A presentation made by: Dellis
Athanasios, Paliakos Angelos, Rigas
Konstandinos, Papaevgeniou
Panayotis

4.
5.
6.
7.
1.
2.
3.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
The Colosseum – Introduction
History of the Colosseum
Architecture
Games
The Colosseum in the world
The Colosseum – Touristic exploitation
Has the Colosseum remained intact?
Famous reflections on the Colosseum
Interesting Facts
Why is it special?
Other Information
Bibliography

i.
ii.
Basic Information
Origin of the Name

 It is elliptical in plan and is 189 meters long, and 156 meters wide, with a base area of 6 acres (24,000 m 2 ).
 The height of the outer wall is 48 meters. The perimeter originally measured 545 meters.
 The central arena is an oval 87 m long and 55 m wide, surrounded by a wall 5 m high, above which rose tiers of seating.
 Just outside the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine
(Arco di Costantino), a 25m high monument built in
AD315 to mark the victory of Constantine over
Maxentius at Pons Milvius.
 It was completed in 80 AD during the reign of Titus.

 But what does the word "Colosseum" mean? Τhe building that we today call the Colosseum was never called the
Colosseum in its own time when it was used as an amphitheater. It was called the Flavian Amphitheater. (=An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient
Greek ἀ μφιθέατρον, from ἀ μφί (amphi), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and θέατρον (théātron), meaning "place for viewing").
 The word "Colosseum" means, as the English etymology would suggest, “very, very large”.
 The name Colosseum dates back to the XI century and its origin is uncertain.

 The most popular version is that the name comes from a colossal statue of Nero, called Colossus Neronis. The statue was one of the most visible (and arrogant) features of Nero’s residence.
 It was a 36 meter bronze statue of Nero, which was built in imitation of the Colossus of Rhodes.

 When the Emperor restored the land to the people of
Rome and gave back to them this marvellous gift of the amphitheater, because it stood next to the colossal statue, now with the head of Nero removed and the head of the sun god Apollo put on instead, with rays coming out from the head, the name "colossal" that applied to the statue eventually was applied to the
Colosseum. But it wasn't called like that until the writer
Bede named it so in the eighth century, A.D.

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
Prehistory to Antiquity
Antiquity
Middle Ages
1300-1700
Modern times
Emperors

Prehistory:
Before man made his appearance in the site of Rome, the valley where the Colosseum now stands collected the waters from the hills, thus creating a small lake. In the fo;;owing map you can see the geography of the city before human settlement. The Tiber river would flood the area of the Circus Maximus, and part of the
Campus Martius was a marsh, the Palus Caprae, or
Capreae (the goats' marsh)

VII CENTURY BC:
When people of Latin,
Sabine and Etruscan origin settled on the hills, Rome was born. The first walls were built around the
Palatine by Romulus, first king of Rome. According to legend Romulus disappeared near the Palus
Caprae, where he was reviewing the army.

508-44 BC: The Romans drain the valley in early republican times and build houses, public buildings and temples. The area of the ancestral lake becomes the juncture of four regions of ancient
Rome.

I CENTURY BC:
Centuries go by, Rome grows and the site of the
Colosseum is improved.
Drains are built and the lake, where the Colosseum now stands, disappears.
The place is full of houses and temples, since the site is the meeting point of four of Rome's regions.

 The city needed an amphitheatre, as the only one with a (partially) stone structure, which had been built by Statilius Taurus in 29 BC, was too small.
 The emperor Caligula (12-41 AD) had started the works for a new amphitheatre, but Claudius (10-54
AD) stopped them when he came to power. Nero, the emperor, refused to use the old Statilius' building and preferred to have his own amphitheatre built in the Campus Martis.

 On July 19, 64 AD a fire starts in the city, quickly spreads and burns for six days. According to Tacitus, upon hearing the news, Nero organizes a relief effort paid from his own funds. After the fire Nero opens his palaces to the homeless and arranges for food to be delivered to the survivors. In the area cleared by fire
Nero builds his new palace, known as the Domus
Aurea: a huge space (size debated between 40 and 120 acres) with buildings, parks, fake fishing villages etc.
 Nero dies in 68 AD and after that the Flavian family comes into power.

 The emperor Vespasian is acknowledged as emperor by the Senate in 69. He gives back to the
Romans most of the land that Nero had occupied in the city centre and had an amphitheatre (public facility) built in the former Nero’ s residence and a huge artificial pond.
 It took about ten years to build the amphitheatre.
 Vespasian started the works in 72 AD and his son
Titus dedicated it in the year 80 with magnificent games that lasted one hundred days. It is generally accepted that the building was completed by the following emperor, Domitian, Titus' brother.

 In the amphitheatre, a Roman invention, shows that we would condemn today were held: the most popular were the venationes (hunts) and the munera (gladiatorial games).
 Near the Colosseum Domitian, four ludi, the prisons where gladiators had their training, were also built
 The bestiarii, who fought against the beasts, trained in the Ludus Matutinus, so called because the show with the animals was held in the morning. Then there was the Ludus Gallicus, the
Ludus Dacicus and the Ludus Magnus.

 The first repairs were probably made during emperor Antoninus Pius (86-161), as proven by one
Corinthian capital of a column of that age found by the archaeologists, after a fire had destroyed 350 houses in the city.
 Major repairs, actually an almost complete rebuilding, were carried out after 217 AD, the year in which the upper floor was struck by lightning and went on fire.

 The embers set alight the wooden floor of the arena that in turn collapsed, igniting the wooden structures beneath it and the rest of the building.
 The Colosseum became an enormous brazier that stopped burning only after the fuel was consumed.
Almost nothing was left of the Flavian building, and for five years the shows were held at the circus.

 It took more than thirty years to rebuild the Roman amphitheatre.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Augustus, also known as Heliogabalus or Elagabalus (203 –
222) started the works.
 The building - still unfinished - was reopened and dedicated to the gods in 222 under Alexander Severus, who ordered that the taxes paid by pimps, prostitutes and homosexuals would be destined to the repair of public buildings, among which the amphitheatre.
 Actually the repairs were completed only in 240 under
Gordian III and a coin was minted for the occasion.




