Aurus' Amphitheatre
- aurus' amphitheatre, though still in use for a long time, had become inadequate for the splendid shows of the imperial capital. It seems that Caligula hosted the shows in the Saepta, a big public space, and then Nero in 57 AD actually had a wooden one built - it only took one year - for his shows. It was magnificent: the awning was blue, and it used the longest wooden beam ever seen in Rome: 120 ft. long and 2 ft wide. The descriptions of it mention gems, gold, ivory. The wall around the arena had ivory rollers on top, that stopped the wild animals from jumping over, and for more protection a golden net was cast all around, with big pointed tusks leaning inwards.