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The ''cavea'' ( Latin for "enclosure") are the seating sections of Greek and
The ''cavea'' ( Latin for "enclosure") are the seating sections of Greek and Roman theatres
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
and amphitheatres. In Roman theatres, the ''cavea'' is traditionally organised in three horizontal sections, corresponding to the social class of the spectators:
* the ''ima cavea'' is the lowest part of the ''cavea'' and the one directly surrounding the arena. It was usually reserved for the upper echelons of society.
* the ''media cavea'' directly follows the ''ima cavea'' and was open to the general public, though mostly reserved for men.
* the ''summa cavea'' is the highest section and was usually open to women and children.
Similarly, the front row was called the ''prima cavea'' and the last row was called the ''cavea ultima''. The ''cavea'' was further divided vertically into ''cunei''. A ''cuneus'' (Latin for "wedge"; plural, ''cunei'') was a wedge-shaped division separated by the ''scalae'' or stairways.
Cavea also referred to the subterranean cells in which the wild beasts were confined prior to the combats in the Roman arena.
References
Ancient Roman architecture {{AncientRome-stub