Gordian wanted to celebrate in Rome a lavish triumph for his victory in the war against the Persians, and had collected 32 elephants, 10 elks, 10 tigers, 60 lions, 30 leopards, 10 hyenas, 1000 couples of gladiators from the imperial ludi, 6 hippos, 1 rhinoceros, 10 bears, 10 giraffes,
20 Asiatic wild asses, 40 wild horses and many other animals.
However, Gordian died in Persia in mysterious circumstances, maybe in a battle near today Iraq. Roman sources suggest that Gordian died somewhere else and do not mention the battle.
Philip, who succeeded Gordian as emperor, came to Rome and used all those animals. They were first exhibited and then killed on occasion of the shows organised for the millennium of the city: April 21, 248.

 The amphitheatre was again damaged - according to some sources - during the reign of Decius (201–251) or of
Trebonianus Gallus (206–253).
 Decius led many persecutions against the Christians; among the victims were the bishop of Rome, Fabianus, and the future saints Ireneus, Abundius and Policronius.
 In 262, during the reign of Gallienus (218-268) a violent earthquake devastated the Eastern Mediterranean; also
Rome was affected, so much that the following year a plague epidemic spread in the city.

 In 312 the Senate dedicated the triumphal arch that is still standing near the Colosseum to the emperor Constantine and replaced the face of the Colossus with that of the new emperor.
 In 320 the amphitheatre was again struck by lightning, but it wasn't heavily damaged.
 From this date onwards no more fires are reported, but there have been many earthquakes.
 In 357 the emperor Constantius II (317-361) visited Rome and was very impressed by the amphitheatre.

 The last gladiatorial combat is recorded in 404, after emperor Theodosius established Christian orthodoxy, banned paganism and started persecuting its followers.
 It was in this period that most ancient Roman traditions and lifestyle ceased to exist.
 Also, from these years we have no further literary information about the Colosseum, and the only sources are the texts of inscriptions on stone slabs.
 The Visigoths sack Rome in 410 AD. The amphitheater is used as a cemetery.

 At the end of the IV century Rome still counted between half a million and one million inhabitants, but after the shock of the invasion their number halved.
 The following sacks further reduced the population and at the end of the V century/ beginning of the VI there were only about 100.000 Romans left in the city.
 Between 425 and 450, probably after the 443 earthquake
(abominadus), Lampadius carried out more restoration works on the arena, the podium and on the terraces at his own expense. After the 429 and 443 ones, another earthquake devastated Rome in 470, and in between, in
455, the city was again sacked (by Vandals).

 From the IV century several materials were taken away from the Colosseum. Some drains were also obstructed, as studies have discovered.
 The last repairs to the Colosseum - dating back to 484 or
508 - are the ones that the Decius Venantius Basilius had ordered - at his own expense: repairs to the arena and podium, damaged by an "abominandus" earthquake.
 The amphitheater is now oversized for the reduced population of the city so Romans began recycling its materials, as travertine existed in abundance. Everything was recycled, even the bricks.

VI-IX CENTURY:
CENTURIES OF NEGLECT
The valley starts filling up with earth; a road is built through the arena and the pillaging of material starts.
The Colosseum is now property of the church of
Santa Maria Nova.

 This spoliation started during the reign of Theodoric
(454 – 526) and it was systematic.
 In those times the only stable institution was the
Church, and it was Pope Gregory I the Great (590-604) who introduced the practice of recycling ancient temples, buildings and halls and turning them into
Christian churches.
 The valley of the Colosseum started to fill up with earth, as the drains had stopped being maintained.

 During the Gothic War (535-553) the city was repeatedly starved and sacked by the Ostrogoths, led by king Totila.
 Historians report that when Totila entered Rome in 545 there were only 500 people left, and it was probably during the Gothic War that most of the metal grips holding the travertine blocks together were systematically removed.
 It seems that for some time the amphitheatre was closed by wooden barriers, which were removed later on. In addition, the inner corridors were turned into houses.

 Rome had become a little city (90,000 citizens) concentrated in a small nucleus, surrounded by fields, ruins and farms, and this situation lasted up to about the end of the nineteenth century.
 The Colosseum remained outside the centre of the medieval city, which was concentrated on the banks of the river.

 Further earthquakes in 801 and 847 probably made more damage.
 During the illiterate Middle Ages, all recollection of the purpose of the amphitheatre had gone lost and people started to imagine that the building had been a temple dedicated to the Sun God, or to the devil.
 Then, many legends started to circulate about the massive round building, saying that it was a palace of Titus and Vespasian, a temple of demons... and more.

This print is a reconstruction of the state of the city around year
1000. The view is from the
East and shows how the
Colosseum was practically still intact, as were many ancient temples and monuments (e.g. Hadrian's mausoleum). Within the walls of the city empty spaces are predominant.

 Between the end of the IX century and the beginning of the
X there was a great development of the Colosseum
“residences”. Then, it started to be called Amphitheatrum
Coliseum.
 In 1084 an army of 36.000 Normans sacked Rome. The city fell into the hands of baronial families who were at constant war and lived in tall towers for safety reasons.
 One of the strongest families, the Frangipane, occupied the
Colosseum, which was transformed into a house/fortress, and walled a large area around it. The Colosseum was then occupied and declared a property of the free municipality of Rome. However, in 1159 the Frangipane came back and reoccupied the building.

 In 1231 part of the SW wall had collapsed during a very violent earthquake, but the "big one" took place in 1349.
 It damaged the city extensively and destroyed other external arches on the Southern side In the XIV century the Orsini and Colonna families were granted permission to remove stones and marble. from 1309 to
1377.
 During this period the economy of the city collapsed, and at the end of the XIV century the population had declined to 17,000 (at the peak of its imperial expansion
Rome counted 1 million inhabitants or more).

 The area once again became a den of criminals, a dangerous and violent place.
 In 1439 the Colosseum travertine was used to build the tribune of St. John's Lateran. It was then that the removal of marble, stones and bricks really started, and it lasted for generations. Many palaces and churches were built with stones taken from the Colosseum.

 In 1381 a section of the Colosseum was donated to the religious group called Confraternita del Santissimo
Salvatore ad Sancta Sanctorum.
 It seems that as early as the XV century some
"archaeological" excavations were made which brought to light the drains that cross the substratum of the amphitheatre, and the wide pavement around it.
 These elements were again unearthed only in 1895.
 By now permission to take away the stones was easily granted by the Popes (under payment, of course), who exploited such a vast cheap source of building materials for their projects.

