[171] They were made at the suggestion of the author of this work, rather sooner than would otherwise have been the case, in order that he might be able to see them. Signor Rosa unfortunately began pulling down the walls of the substructure, calling them “Frangipani walls.” The Frangipani family had possession of the Colosseum in the twelfth century, but the construction of that period is totally different from any of the walls in the Colosseum, either above or below the level of the _arena_. The Minister of Public Instruction fortunately arrived in Rome in time to stop their demolition, and obtained an Act of Parliament, in 1875, appointing a general Archæological Commission for all Italy, with Signor Fiorelli, from Pompeii, at the head of it; and no individual will in future be permitted either to destroy antiquities, or to build anything new, without the consent of the Commission. [172] See No. 3202, and p. 27. [173] See No. 3201. [174] See No. 3263, and Plate VII. [175] See No. 3203. [176] The plan of one section of this enormous building (see No. 183 and Plate XIV.), and those of the six different floors or storeys, shew the admirable arrangement of the seats and passages, and _vomitoria_ for the rapid exit of the people, as well as the plan of the whole building would do. The magnificent stone arcades of the Flavian Emperors, A.D. 80, appear in many parts to be built against brick walls and galleries of the time of Nero, originally built for the spectators of the old Naumachia. (See No. 3205, 1762.) [177] The amphitheatre is 1,837 Roman feet in circuit, 638 long, 535 wide, and 165 high from the ground, besides 21 feet for the substructures, so that the whole height was 186 feet. The Roman foot is not quite so long as the English foot, but the difference is trifling. The number of spectators was 87,000 according to the Regionary Catalogue; modern authorities say that the measurement shews this number to be rather exaggerated. [178] See Nos. 1081, 1762. [179] See No. 1346. [180] A coin of Titus shews a colonnade, and one of Domitian also. See Plate XXV. [181] See p. 11. [182] See No. 1761. [183] See Nos. 1758, 1759, 1760, 1763. [184] They are more clearly shewn in another photograph, No. 827. [185] See No. 367. [186] See No. 185. [187] They were, however, not always of stone or brick; in places where stone was scarce, they were frequently of wood only. [188] See p. 1. [189] See p. 7. [190] See p. 6. [191] See pp. 2, 9, 23.