These interesting discoveries made me think it expedient to pay fresh visits to other amphitheatres, to examine them again more carefully for the purpose of comparison; accordingly, I have been to those of Capua[20], Pozzuoli, Pompeii, and Verona, and found, as I expected, many confirmations of what had been stated in Rome. I took with me Professor Cicconetti, one of the best architectural artists in Rome, to Capua and Pozzuoli[21], and have added some photo-engravings from his drawings. I have also been to Pompeii, and to Sicily, to see Syracuse and Taormina, but did not think it necessary to take him there, or add more plates from them. A great work on the Roman amphitheatres in general would be very interesting, but it would be adding too much to the bulk and to the cost of the present work. I believe that enough has been done to illustrate and explain the Colosseum. I should add, that the common idea that this colossal building is named from the Colossal Statue of Nero, is a mistake. That statue, of 120 ft. high, could not have stood on the basement or _podium_ on which the Roman antiquaries would place it, and there is good evidence that a Colossal Statue of Gordianus, about half the size, stood there. The great Colossus was moved by Hadrian from the place on which the Temple of Rome was then built, on the east wall of which the Marble Plan of Rome was fixed (now the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian), to the SUMMA SACRA VIA, where it was used as the statue of Apollo or the Sun, to which Hadrian added one of the Moon. Heliogabalus rebuilt this temple of Egyptian granite, of which the columns are still lying about[22] on the edges of the great platform, in the centre of which now stands the church and monastery of S. Francesca Romana, the campanile of which is of about the same height as the Colossus of Nero, and stands near the same place. CONTENTS.—COLOSSEUM. PAGE PLATE Excavations in 1874 and 1875 shew the foundation to be earlier than the Flavian Emperors 1 Suetonius mentions it among the works of the Flavian Emperors, and _proposed_ by Augustus, but not the _beginning_ of the work _ib._ Part of the Substructures is of the time of Nero _ib._ It contained the Stagna, or old _Naumachia_, under, and the _Gymnasium_, on the _arena_ _ib._ Nothing certain about the commencement _ib._ Modern amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus _ib._ —— Julius Cæsar 2 The building of M. Scaurus the ædile, in part temporary, other parts calculated to be eternal, according to Pliny _ib._ This was on the site of the present amphitheatre 3 The Clivus Scauri leads to this site _ib._