Vomitoria
Vomitorium in the Colosseum in Rome
(The roof has fallen in.)
People often think that a vomitorium must have something to do with barfing, and those stories about Romans eating too much and then making themselves barf so they could eat more. But a vomitorium is really much more boring than that.
A vomitorium is called that because it's a thing that something comes out of. In this case, it's a hallway in a Roman theater or an amphitheater that people come out of - the hallway that you walk through to get to your seat, or to get out of the amphitheater after the show.
Roman amphitheaters
The Colosseum in Rome
To find out more about Roman amphitheaters, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Roman Amphitheaters, by Don Nardo (2002). For kids. Mainly about the Colosseum in Rome.
Make This Model Roman Amphitheatre, by Iain Ashman (1995).
Roman Architecture, by Frank Sear (1983). The standard college textbook.
The Roman Amphitheatre: From its Origins to the Colosseum, by Katherine Welch (2004). By a specialist, for specialists.
Why did people want to punch Socrates?
Where did Egyptians bury your liver?
How old are the Rocky Mountains?
What does a half-timbered house look like?
How do you spin wool?
(a project)
Colosseum
Aqueducts
Basilicas
Baths
Main Roman Architecture page
Main Ancient Rome page
Main architecture page