XV-XVIII CENTURY:
THE LOOTING
WORSENS
For centuries thousands of cartloads of stones are taken away from the amphitheatre to build palaces and churches

 There is evidence that in 1439 the stones were used to repair the tribune of St. John Lateran Basilica
 In the XVII century the monument had again become a den of derelicts and criminals.
 After long years of abandon, in 1700 Pope Clemens XI had the arches closed, a cross placed in the arena and the site used as a manure deposit for the manufacture of saltpetre, destined to a nearby gunpowder factory.
 In 1703 three arches of the second SW ring fell down because of an earthquake and Clemens found a way to use the travertine to build the new monumental port on the river.

 In 1743 the little church inside the Colosseum was restored again. In 1749 Pope Benedetto XIV declared the monument a public church consecrated to the memory of the Passion of Christ and His Martyrs;
 The Pope also founded in 1752 a religious Arciconfraternita degli Amanti di Gesù e Maria (Brotherhood of the Lovers of Jesus and Mary) which started holding holy processions: the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross).
 The faithful congregated at the oratory of Santi Cosma e
Damiano in the Forum, where the spiritual teaching started in the early afternoon.

 If there were children, they were taught the
Christian doctrine by priests. One hour later there was half an hour of catechism, separately for men and women, and then a quarter of an hour of meditation.
 Between 1751 and 1768 many small repairs were made here and there by the Popes and by the
Roman Senate, like cleaning the debris, patching up walls, reinforcing pillars and replacing blocks, but the real restoration still had to come ...

 The modern architectural study of the Colosseum started with Carlo Fontana, who, around 1720, made a survey of the amphitheatre and studied its geometric proportions.
 Most of the ground floor of the building was by now almost submerged by earth and debris accumulated over the centuries, and the arches were used as a deposit for manure.
 In 1796 Napoleon I invaded Italy and defeated the papal troops.

 Pius VI pleaded for peace, which was granted at
Tolentino on February 19, 1797, but on December 28 of that year, Brigadier-General Mathurin-Léonard
Duphot, who had gone to Rome with Joseph
Bonaparte as part of the French embassy, was killed in a riot so there was a new pretext for the invasion.
 General Berthier marched to Rome, entered it unopposed on February 13, 1798, and, proclaiming a
Roman Republic, demanded that the Pope renounce his temporal authority.

 On February 17, 1798 General Berthier ordered the Pope to leave Rome within three days, but he refused and was taken prisoner; he reached the citadel of Valence, capital town of
Drôme in Southern France, where he died six weeks after his arrival, on August 29 1799. He had reigned longer than any Pope in historical times.
 According to the French project, the Colosseum was to become part of a huge archaeological park comprising the whole centre of Rome.
 The monument was in a bad state, because coach drivers used it as a night shelter, and it had been for a long time a storehouse of manure destined to a nearby gunpowder factory.

 These abuses damaged the stone and blocked the corridors.
 The 1703 earthquake had caused another partial collapse of the building.
 Carlo Fea, Commissioner to the Antiquities, visited the monument and in 1804 wrote a memorandum suggesting the structure be cleaned by taking away the manure, unearthing the entrance steps and freeing the entire first corridor.
 In 1805 the excavations started, carried out by architects Camporesi, Palazzi and Stern, with the help of Carlo Lucangeli, an artist of wood modeling.

 The three architects presented further plans for the consolidation of the Colosseum, proposing the building of a buttress to stop the lateral movement of the outer wall.
The idea was criticised in name of the picturesque and romantic qualities of the ruin, which would be spoiled by the monstrous buttress.
 A counter proposal was presented to the Pope by one
Domenico Schiavoni, possibly a master mason who had been assisted by an architect. He suggested turning the endangered part itself into a buttress by demolishing the upper parts along an oblique line and by walling in some arches. This intervention - they said - would produce the appearance of a natural ruin.

 The three architects were appalled and strongly objected to this proposal. They promised that with half the sum of money requested by Schiavone they would secure the Colosseum.
 It is of course clear that if that kind of vandalistic operation had been approved, it would have been better to leave the endangered parts in their natural ruined state - instead of taking steps to secure them.
 In 1806, after another earthquake had done further damage to the outer ring, the project was finally approved.




A wooden shoring had prevented the collapse of the outer wall, but when the works started it was found that the outer wall was in worse conditions than expected, so it was deemed necessary to build a cross wall to link the buttress, the outer wall and the inner structure of the monument.
The niches around the podium, parts of the podium, the entrance of the so-called passage of Commodus, part of the drain that runs around the amphitheatre were also excavated.
In 1809 and 1810 the works restarted. In 1811 the northern part of the monument and the northern side of the arena were partially excavated by Carlo Fea, but the works had to stop at a depth of 3 metres because of water infiltrations in the arena.




From 1811 to 1813 repairs were made, and the arches were liberated from the walls that had filled them.
In 1814 the authority of the Pope was re-established.
Under Pius VII (1800-1823) it was deemed necessary to reinforce the remains of the outer ring. An abutment
(buttress) of bricks was built to support the arches on the NW side and was completed around 1820, in 1826, the following Pope Leo XII had the other, more photographed abutment built by the architect
Giuseppe Valadier.
In 1828 Antonio Nibby managed to empty all the surface drains, and in 1830 Luis Joseph Duc made the first complete survey of the monument with modern means.




From the 1840s on, more arches were restored and rebuilt on the side of the Celian Hill. On this occasion the tie rods that cross the facade and anchor it to the masonry behind were installed (1846-1853).
In 1870 Rome became the capital of the new Italian
State, but the works to finally free the arena restarted only in 1874. In the end, this time half of the arena was liberated from debris and the excavations reached the bottom, where a type of paving made from brick, known as opus spicatum was found.
These excavations were very rewarding, as capitols, pieces of columns, inscriptions and debris dating back to the end of the V and the beginning of the VI century were found in the arena.

