We now pass from the Arch of Constantine, with its borrowed ornamentation, to the great ruin of Rome, the Coliseum, or Flavian Amphitheatre. Although two-thirds of the original building have disappeared under the shameful treatment to which the barbarous nobles of the middle ages subjected it, enough still remains to show the arrangement of the entrances, passages, and seats of this wonderful construction. The plan of the whole may be best described as consisting of three principal massive concentric elliptical arcades. The intervals between each of these are filled in with other arched work containing corridors and staircases, and between the innermost of these three arcades and the wall which surrounded the arena was a triple system of substruction supporting the lower parts of the rows of seats in the amphitheatre. The stone used throughout is travertine, with the exception of some interior work of brick and concrete, and some pumice-stone in the arches. The elliptical shape was probably chosen instead of the circular in imitation of the amphitheatre of Curio, which was composed of two semicircular theatres with their stages between them. The name Coliseum was possibly derived from the great colossal statue of Nero which for a long time stood close to the Flavian Amphitheatre, and when the real history of the amphitheatre was lost, would naturally become the most prominent mark by which it could be designated. This colossal statue was placed originally in the vestibule of Nero’s Golden Palace, and was 120 feet high, according to Suetonius. The material was bronze and the artist was Zenodorus. It appears that Vespasian, and afterwards Hadrian, moved the colossus to make room for their new buildings, and that it was finally placed upon the massive pedestal of brickwork which still remains on the north of the Coliseum. That it actually stood upon this pedestal is shown by a coin of Alexander Severus, which represents the Coliseum with the colossus close to it. It is said by Gibbon that the name Coliseum was also given to the amphitheatre at Capua without reference to a colossal statue. The Capuan title may, however, have been taken from the Roman.