would corrode traditional Roman morals. The provision of permanent seating was thought a particularly objectionable luxury.See Appian, The Civil Wars, 128; Livy, Perochiae, 48.

The earliest permanent, stone and timber Roman amphitheatre with perimeter seating was built in the {{Lang|la|Campus Martius|italic=no}} in 29 BCE.{{Cite book |date=2017 |editor-last=Edelman |editor-first=Robert |editor2-last=Wilson |editor2-first=Wayne |title=The Oxford Handbook of Sports History |series=Oxford Handbooks Online |first=Donald G. |last=Kyle |chapter=Ancient Greek and Roman Sport |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vwJLDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 |page=89 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199858910.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-985891-0 }} Most were built under Imperial rule, from the Augustan period (27 BCE–14 CE) onwards.Bomgardner, 59. Imperial amphitheatres were built throughout the Roman Empire, especial in provincial capitals and major colonies, as an essential aspect of Romanitas. There was no standard size; the largest could accommodate 40,000–60,000 spectators. The most elaborate featured multi-storeyed, arcaded façades and were decorated with marble, stucco and statuary.Bomgardner, 62. The best-known and largest Roman amphitheatre is the Colosseum in Rome, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre ({{Lang|la|Amphitheatrum Flavium}}), after the Flavian dynasty who had it built. After the ending of gladiatorial games in the 5th century and of staged animal hunts in the 6th, most amphitheatres fell into disrepair. Their materials were mined or recycled. Some were razed, and others were converted into fortifications. A few continued as convenient open meeting places; in some of these, churches were sited.Bomgardner, 201–223.

{{See also|List of contemporary amphitheatres}}

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File:Hollywood_Bowl_USGS_2010.jpg, showing the seating after the 2005 renovation.]]

In modern english usage of the word, an amphitheatre is not only a circular, but can also be a semicircular or curved performance space, particularly one located outdoors.{{Cite book |last=Encyclopaedia |first=B. I. |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=361914 |title=Britannica Concise Encyclopedia |date=2006-03-04 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica, Incorporated |isbn=9781593394929 |edition=1 |pages=64}} Contemporary amphitheatres often include standing structures, called bandshells, sometimes curved or bowl-shaped, both behind the stage and behind the audience, creating an area which echoes or amplifies sound, making the amphitheatre ideal for musical or theatrical performances. Small-scale amphitheatres can serve to host outdoor local community performances.

Notable modern amphitheatres include the Shoreline Amphitheatre, the Hollywood Bowl and the Aula Magna at Stockholm University. The term "amphitheatre" is also used for some indoor venues, such as the (by now demolished) Gibson Amphitheatre and Chicago International Amphitheatre.

File:Bryce Amphitheater from Sunrise Point Highres 2013.jpg Amphitheatre from Sunrise Point]]

A natural amphitheatre is a performance space located in a spot where a steep mountain or a particular rock formation naturally amplifies or echoes sound, making it ideal for musical and theatrical performances. An amphitheatre can be naturally occurring formations which would be ideal for this purpose, even if no theatre has been constructed there.

Notable natural amphitheatres include the Drakensberg Amphitheatre in South Africa, Slane Castle in Ireland, the Supernatural Amphitheatre in Australia, and the Red Rocks and the Gorge Amphitheatres in the western United States.

There is evidence that the Anasazi people used natural amphitheatres for the public performance of music in Pre-Columbian times including a large constructed performance space in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.{{Cite journal |last=Loose |first=Richard W. |date=March 2008 |title=Tse'Biinaholts'a Yalti (Curved Rock That Speaks) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2752/175169608783489080 |journal=Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=31–49 |doi=10.2752/175169608783489080 |issn=1751-696X |via=Taylor & Francis|url-access=subscription }}

• Odeon (building)
• Colosseum
• Ancient theatres
• Theatre of ancient Greece
• List of ancient Greek theatres
• Arena
• Thingplatz
• List of Roman amphitheatres
• List of contemporary amphitheatres
• List of indoor arenas

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• {{cite book|last=Bomgardner|first=David Lee|title=The Story of the Roman Amphitheatre|publisher=Routledge|date=October 2000|isbn=0-415-16593-8}}

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Category:Buildings and structures by type