when viewing the races. It is situated in a covered balcony or lodge fronted by a low balustrade, and is surrounded by an ample space for the reception of guards and attendant courtiers. In advance of the Kathisma, but on a lower level, is a square platform sustained by marble columns called the Stama, which is the station of a company of Imperial guards with standard-bearers.[1] Behind the Kathisma is a suite of retiring rooms, from whence a winding staircase[2] leads, by the gallery of St. Stephen's chapel, to the colonnades of Daphne. This is the royal route to the Circus.[3] The whole of the edifice superimposed on the Manganon is named the Palace of the Kathisma or of the Hippodrome.[4] A narrow terrace constructed in masonry, about three feet high, extends along the centre of the arena equidistant from all parts of the peripheral boundary. This Spine, as it was called in the old Roman nomenclature, but now renamed the Euripus,[5] serves) from its shape; ibid., i, 69.]). I. The narrow strait at Chalcis, said to ebb and flow seven times a day; Strabo, x, 2; Suidas, sb. v. II. Tr. Any artificial ornamental pool or channel, partic. if oblong; see refs. in Latin Dicts., esp. Lewis and S. III. A canal round the area of the Roman Circus, to shield the spectators from the attack of infuriated beasts; devised apparently by Tarquinius Priscus; Dionysius Hal., iii, 68; rather by Julius Caesar, and abolished by Nero; Pliny, H. N., viii, 7, etc. IV. Restored by, or in existence under, Elagabalus as a pool in the centre; Hist. Aug., 23; so Cassiodorus, Var. Ep., iii, 51; Jn. Malala, vii, p. 175 (whence Chron. Pasch., Olymp., vii, p. 208; Cedrenus, i,]*
- ↑ Const. Porph., i, 9, 92. It was also called the Pi ([Greek: P
- ↑ Named the Cochlea or snail-shell; it seems to have been a favourite gangway for assassinating obnoxious courtiers; Jn. Malala, p. 344; Chron. Pasch., an. 380; Theophanes, an. 5969; Codin., p. 112, etc.
- ↑ Const. Porph., i, 68; cf. Procop., De Bel. Pers., i, 24.
- ↑ Const. Porph., i, 63; Codin., p. 100. The Circus, begun by Severus, was finished by Constantine; Codin., pp. 14, 19; see Ducange, sb. nom.
- ↑ Euripus ([Greek: Euripos
