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{{Short description|Seating sections of Greek and  Roman theatres}}
{{for|the plant|Cavea (plant)}}
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[[File:Cavea illustration - Roman theatre at Bosra.jpg|thumbnail|The different levels of the ''cavea'' in the [[Roman Theatre at Bosra]]. ''Ima cavea'' in blue, ''media cavea'' in red and ''summa cavea'' in yellow.]]
The '''''cavea''''' ([[Latin language|Latin]] for "enclosure") are the seating sections of [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Roman theatre (structure)|Roman theatres]] and [[Roman amphitheatre|amphitheatres]]. In Roman theatres, the ''cavea'' is traditionally organised in three horizontal sections, corresponding to the social class of the spectators:<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070715100827/http://www.spanisharts.com/arquitectura/i_roma_espectaculos.html Roman Architecture]}}</ref>
* the ''ima cavea'' is the lowest part of the ''cavea'' and the one directly surrounding the arena. It was usually reserved for the upper echelons of society.
* the ''media cavea'' directly follows the ''ima cavea'' and was open to the general public, though mostly reserved for men.
* the ''summa cavea'' is the highest section and was usually open to women and children.

Similarly, the front row was called the ''prima cavea'' and the last row was called the ''cavea ultima''. The ''cavea'' was further divided vertically into ''cunei''. A ''cuneus'' (Latin for "wedge"; plural, ''cunei'') was a wedge-shaped division separated by the ''scalae'' or stairways.

Cavea also referred to the subterranean cells in which the wild beasts were confined prior to the combats in the Roman arena.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Cavea |volume=5 |page=579}}</ref>

Cavea is also the name for an experimental liquid rocket fuel, with the formal name 1,4,diaza,1,4,dimethyl,bicyclo 2,2,2, octane dinitrate which was researched as a monopropellant. The name Cavea refers to the cage-like arrangement of carbon atoms in the compound. There was a metyhlated variant of the compound with a lower freezing point that was named Cavea B. From there on the former Cavea was referred as Cavea A.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clark |first=John D. |date=1972 |title=Ignition! |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |publisher=Rutgers University Press |page=140, 144 |isbn=9780813507255}}</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:Ancient Roman architecture]]


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