cavea : KAH-vay-a; KAH-vee-a

(Latin; pl. caveae: the tiered, semicircular seating space in a Roman theater). From the Greek: koilon, a hollow or cavity. A large theatre had three seating tiers (maeniana): the ima cavea (also referred to as maenianum primum) was the lowest part of the cavea; the media cavea (also referred to as maenianum secundum) was the middle, and the summa cavea (also referred to as maenianum summum) was the upper tier. Social rank dictated the seating restrictions for the audience with the ima cavea reserved for the upper echelons of society (senators and equestrians), the media cavea was reserved seating for pleb togata (respectable citizens); and those with lesser status (mixed crowd of urban poor, foreigners, slaves, and women) were restricted to the upper or summa tier. The Roman cavea corresponds to the Greek theatron.