 It was on this occasion that the stations of the cross in the arena were finally removed, notwithstanding fierce opposition of the Catholic Church that considered the act a profanation.
 Later on, more excavations were carried out on the northern side, and in the end the whole facade on that side was liberated from the debris accumulated over the centuries. Also the streets around were redesigned
.The works to install drains and gas pipes led to more discoveries: the paved area around the amphitheatre on the N side, boundary stones and a road.




In 1895 the valley was again unearthed and 89 burial places, dating from Diocletian to Theodoric times (IV-VI century) were discovered in and around the amphitheatre.
During the Fascist regime the Colosseum was used for propaganda gatherings, since Mussolini wanted to connect the past Imperial Roman glories with the birth of the new fascist Empire.
The Colosseum was then adapted so as to accommodate mass rallies: some corridor floors were covered with asphalt, connection stairs were made that modified the original structure, and a small section of the cavea with seats was inaccurately reconstructed in 1933 (there were no seats there, n the 30s the landscape around the monument changed radically.

 An underground railway was built in the 40s, mercilessly cutting the foundations of the amphitheatre on the western side and damaging the outflow of the waters, so that nowadays the undergrounds are often flooded in case of heavy rain.
 In 1938-40 the excavations carried out by Luigi Cozzo arrived at the very bottom, bringing to light the underground of the arena.
 Cozzo also demolished 567 cubic metres of underground structures that had been added to the original construction during the millennia and 1059 cubic metres of unstable masonry.



These demolitions have been criticised on the grounds that
Cozzo acted with haste and without a serious study of what was being dismantled.
The western side of the underground was reached in
1939, a heap of columns from the upper porch and structures of the cavea were found.
During the second World War the Colosseum became a bomb shelter and the
Wermacht even made there a weapon deposit. Even today weapons are found during the excavations!

 After the war the Colosseum became the most famous
Rome backdrop for tourists, but at the same time with the increase of traffic it was practically a roundabout, probably the largest in Europe!
 In the 70s car traffic was finally banned between the
Colosseum and the Palatine, though many Romans would like to see the whole central area, including the
Fora, free from traffic.
 In 1940, the metro line cut the foundations.
 In 1997 a very important survey measuring the
Colosseum with laser and infrared techniques was carried out.

 This research has given us some insight on the deformation of the structures and a very precise map of the amphitheatre, and rekindled an old controversy between the archaeologists: is the Colosseum elliptic or ovoidal? On January 21, 2011, the Associated Press reported that "The founder of Tod's luxury leather and footwear will foot the 25 million Euro ($34 million) bill to restore the ancient monument which is blackened by pollution and rocked by vibrations caused by a nearby subway line. Work will begin at the end of the year, and will take between two and two and a half years. The monument will remain open to tourists during the restoration."

Nero Lucius Domitius:
He was born in Antium on 37 AD and died on June 9, 68 on Rome. He was finely educated. In the first years of his reign Nero was closely controlled by his mother and his tutor Seneca. His despotic and authoritarian character surfaced and his dictatorial character prevailed, supported by the plebe who adored him owing to his liberality. After Rome’s fire in 64 he rebuilt the city and his own mansion, the Domus
Arena. He retorted the blame on Christians, after having being accused of causing the fire and that’s why he persecuted them.

Nero Lucius Domitius:
A war campaign against the Parthians regained Rome’s control over Armenia; his popularity had by now reached a peak.
Revolts in Judea, Gallia, Africa and Spain caused his downfall. So, when he realized that things were very difficult and everything was lost, he ordered a slave to kill him.

Vespasian:
He was born on Reate in 17 November, 9 and died on
Cutilia in 24 June 79.
During Nero’s reign he was sent to Judaea to repress the revolt (67) and started his campaign until the anarchy caused by Nero’s death compelled him to stop the operations.
He was acknowledged as emperor by the Senate in 69.
He reinforced the imperial power and ensured its continuity to his sons Titus and Domitian. He also reorganized the army, the judicial system and raised the taxes so that he achieves financial stability.
He started the building of the Colosseum.

Titus:
He was born on Rome in 39 and died on Aquae Cutiliae in 81.
He was brought to power by his father, Vespasian and succeeded him in 79.
In 80 he inaugurated the Colosseum with games that lasted 100 days and died the following year after only two years of rule which was marked by disasters (the eruption of Mt Vesuvius and a fire and plague in
Rome).

Domitian:
He was born in October 24, AD 51 and died on Rome in
September 18, AD 96.
He was the second son of the future emperor Vespasian, an imperial prince and was consul six times in
Vespasian’s lifetime. As an emperor, he was hated by the aristocracy, owing to his cruelty and ostentation.
His military and foreign policy was not uniformly successful. He also continued his father’s policy of holding frequent consulates. His building program had been heavy· Rome received a new forum and many other works. On September 18, 96 AD, a conspiracy caused his death.

Trajan:
He was born in 53 in the province of Baetica, near Spain and was the first Roman emperor to be born outside
Italy.
He was generous to the populace of Rome and undertook extensive public works all over the empire. After two major wars against Dacius and Parthians he died, in his
64 th year, at Selinius (modern
Selindi) on the southern coast of Asia Minor.

Hadrian:
He was born on Italia, Baetica in January 24, AD 76 and died on Baiae, until Naples in July 10, 138
Just before Trajan’s death was made public, it was announced that Trajan had adopted Hadrian. Driven by his insatiable curiosity about everything and everybody, Hadrian set forth on a tour of the empire, west and east.
When Hadrian died at the seaside resort of Baiae, death came to him slowly and painfully. He wrote a letter in which he said how terrible it was to long for death and yet be unable to find it.

i.
ii.
iii.
Basic Information
Materials
Works modelled on, or inspired by, the Colosseum

 The Colosseum is roughly elliptical in shape.
 Its orientation is WSW- ENE.
 The building stands on a base of two steps. Above it there are three floors of arcades and a fourth storey without arches but with small rectangular widows
 There are eighty arches on every floor, divided by pillars with a half column.





The four arches on the axes were used as the main entrances. The other 76 arches were numbered for an easier access to the seats.
Actually, only 31 arches of the outer ring, from number 23 to
54 (XXIII to LIV) were numbered.
The order of the ground floor columns is a Tuscan one, which is a Roman variation of the Doric order.
On the second floor the semicolumns are ionic and on the third Corinthian.





