[Illustration: Fig. 98.--Plan of the Amphitheatre at different levels showing, above, the arrangement of the seats; below, the arrangement of the vaulted passages under the seats. 1. Podium. 2. Gallery. 3, 3A. Entrances to arena. 4, 4. Vaulted corridor. 5. Passage to death gate. 6. Ima cavea. 7. Media cavea. 8. Summa cavea. 9. Stairs of balcony. 10. Terrace. 11, 11. Outer double stairways to terrace. 12, 12. Single stairways to terrace. 13. Tower of city wall. 14. City wall. _a._ First praecinctio. _b._ Second praecinctio. _c_, _d._ Side entrances. _e._ Death Gate. _f_, _f_, _f._ Dens.] At the middle of the west side there is a third passage, narrow and low (_e_); this is the grewsome corridor through which the bodies of the dead were dragged by means of hooks, its entrance being the Porta Libitinensis, 'Death Gate.' Near the inner end of each of the three corridors is a small, dark chamber (_f_) the purpose of which is unknown. It has been suggested that wild animals may have been confined here, but larger and more easily accessible rooms would have been required for this purpose. They may have been storerooms for appliances of various kinds required for the exhibitions. The seats, of which there are thirty-five rows, have the same form as those in the Small Theatre, and are of the same material, gray tufa. They are arranged in three divisions,--the lowest, _ima cavea_, having five rows; the middle division, _media cavea_, twelve; and the highest, _summa cavea_, eighteen (Figs. 98, 99). In the middle section of the ima cavea on each side the place of the seats is taken by four low, broad ledges, set aside for members of the city council, who could place upon them the seats of honor, _bisellia_, to the use of which they were entitled. At the middle of the east side the second ledge is interrupted for a distance of ten feet (the break is shown in Plate VI), a double width being thus given to the lowest. This place was designed for seats of special honor, and was, no doubt, reserved for the official who provided the games, and his associates. On the same side the ledges are extended into the next section on the south, the continuity of the seats being interrupted by a low barrier. This supplementary section was, perhaps, intended for certain freedmen, as the Augustales (p. 100), who had the right to use bisellia, but who nevertheless could not become members of the city council, and were not ranked on a social equality with the occupants of the middle section.