The Colosseum, located in the center of the city of Rome, Italy’s capital, is one of the most important pieces of architecture left by the ancient Romans. The construction began in 72 AD by orders of Emperor Vespasian, founder of the Flavian Dynasty, which is why the building is also called the Flavian Amphitheater. Once Vespasian came to power after the death of Emperor Nero, he set the goal of making the empire greater and wanted to restore authority in the senate, decrease the excesses of the Roman Court and expand infrastructure and public welfare. The Colosseum was a project he began as a way to promote this public welfare, an amphitheater for the people of Rome to enjoy.
The work was finished after Vespasian’s death, in 80 AD under Emperor Titus who held the inaugural games at the times of its completion. The building received its name from the Colossus statue of Nero located near the site of the Colosseum. The Colosseum, the largest of its kind in the Roman world, is a symbol of the power and majesty of the Roman Empire, which dominated all of Europe and parts of Asia and northern Africa. The arena is oval shaped and measures 189 meters in length and 156 meters in width, the base area is 24,000m2 and the walls that go around the arena, were the spectator seating is, are 5 meters tall. Around the walls there are also three stories of arches, which are supported by semi circular columns. The building was built out of quarried limestone, brick, concrete and “tufa”, which is a volcanic stone. The amphitheater can hold more than 50,000 people, roughly the same capacity of the football stadiums at Stanford and Rice University.
The Colosseum was built as an amphitheater to hold all kinds of entertainment events. Some of the events they held were displays of exotic animals, animal hunts, horse races, dancing, acrobat and gymnastic performances, and of course gladiator combats, like the Bestiarii, which were events in which gladiators would fight each other with wild animals such as tigers and leopards. At first these events followed the traditional format of the Roman games, they were not as violent and were solely for entertainment purposes. These events were more for the show and spectacle of it than anything else, they would have these exotic animals fight each other, the recreation of famous battles and gladiator combats. However, over a short period of time, the gladiatorial combats became these intense fights to the death, which men sometimes willingly participated in because the winner received great compensations; some men on the other hand were slaves, criminals or prisoners of war. The gladiator combats were divided into different categories, mainly based on the type of weapon used, which were very diverse, from spears, lances, bows and swords to actual animals. They even began to add events to the list such as tortures and executions of criminals, as well as the raping of women by, not men, which is already bad enough, but trained animals, donkeys and dogs to be specific. The level of brutality of the ancient Romans is incomprehensible. What kind of people would subject human beings and animals to such horrible acts for the sake of entertainment? What kinds of sick people would pay to watch these horrible events and actually enjoy it? These are some of the questions I ask myself but they are questions that can never be answered, I will not receive an answer I will understand anyway. There is not much of an explanation for the things people did in ancient times; just as we cannot know for sure how exactly the Great Pyramids of Giza or the Stone Henge were built, we cannot really know, or perhaps we can know and explain but just not fully comprehend how the minds of the ancient Romans worked. Similarly, how the Roman culture and even other civilisations like the Greeks and their history played a role in the way these people perceived entertainment and their value for human life.
Despite the series of violent events and the atrocities that were held in this famous arena. The Colosseum, is nonetheless an example of the great Roman architectural ingenuity, art and engineering. The building is both a symbol of the imperial greatness of the Romans and their demise. The state of ruins the Colosseum is in today, in a way represents the fall of the Empire in 410 CE, although the building was destroyed over time mostly due to natural causes, like earthquakes and rains. The Colosseum is considered one of the most famous and significant surviving monuments of the ancient classical world and is one of the seven wonders of the medieval world.
I found all of the facts in this post really interesting; the Colosseum was not something I knew much about besides that it’s in Rome and it was home to gladiator combats. I had no idea that other things were done in the colusseum for entertainment purposes because I thought it was strictly for gladiator combats. I agree that it is incomprehensible that people would pay to see such awful events taking place. However, I definitely would like to visit the Colosseum one day because I find it amazing that it is still standing and it is an important part of our history.
I found this post really interesting. I knew that the Colosseum was home to pretty brutal ancient games, but I had no idea of the extent of some of them, such as the raping of women by animals. That is just disgusting and incomprehensible in my eyes. However, the Colosseum is one of those monuments that I believe one should see in his or her lifetime because it holds so many historical stories. My sister is actually traveling abroad to Rome this summer, and I am sure that the Colosseum is one of the many famed monuments she will visit.