In the fourth floor, which is the attic, the panels are divided by flat composite, with a rectangular window every second panel.
There is information that a series of bronze shields
(clipea) was used all around the attic.
The arena where the shows took place measures 76 by
44 meters and its floor was made of wooden planks.
The wall around the arena was called podium and it was 10 meters high.




The arena was covered with yellow sand (harena)- on special occasions it was covered with colourful sand or mixed with speckles of glittering minerals.
The Colosseum had two entrances: 1)The NW gate (Porta
Triumphalis), where the galdiatiors made their entrance during the pompa gladiatoria, the parade that took place outside and led to the amphitheater. 2)The SE gate
(Porta Libitinaria) (from
Libitina, Roman goddess of death, corpses and funerals) as dead gladiators were carried through it.
(The ground floor is depicted on the left)




The Colosseum was surrounded by an area paved with large tavernine slabs which are thought to have been supports of some sort for the ropes of the awning (or perhaps gates for ground control.)
The square around the
Colosseum is probably noe of the few places in Rome that is at the same level as the ancient times.
(On the left is the first floor of the Colosseum)

Inside:



The cavea was divided into three parts called , from bottom to top, podium, gradatio and porticus. A section of the cavea was reconstructed during the 30s and fitted with some seats found in the excavations.
(The reconstruction was not faithful at all)
The arena floor was made of wooden planks supported by brick pillars; some sections of the floor were removable so that animals and people could emerge from beneath.
See on your Right: The
Colosseum’s 2 nd floor

Inside:



In Domitian times, some years after the inauguration of the amphitheater a complex system of walls that supported the wooden floor of the harena and organized the underground spaces that were used as a backstagfe for the shows, was built.
Part of the floor of the arena was made of masonry and part of wood with removable sections for the entrance/exit of scenarios, beasts and materials.
See on your Left: Top floor of the Colosseum

Inside:
 The corridors and stairs were planned in order to allow the public calculated between 50,000 and 75,000.
 Between the arena and the podium there was a service tunnel. Their function is a bone of contention. Some allege that they housed archers who protected the spectators from the risk of wild animals reaching the public. Some others claim that they were latrines and others say there was a water channel meant to give supplementary protection from the beasts. Another mystery.

 Numerous kinds of materials were used. More specifically:
 1) Tavertine (lapis Tiburtinus): It is a sedimentary stone made of calcite. Its colour is whitish, slightly yellow or reddish. It is used for building, for floors or as a veneer. The Tavernino of the Colosseum was quarried from Tibur and was used for the main pillars, the ground floor and the external wall. In addition, a road was made for the transport of the stone from
Tibur.

 2) Tuff: a stone produced by the cementing of volcanic material fallen after the eruptions. Its colour is gray, yellowish, greenish or brown. It is used in the preparation of special cements and as a building stone. It was used for some pillars and radial walls.
 3) Tiles and bricks: They were produced with clay mixed with water and often with sand, straw and finely ground pozzolona. The mixture was pressed by hand into a wooden mould, and dried first in the sun. The tiles had to be turned over often, so as that they would not bend. After a long time of drying under cover, they were placed in the oven. Bricks could be used in wall structures, as roofing and as filling. Regarding the Colosseum, tiles were used for the floors of the upper storeys and the walls.

A building machine of the Romans

 4) Cement or concrete: It is a building material usually produced by mixing finely ground limestone and clay.
It was used for the vaults of the Colosseum.
 5) Mortar: a mix of binding agent and water or with water and sand.
 6) Lime: It is a binding agent that Romans obtained by heating limestone in a kiln.

 The Kongresshalle, or "Congress Hall", (1935, unfinished) at the Nazi Party Rally grounds,
Nuremberg, Germany
 The Summer Olympic Games medal from 1928 to
2000, designed by Giuseppe Cassioli, features a depiction of the Colosseum. At the 2004 Summer
Olympics in Athens the Colosseum was replaced by a depiction of the Panathinaiko Stadium
 The exterior of the Vancouver Public Library resembles the current state of the Colosseum. It was designed by
Moshe Safdie.

 The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum entrance was inspired by the Colosseum.
 The Palazzo della Civilta Italiana was very closely modelled on the Colosseum. It was built for Mussolini for the Universal Exhibition of 1942 but the exhibition never happened due to the outbreak of World War II.
The architects were Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Bruno
La Padula, and Mario Romano.

 Emperors quickly realised the value of these shows as a political tool to ingratiate the public. As such, a number of valid excuses could be found to celebrate, such as a military triumph after a war, a particular victory, a birth-day or death, the opening of a public building and so on. The costs of the event would be at the organiser's own expense.
 The Amphitheater offered a variety of shows which ranged from fights with or between wild animals to trained animal acts, capital punishments en masse,
Gladiatorial combat including women and dwarfs as well as hardened fighters and even naval battles called naumachiae.

 The naval games which in a few occasions were also held at the Colosseum were called Naumachiae. The first Naumachiae shows date back to the first Punic war against Carthage during the days of the Roman
Republic. The most celebrated Naumachiae were those organised under the reign of Emperor Domitian - who amongst other things completed the Colosseum.
 In terms of scenery the naumachiae were an extreme but it was quite usual for the arena to be done up like a stage set representing a desert or forest scene for example.

 Show day would normally start with a series of animal fights and exhibitions called "Venationes".
 On the day of Titus' inauguration of the Colosseum over 10,000 animals of all sorts were presented.
Crocodiles, Wolves, Giraffes and so on were all made to parade, some of them dressed up in caricature of famous persons.



The morning session would come to a stop at about mid day when the sun was at its highest and shining directly through the oval window left by the roof sails. As has already been mentioned everything was free, so the spectators would have their free lunch and wine (mixed with water) at this point, probably entertained by music and other entertainments. Some even brought pass-times along like dice. Music was played on a number of different instruments amongst which a water powered organ. A similar sort of instrument may now be heard at the Tivoli gardens near Rome although this one was designed during the Renaissance and only recently restored.
It was during the "quiet" lunch time session that Seneca is said to have witnessed what he termed the most sordid and meaningless killing of men.




