Crossword clues for amphitheatre
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Amphitheater \Am`phi*the"a*ter\, Amphitheatre \Am`phi*the"a*tre\,, n. [L. amphitheatrum, fr. Gr. ?; ? + ? theater: cf. F. amphith['e][^a]tre. See Theater.]
-
An oval or circular building with rising tiers of seats about an open space called the arena.
Note: The Romans first constructed amphitheaters for combats of gladiators and wild beasts.
Anything resembling an amphitheater in form; as, a level surrounded by rising slopes or hills, or a rising gallery in a theater.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
chiefly British English spelling of amphitheater. See -er.
Wiktionary
n. (context British English) An open, outdoor theatre, especially one from the classical period of ancient Greece.
WordNet
n. a sloping gallery with seats for spectators (as in an operating room or theater) [syn: amphitheater]
an oval large stadium with tiers of seats; an arena in which contests and spectacles are held [syn: amphitheater, coliseum]
Wikipedia
An amphitheatre or amphitheater is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ἀμφιθέατρον (amphitheatron),ἀμφιθέατρον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, '56'An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, on Peseus from ἀμφί (amphi), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and θέατρον (théātron''), meaning "place for viewing".
Ancient Roman amphitheatres were oval or circular in plan, with seating tiers that surrounded the central performance area, like a modern open-air stadium. In contrast both ancient Greek and ancient Roman theatres were built in a semicircle, with tiered seating rising on one side of the performance area. In modern usage, "amphitheater" is sometimes used to describe theatre-style stages with spectator seating on only one side, theatres in the round, and stadiums. Natural formations of similar shape are sometimes known as natural amphitheatres.
The Amphitheatre is one of the geographical features of the Northern Drakensberg, South Africa, and is widely regarded as one of the most impressive cliff faces on earth. The cliff face of the Amphitheatre is roughly three times the size of the total combined area of all the cliff faces in Yosemite's famous El Capitan, and more than 10 times the size of El Capitan's most famous (South Western) face. It is part of the Royal Natal National Park.
The Amphitheatre is over in length and has precipitous cliffs rising approximately along its entire length. The bottom of the valley floor, from where many photographs of the mountain structure are taken, is over below the highest point of the amphitheatre (the summit being over above sea level—with Mont-Aux-Sources just over above sea level). The Tugela Falls, the world's second tallest falls, plunge over from the Amphitheatre's cliff tops.
The spectacularly beautiful mountain hiking trail to the top of Mount-Aux-Sources starts at the Sentinel car park above the Witsieshoek Resort, over above sea level, (Witsieshoek in turn can only be reached via Phuthaditjhaba) from where it is a relatively short climb to the top of the Amphitheatre. Via two chain ladders one can gain easy access to the summit. The trip takes only 5 hours return, not including time taken on top of the mountain. This is the only day hiking trail which will take one to the top of the Drakensberg escarpment, and the view from the top is reputed to be amongst the most beautiful in the world.
Another trail to the foot of the Tugela Falls starts at Royal Natal National Park. The easy seven kilometre gradient up the Tugela gorge winds though indigenous forests. The last part of the hike to the Tugela Falls is a boulder hop. A little chain ladder takes one over the final stretch from where there is a stunning view of the falls rushing down the Amphitheatre in a series of five spectacular cascades.
The Tugela Falls, which is situated at the top of the Amphitheatre is said to be the highlight of Drakensberg.
In 1964, film director Cy Endfield shot the exterior locations in the mountainous Drakensberg National Park for the epic war film Zulu starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. The set for the British field hospital and supply depot at Rorke's Drift was created by the Tugela River with the Amphitheatre in the background. The real location of the battle was to the north east near the isolated hill at Isandlwana.
An Amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports.
It may also refer to:
- Amphitheatre, Victoria, town in Victoria, Australia
- Amphitheatre (Drakensberg), geographical features of the Northern Drakensberg, South Africa
Usage examples of "amphitheatre".
In spite of the public calamity Nero continued to give games for the amusement of the populace, other rich men followed his example, and the sports of the amphitheatre were carried on on an even more extensive scale than before.
Their voices rose loud and clear in the silence of the amphitheatre, and there was neither pause nor waver in the tone as the entrance to one of the cages at the other end of the arena was opened, and a lion and a lioness appeared.
There was a dead stillness in the crowded amphitheatre, then there was a low sound as of gasping breath.
Moreover the Romans intensely admired feats of bravery, and that this captive should offer to face single handed an animal that was known to be one of the most powerful of those in the amphitheatre filled them with admiration.
You must have thought poorly of us yesterday that I was not at the exit from the amphitheatre to meet and thank you.
I saw nothing of the amphitheatre, nothing of the spectators, nothing but her, till, at the sudden shout from the crowd, I roused myself with a start.
Should you need an asylum, Aemilia, go to the house of a freedman, one Mincius, living in the third house on the right of a street known as the Narrow one, close behind the amphitheatre at the foot of the Palatine Hill, and knock thrice at the door.
While the populace gazed with stupid wonder on the splendid show, the naturalist might indeed observe the figure and properties of so many different species, transported from every part of the ancient world into the amphitheatre of Rome.
Posterity admires, and will long admire, the awful remains of the amphitheatre of Titus, which so well deserved the epithet of Colossal.
After a signal victory over the Franks and Alemanni, several of their princes were exposed by his order to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre of Treves, and the people seem to have enjoyed the spectacle, without discovering, in such a treatment of royal captives, anything that was repugnant to the laws of nations or of humanity.
A forest overspread the northern side of the Seine, but on the south, the ground, which now bears the name of the University, was insensibly covered with houses, and adorned with a palace and amphitheatre, baths, an aqueduct, and a field of Mars for the exercise of the Roman troops.
The pride of Corinth, again rising from her ruins with the honors of a Roman colony, exacted a tribute from the adjacent republics, for the purpose of defraying the games of the Isthmus, which were celebrated in the amphitheatre with the hunting of bears and panthers.
River Iris, rises on either side in the form of an amphitheatre, and represents on a smaller scale the image of Bagdad.
With some slight alterations, a theatre, an amphitheatre, a mausoleum, was transformed into a strong and spacious citadel.
The curious antiquaries, who have computed the numbers and seats, are disposed to believe, that above the upper row of stone steps the amphitheatre was encircled and elevated with several stages of wooden galleries, which were repeatedly consumed by fire, and restored by the emperors.