The Colosseum Back to Main Page By Kaci Back to Rome

“Kill the defeated, whoever he may be.” --Gladiator’s proverb

     The Colosseum is located in downtown Rome, Italy once next to a colossal statue of Nero. It was used for entertainment and helped people stay out of trouble because they knew that most likely that person would be thrown in the arena to be executed. Many people and wild animals were killed.The Colosseum was a fabulous building.
    The Colosseum was known as the Falvian Amphitheater but changed its name to the Colosseum because of the colossal statue of Nero standing next to it. The Amphitheater opened in 80 A.D. and it still is one of the best preserved of the Roman buildings. When all of the construction was completed the Colosseum was 187 feet tall.
     The outside walls were built in the first centuries. Stone was used on the outside walls and the parts of the building that held the most weight. The walls were decorated with Greek columns. Between the columns are statues of gods and heroes and at the topmost level the builders hung huge bronze shields. The Inside walls and chambers were made with heavy concrete and brick.
     The arena was surrounded by many seats and could hold up to 50,000 people. There are 76 different entrances each with its own staircase. Under the arena there are underground passages, rooms ,and cells for humans and animals who fought. The floor of the arena had movable wooden sections over the rooms and cells. In the time of Renaissance, builders took stone and marble from the Colosseum to make palaces, but in the 1700 ‘s a man named Pope Benedict told the builders to stop taking stone and marble from the Colosseum.
     A few days before,the events that were going to be taking place at the Colosseum were advertised with colorful signs painted on walls. Heralds walked through the street shouting announcements of the upcoming events. The shows began at dawn with music from an orchestra. The entrance was free, but the people with tickets were allowed in. Tessrae were ivory tokens were used as tickets and the seating was arranged by class. The Emperor sat with his family in a marble box in the front row with senators, priestesses, and important people. Above them were lesser nobles and wealthy citizens. The ordinary male citizens sat in the second row of seats and the third row was for women only. The very top row was for slaves, foreign visitors, and noncitizens.

    The opening events warmed up the audience for the bloodier parts of the show. There were fights between old gladiators armed with dummy weapons. After watching the tightrope-walking, the fights with dummy weapons, and the elephants, they brought out the wild beasts. The animals took parts of different events. The bulls and Rhinos fought and animal fighters fought the animals. They also executed murderers and or robbers by having them tied to a stake. The attendants then let angry lions out of the cages to eat the person.
     The intermission was at midday.   The people who stayed in the arena at lunch got to see the criminals kill each other with swords. After the intermission the best part of the show was announced with a loud trumpet.
     Pairs of specially trained fighters battled sometimes to death. The gladiators walked in a procession dressed in bright colors and marched toward the emperor shouting, “Hail Emperor, we who are about to die salute you!”   The fights ended if a man was killed or asked for mercy. If his appeal for mercy was turned down by the emperor, he was expected to kneel on the ground and allow his head to be cut off without complaining. If the man was killed, the attendants, one holding a scorching iron and the other with a huge hammer, would walk over to the fallen man. Then the attendant would burn him with the iron. If he did move, the other attendant hit him with the huge hammer to finish him off. When he was dead the attendants dragged the body then raked over the blood stained sand for the next fight.
     People started demanding bloodier events, so slaves or condemned prisoners were thrown to the animals to be torn apart. They also let animals kill each other or to be hunted by men.
They flooded the arena so naval combats could be held. The last battles were held in 400 A.D.
     The Colosseum is an extraordinary building. It is one of the best preserved Roman buildings. It has lots of history in it; a great place to learn about. It’s full of exciting things.

Bibliography

Chrisp, Peter. The Colosseum. Austin,Texas: Raintree Publishing, 1997

Hinds, Kathryn. The Ancient Romans. Tarrytown, New York: Marshall Cavendish
Corporation,1997.

Stein, R. Conrad. Rome. New York: Children's Press, 1997.