The afternoon session was the time for the "munera", the offering of gladiatorial fights. A fanfare of trumpets would announce the first fights, which as a sort of warm-up act were fictitious and not dissimilar in concept to the modern wrestling bouts.
These preliminaries would then be followed by the proper gladiatorial fights where amidst loud cheering and shouting pairs of fighters would melee to the death. More is said about the form of gladiatorial fights below. The shows would last well into the evening and possibly into the night.
The length of the games and the number of sessions varied through history but as a general trend tended to get longer and longer as successive emperors attempted to keep the mind of the people occupied and off the gradual downfall of the empire. The number of combatants also tended to increase with time.




The first games organised by the Brutus brothers in the third century BC probably included three pairs of fighters only. Plutarch tells us that Julius Caesar, a couple of centuries later, presented over three hundred and twenty pairs of fighters. Emperor
Augustus, in power just after Julius Caesar, decreed a law whereby no more than 60 pairs of fighters could be presented in a single show but this and other restrictive laws were soon forgotten by his successors.
The length of the games accordingly increased so that the games held by Titus in 80AD to celebrate the construction of the
Colosseum lasted a hundred days. Trajan (98-117) organised games which lasted four months!
What is possibly most amazing is the organisation and sheer flow of men and beasts coming from all over the Empire in order to feed the voracity of such an event. There must have been a real trade in wild animals from across the Empire and, not surprisingly, various species were reduced to extinction.




We have coins bearing the image of the Colosseum that were minted during the reigns of Titus, Severus
Alexander and Gordianus, and they are very precious not only because they are rare, but also because they are in fact the only contemporary documentation of the Flavian amphitheatre.
The first one is the Titus 80 AD
One can see the heads of the spectators in the cavea, which shows horizontal divisions, reflecting the seating for the different classes of spectators, and staircases that separate the sectors. The imperial throne is the half circle in the middle of the cavea (the lonely dot in its centre should be the emperor).



The representation is rather accurate; it is respected, even the alternation of the clypea (the huge circular bronze shields once placed on the cornice of the fourth floor). Other particulars are also interesting: on the left there is a representation of the Meta Sudans, a fountain that survived until 1934, and on the right a two-store portico.
The latter is perhaps a representation of Titus' baths, or a covered passage that connected the baths to the amphitheatre.
After Titus' death, another bronze sestertius was coined by the mint of the Senate. It is very similar to the previous one, but Luciani saw a detail in it which probably wasn‘t present in the first coinage: a set of garlands, or festoons all around the top.




The important thing in both coins is that the amphitheatre appears fully completed, and this disproves the traditional story of the fourth order (store) of the Colosseum being completed by Domitian.
About 150 years passed before the Colosseum was again represented on a coin. In 223, during Severus Alexander's reign, the Senate mint produced gold, silver and bronze coins, all of the same type, probably to celebrate the restoration of the amphitheatre.
This coin appears in many variations: in some cases the clypea are missing, or there is a different number of staircases. The golden aureus is a nice coin, but presents a simplified version of the elements around the amphitheatre.



Around AD 240 another coin appeared, this time minted by the imperial mint of Gordian III. It is not really a coin, but a celebrative medallion, produced in a limited series. It seems that there are only two specimens remaining of this coin. The elephant of the first coin seems to be an ostrich in the second one. This time we can see the arena, and there is some action. There is a bull challenging an elephant, led by a man.
The Haterii tomb might be a rather fanciful design of the
Colosseum. The Haterii were builders and they glorified their trade in the reliefs of the tomb, which is important also for the relief of a building machine. In fact, archaeologists are still discussing the matter of the buildings represented. Above is a drawing of the whole tomb.

 The Colosseum has recently made a comeback on coins, with the Euro. In Italy the back of the 5 cents coin bears the typical postcard image of the monument.

 The Colosseum is the most visited monument in the years 2011 and 2012, as the following tables show.
 It was visited by almost 6 million visitors in 2011 and by
5 million visitors in 2012, presenting a slight reduction in the number of visitors.

No.
Name of the museum Region
1
2
3
4
5
Circuito Archeologico
"Colosseo, Palatino e Foro
Romano" (dal 1° dicembre
2007 il circuito comprende anche il Foro Romano) -
ROMA (b)
Rome
Scavi Vecchi e Nuovi di
Pompei - POMPEI
Galleria degli Uffizi e
Corridoio Vasariano –
FIRENZE
Galleria dell'Accademia di
Firenze – FIRENZE
Pompeii
Florence
Florence
Museo Nazionale di Castel
Sant'Angelo – ROMA
Rome
Total visitors Total gross income
(Euros)
5.931.978
36.285.097,50
2.329.375
1.766.692
1.252.506
981.821
17.735.946,20
8.369.244,25
6.443.739,25
2.316.336,50

No.
Name of the museum Region
1
2
Circuito Archeologico
"Colosseo, Foro
Romano e Palatino" - (Gli istituti componenti non hanno biglietto singolo)
Rome
Scavi Vecchi e Nuovi di
Pompei
Pompeii
3 Galleria degli Uffizi e
Corridoio Vasariano
Florence
4 Galleria dell‘ Accademia di
Firenze
Florence
5 Museo Nazionale di Castel
Sant'Angelo
Rome
Total visitors Total gross income
(Euros)
5.201.268
37.420.445,25
2.312.539
1.770.356
1.225.332
905.787
19.177.024,70
8.702.145,10
6.399.597,75
3.944.570,00

OPENING HOURS (ticket office closes one hour before closing time): from 8:30 am to one hour before sunset (Good Friday 8:30 am
- 2 pm, June 2 1:30 pm - 7:15 pm):
8:30 am - 4:30 pm from January 2 to February 15
8:30 am - 5 pm from February 16 to March 15
8:30 am - 5:30 pm from March 16 to last Saturday of March
8:30 am - 7:15 pm from last Sunday of March to August 31
8:30 am - 7 pm from September 1 to September 30
8:30 am - 6:30 pm from October 1 to the last Sunday of
October
8:30 am - 4:30 pm from the last Sunday of October to
December 31
Closed January 1, December 25

Tickets:
PRICE FOR THE TICKET TO COLOSSEO, FORO
ROMANO and PALATINO valid 2 days:
ADULTS € 12,00
REDUCED FEE € 7,50 for European Union members between 18 and 24 years old
Free for persons under 18 and over 65 years old from the
European Union
Free tickets, under some prerequisites.

