Seating
The first tier of the seating began four meters above the arena with the Podium. It was reserved for the most important Romans the Emperor, the Vestal Virgins, the priests, and the senators. The Emperor and his court reclined in the imperial box on the northern side of the arena. The empress and her female entourage occupied the box opposite of the emperor. These two locations were the best seats to occupy in order to see and be seen.Above the podium were the tiers for the ordinary public. The noble class and knights sat in the first 14 rows of the Colosseum, the section known as the ima cavea. Roman citizens sat in the next block of seats, that is the media cavea. The rest of the population including the urban poor, foreigners, freed slaves and other slaves were lumped together in the highest block of seats, the summa cavea. Finally, women, presumably the respectable wives and daughter of Roman citizens, were expected to sit under the protecting shelter of the colonnade that usually crowned the theater seating area.