The Colosseum

Yesterday we got a 2 hour tour through the Colosseum and it was awesome.   We had just watched Gladiator the night before to get us excited for it, so when we were inside we could just imagine the throngs of people shouting "maximus".  The Colosseum was built by the emperor Vespasion for the people to enjoy, he died before it was built in 80 AD.  It has been standing for almost 20 centuries, but it was only used for the first 4 centuries for the games.   The Colosseum is so idolized, but it was really used for horrible purposes.  Over 3,000 gladiators died in that arena, and 6000 animals. But that is what the crowd loved to see. It had a wooden floor, with sand over it. The purpose of the sand was to soak up the blood. (thats where we get the name 'arena' from, it means sand on the floor). The women would sit on the very top level for two reasons: they were lower class, and because the blood would spray on them if they were any lower!  

In the pictures you can see the open floor of the colosseum, these were the little rooms and halls where the gladiators and animals would wait underneath until they were raised up on the floor.  All the seats haven't been preserved (because they were made of marble, and the Vatican took all the marble from the colosseum) so you have to use your imagination of what it must have looked like.  Part of the colosseum has collapsed because of iron robbers who came in and took some 3 tons of iron clamps that held the limestone together, (thats why there are holes all over the colosseum). So when  a earthquake hit, part of the colosseum couldn't stay up.  It was partially restored with brick, but everything else has not been modified.  

The reason why the bloody games stopped was because of the rise of Christianity. The emperor Constantine was christian, and they put up the arch of constantine next to the Colosseum to show the triumph over paganism, and the legalization of christianity. 

We brought lunch and ate within the colosseum, trying to imagine what it must have been like. It was really exciting!