Tickets:
ENTRANCE RESERVATION (suggested if you want to avoid the queue) individuals € 2 groups from 14 to max 50 persons obliged reservation for the visit included radio guide, for groups without their own radio-guide, € 21,00 (€ 1,50 each person from 15 to
50),
Schools obliged reservation € 10,00 max 50 pupils;

Tickets:
You can buy the ticket at the Colosseum and book by telephone or online; in fact there are FIVE different ways:
1) At the Colosseum ticket office
2) By telephone
3) Online
4) Archeolologia Card
5) Roma Pass

Tickets:
People with disabilities
 The Colosseum is rather accessible to people in wheelchairs, apart from some steps here and there.
There is a lift to the first floor on the northern side.
Toilets are on the other side, and there is also a shop of books, guides and souvenirs.


How to get there
On Sundays the motor traffic is forbidden and the square of the Colosseum is available to bicycles and strollers. Just outside the Metro station there is a taxi parking, a Bike rental and a bar with tables outside.
 You can also use the public transportation.

 The north side of the outer wall is still standing
(including 31 of the original 80 entrances, together with the part of the building that is between it and the inner wall supporting the top floor colonnade) and practically the whole skeleton of the structure between this inner wall and the arena, that is, the encircling and radiating walls on which rested the cavea with its marble seats, that instead have disappeared.
 What is left of the marble decorations of the
Colosseum? We know that the materials were plundered and re-used in many buildings of the city.

 In the amphitheatre the marble elements were:
 the columns in the portico in summa cavea
 the barriers of the entrances in the cavea
 decorations around the arena and along the corridors around the cavea.
 the first two or three rows of seats, the ones reserved for the Senators
 decorations of niches, maybe with tympanums and trabeations.

 Up to now archaeologists have found:
 65 capitals of columns
 9 bases of columns
 pieces of trabeations and tympana, cornices and consoles
 fragments of the barriers.

 What is interesting is the fact that these blocks were not made on purpose, but had been previously used as a basement in a building (probably they made the base of a barrier) because they still bear the typical beading of composite bases on their back face. This proves that the practice of recycling materials appeared in the
Colosseum from the III century. This should prove that the Colosseum suffered such extensive damage that no marble artifacts of the upper portico survived the II century.

 Another proof of the profound changes made to the original building in the III century comes from the capitals of the columns. Many different types of capitals have been found, but one particular capital, belonging to the most common batch (2/3 of the total) was cut from a block that still bears a dedication to the
Emperor Trajan. The use of marble which came from a monument dedicated to the emperor implies that the batch of capitals had been made at a later date. Most of the capitals and bases have been dated at around the first half of the III century; some items date back to the II century, but none from the Flavian age.

 More precisely, the dating of the elements proves that two main restorations of the Colosseum were carried out in the III century, the first probably started at the time of Macrinus, after a fire, and ended later with the
Antonines. The second was probably carried out at the time of Gordianus III or Decius. More capitals are dated at the second quarter of the V century, after the earthquake of 429 or that of 443-444.
 In addition, only 31 arches of the outer ring, from number XXIII to LIV, have remained intact.

 Hans Christian Andersen
"...like a vast mass of rock."
 Venerable Bede
"While the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the
Coliseum falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, the world shall fall." [Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) quoting a prophecy of Anglo-Saxon pilgrims
 Lord Byron
"... when the rising moon begins to climb/ Its topmost arch and gently pauses there/When the stars twinkle through the loops of time,/The garland forest, which the gray walls wear/ Like laurels on the bald first Caesar's head:/ When the light shines serene but doth not glare/ then in the magic circle raise the dead:/ Heroes have trod this spot --
'this on their dust ye tread.'"

 "Arches on arches! As it were that Rome,/Collecting the chief trophies of her line,/ Would build up all her triumphs in one dome./ Her Coliseum stands; the moonbeams shine/ As't were its natural torches, for divine/ Should be the light which streams here, to illume/ This long-explored but still exhaustless mine/
Of contemplation; and the azure gloom/ Of an Italian night, where the deep skies assume hues that have words, and speak to ye haven,/Floats o'er this vast and wondrous monument,/And shadows forth, its glory.
There is given/



Unto the things of earth, which Time hath bent,/ A spirit's feeling and where he hath learnt/ His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power/ And magic in ruined battlement/ From which the palace of the present hour/ Must yield its pomp and wait till ages are / its dower.
A ruin -- yet what ruin! From its mass/ Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been reared;/ Yet of the enormous skeleton ye pass,/ And marvel where the spoil could have appeared/ Hath it indeed been plundered, or but cleared?/ Alas! developed, opens the decay,/ When the colossal fabrics form is neared:/ It will not bear the brightness of day,/ Which streams too much on all years, man, have/ reft away."

 James Boswell
 It is "hard to tell whether the astonishing massiveness or the equisite tast of this superb building should be more admired."
 Thomas Cole
 "From the great multitude of wondrous things I would select the Colosseum as the object that affected me the most. It is stupendous, yet beautiful in its destruction.
From the broad arena within it rises around, arch above arch, broken and desolate, and mantled in many parts with the laurustimus, the acanthus, and numerous other plants and flowers, exquisite both for their colour and fragrance.



It looks more like a work of nature than man; for the regularity of art is lost, in a great measure, in dilapidation, and the luxuriant herbage, clinging to its ruins as if to mouth its distress, completes the illusion.
Crag rests over crag, great and breezy summits mount into the sky. [Thomas Cole, 1832]
"The mighty spectacle, mysterious and dark, opens beneath the eye more like some awful dream than an earthly reality -- a vision of the valley and shadow of death.... As I mused upon its great circumference, I seemed to be sounding the depth of some volcanic crater, where fires, long extinguished, had left the ribbed and blasted rocks to the wild flowers and ivy.



Charles Dickens
"It is no fiction, but plain, sober, honest Truth, to say: so suggestive is it at this hour: that, for a moment -actually in passing in -- they who will, may have the whole great pile before them, as it used to be, with thousands of eager faces staring down into the arena, and such a whirl of strife, and blood, and dust, going on there, as no language can describe. Its solitude, its awful beauty, and its utter desolation, strike upon the stranger, the next moment, like a softened sorrow; and never in his life, perhaps, will he be so moved and overcome by any sight, not immediately connected with his own affections and afflictions."

