It's 68 AD, the Emperor Nero has just killed himself, unpopular as he could be, he's squandered the treasury and built himself a fabulous house of gold on the Palatine Hill, this after he burned that portion of the city in 64 AD. The very existence of his memory is a huge embarrassment. Vespasian comes along and decides he needs some good PR, he gives the 99.9% what Nero had appropriated for himself. This act became symbolically and literally the heart of Rome.
The building is funded with, as the inscription reads at the site, " the emperor Vespasian ordered this new amphitheater to be erected from his general's share of the booty".....it's 70 AD, the Great Jewish Revolt is put down, a great treasure is seized and in great Roman tradition, a great monument needs to be built.....all's right with the world....unless you're a slave, a criminal, a gladiator or a wild animal.
The listing monument. The Colosseum is now slightly leaning, they think that the doughnut that is the foundation has a crack.
You can see from the picture above that a good deal of the building is missing. This portion fell during the great earthquake of 1349. Pope Sixtus V planned to use the entire building as a quarry, but public outcry ended that scheme, they did manage to use a good deal of the fallen travertine for St Peter's basilica.
It is a myth that the Christians were persecuted and killed in the Colosseum by Nero, as this used to be his swimming pool.
One of the perks of building this theater here is that it could be flooded to have sea battles, but those were only done in the early part of it's history.
Above is the door you would exit....dead, or alive if you were lucky. There is another door opposite through which you would enter. The gladiators would circle the stage salute the emperor in his box and then proceed to fight. They would make sure you weren't feigning death by sticking a hot poker into the bodies at the end of the games. There were lots of animal fights and hunts here, but chariot races were down the street at the Circus Maximus. Only men were allowed to watch the executions and the hunts, the ladies were allowed in only in the late afternoon for the gladiatorial event and had to sit in the top bleachers.The games became extremely expensive, so much so that the building was used for maybe 4 games a year, but the games could last many days or months.
There were some 240 mast corbels around the perimeter attic which supported a retractable awing, the velarium, which kept the sun and rain off the spectators and since it sloped down it would catch the breeze and keep everyone cool. There was a special team of seamen trained for this task, they think 8 to a mast....that would be 1920 men, plus all of the people below view.
A gladiator's eye view
Pretty sure they had less fun than I did
Standing on the reconstructed arena which was a wooden stage covered in sand [ arena ] with 64 trap doors to allow men and animals to pop up or fall thru. The opening games lasted for 100 days and featured 9,000 animals which were all killed. There is no record of how many men were murdered as they were not so expensive as the beasts.
Meanwhile: Backstage
There were hundreds of slaves needed to work the system of winches and pulleys.
This is the basement of the Colosseum which has just been opened after extensive restoration.
The wood piers which are reconstructions of the originals. The square holes in the walls are for another level. Imagine this place dark, with only torches, the sounds and smells of animals and men captive and dying on the floor above and the roar of the crowd above the din of those giving commands below.
One of the store rooms....might have been for people, animals or scenery.
Looking towards the inner workings of the stage.....it would have been very dark as the floor is less than 1/4 of what it had been.
The view from the stands. The concept for this building is that of two greek theaters joined, but while the Greeks always built their theaters in the sides of hills the Romans created a free standing structure.....a theater on two sides....amphi- theater. They now allow you to walk on and under the stage.
The view from the top looking to the Palatine Hill. The half dome standing on the platform that was the Domus Aurea, Nero's Golden House. This was sealed up and what you see are the ruins of the Temple to Venus and Rome. The steeple in the mid left is approximately the height of the colossal statue of Nero which gives this building it's name. Hard to believe that the colossus was still standing in the 10th c, when they decided it was better to melt it down for the metal.
This is the Vitoriano, which gives you a little idea of what these temples might have looked like.
Below is a reconstruction of the colosseum.
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