 Charles Dickens
 "To see it crumbling there, an inch a year; its walls and arches overgrown with green; its corridors open to the day; the long grass growing in its porches; young trees of yesterday, springing up on its ragged parapets, and bearing fruit; chance produce of the seeds dropped there by the birds who build their nests within its chinks and crannies; to climb into its upper halls, and look down on ruin, ruin, all about it; the triumphal arches of Constantine, Septimus
Severus, and Titus; the Roman Forum; the Palace of the
Caesars; the temples of the old religion, fallen down and gone; is to see the ghost of old Rome, wicked wonderful old city; haunting the very ground on which its people trod.

 Charles Dickens
 It is the most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand majestic, mournful, sight, conceivable.
Never, in its bloodiest prime, can the sight of the gigantic
Coliseum, full and running over with the lustiest life, have moved one heart, as it must move all who look upon it now, a ruin. God be thanked: a ruin!"
 As it tops the other ruins: standing there, a mountain among graves: so do its ancient influences outlive all other remnants of the old mythology and old butchery of Rome, in the nature of the fierce and cruel Roman people...."
 "... the most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand, majestic mournful sight conceivable."

 Built in 72 A.D, the Colosseum has remained the largest amphitheater in the world and is considered to be Rome´s most popular tourist attraction. Standing as the iconic symbol of Ancient Rome, this monument that once hosted the inhuman “games” of man vs.
beast, is considered a Modern day Wonder! But there is so much about the Colosseum in Rome that no one knows about! The ten most interesting facts will be presented below:

1) The Coliseum in Rome has over 80 entrances and can accommodate about
50,000 spectators.

2) It is thought that over
500,000 people lost their lives and over a million wild animals were killed throughout the duration of the Colosseum hosted people vs. beast games.
3) The last gladiatorial fights took place in 435 AD.

 4) All Ancient Romans had free entry to the
Colosseum for events, and was also fed throughout the show.
 5) Festivals as well as games could last up to
100 days in the
Colosseum.

 6) The Ancient Romans would sometimes flood the Colosseum and have miniature ship naval battles inside as a way of entertainment.
 7) The Colosseum in Italy took only 9 years to build using over
60,000 Jewish slaves.
 8) Many natural disasters devastated the structure of the
Colosseum, but it was the earthquakes of 847 AD and 1231
AD that caused most of the damage you see today.

9) The original name of the
Coliseum was Flavian
Amphitheater, after the Flavian
Dynasty of Emperors.
10) Rome´s most popular monument was built for three reasons. As a gift to the Roman
Citizens from the Flavian
Dynasty to increase their popularity, to stage various forms of entertainment, and to showcase Roman engineering techniques to the world.

 The Colosseum is unique first, for its durability. It is a marvel of ancient engineering and construction. It is also unique for its underground structures, with their people and animal pens, the elevators, and the storage facilities for the scenery and other backdrops that would be raised for the various events.
 The Colosseum is unique because of its size, its amenities and its age.

 When it was first built it was the largest amphitheater in the Roman world and the most elaborate. It had not only the surface arena floor, which could be flooded for water battles and then quickly drained and dried, but also underground rooms, cells and passageways. In these rooms the gladiators or prisoners waited for their turn "upstairs".

 There were cages for the wild animals and stage scenery. There were also elevators to raise background settings, then animals and men in dramatic fashion.
Furthermore, there was the imperial box and the senatorial section boasted marble seating. Finally, there was even a huge shade that could be pulled over the arena during the times of the hot afternoon sun.
Its age speaks for itself; it began in 72 AD and finished in 80, making it almost 2000 years old!

i.
ii.
Cats
Plants

 300.000 cats live in the Eternal City; 180.000 in the houses and 120.000 in the streets.
 Cats are omnipresent in Rome; they can rightly be considered citizens and a symbol of the Eternal City.
They are so popular that a regional law states that a group of more than 5 cats in the natural urban habitat constitutes a protected feline colony. The animals are entitled to food, shelter and protection, and cannot be kicked out of there. In exchange, the cats have to accept hygienic rules and ... sterilization. This latter measure should keep the feline population under control, so that it can thrive.

 Romans generally love cats, because they are graceful, harmless, clean and keep the rats at bay, but they are not always welcome and there are some criminals (now it is a crime) who poison or beat them.
 In Rome there are thousands of people who voluntarily feed, provide medical care and sterilize cats. They used to be mainly women but now both sexes are represented.
Some of them have created an association, the ARCA, that counts 1000 members. See this site for an example.
 About 200 cats live in the Colosseum. They are rather happy and healthy.

 The Colosseum has a wide and well-documented history of flora ever since Domenico Panaroli made the first catalogue of its plants in 1643. Since then, 684 species have been identified there. The peak was in
1855 (420 species). Attempts were made in 1871 to eradicate the vegetation, because of concerns over the damage that was being caused to the masonry, but much of it has returned. 242 species have been counted today and, of the species first identified by
Panaroli, 200 remain.

 The variation of plants can be explained by the change of climate in Rome through the centuries.
Additionally, bird migration, flower blooming, and the growth of Rome that caused the Colosseum to become embedded within the modern city centre rather than on the outskirts of the ancient city, as well as deliberate transport of species, are also contributing causes. One other romantic reason often given is their seeds being unwittingly transported on the animals brought there from all corners of the empire.

 http://www.capitolium.org/eng/imperatori/circenses.
htm
 http://www.mariamilani.com/colosseum/colosseum_ naumachiae.htm
 http://www.mariamilani.com/colosseum/colosseum.h
tm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum
 http://www.thecolosseum.net/history/chronology.htm
 http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/maps.htm
 http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/h1.htm








 http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/medium.htm
http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/quarry.htm
http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/vetustate.htm
http://www.thecolosseum.net/history/imperatores.htm
http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/reflect.htm
http://www.thecolosseum.net/architecture/descriptio_en.htm
http://www.thecolosseum.net/architecture/imago_en.htm
http://www.thecolosseum.net/architecture/marbles_en.htm

 http://www.thecolosseum.net/architecture/materials_en.htm
 http://www.the-colosseum.net/around/gatti_en.htm
 http://www.the-colosseum.net/around/visit.htm\
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphitheatre