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A brief history of the Colosseum

The history of ancient Rome is full of wars, battles, buildings and conquers. Starting from 753 BC until the beginning of the middle ages, Rome was an ever-expanding “urbe“.

Today we can admire the archaeological remains that witness the ancient Roman splendour. These works allow us to understand what life was like during Imperial Rome.

For this reason once in Rome, you can’t miss the biggest “stadium” in the whole “eternal city“! Here you will find a brief history of the Colosseum, the most famous and impressive testimony of ancient Rome.

The origins of the Colosseum

View of the Colosseum by Armigru – Pixabay

In 68 D.C. Emperor Nero dominates Rome. The avid ruler increases the taxes on citizens.  Immediately he orders the construction of his new residence the Domus Aurea. But not happy enough, he demands to place his 36-foot-tall bronze statue outside his private house known as “Colosso”.

For this reason, the discontent spreads all around Rome. Nero sends Vespasian to extinguish all the riots but in the end, the Roman Senate declares Nero has an enemy of the state and the Emperor commits suicide.

Thus began a moment of strong instability for Rome. Three different emperors succeeded each other. But in 70 AD the Senate named Vespasian as Emperor. Vespasian must conquer the plebs. He decides to completely discard the Domus Aurea and build a huge arena visible from every point of Rome.

In the first century AD, the city of Rome had about one million inhabitants. For this reason, the Flavian family decides to create an arena that represented their new power. But the goal was also to control the population and calm it down.

It took less than ten years to build the Flavian Amphitheatre. In 80 AD Vespasian’s son Tito inaugurated the Colosseum. He then proclaimed 100 days of games, including the first games between gladiators and wild animals. About 9,000 animals were killed including cranes and four elephants, one hundred lions and leopards, three hundred bears.

The structure of the Colosseum

Colosseum by Matthias_Lemm – Pixabay

Today the Colosseum is almost 1.950 years old and is one of the most visited places in Italy. Millions of tourists stop to observe and venture inside to know more about it.

But how was the Colosseum initially?

The Colosseum was 50 meters high and had 4 floors and also 80 arches that contained statues. His arena was the size of a football field. The last level of the building supported a very large tent with 240 poles, to protect the crowd from the sun.

The Romans built the Colosseum using 200 thousand stones coming from the quarries of Tivoli. But they also used the “opus cementitious” (a cement formed by lime and sand) which allowed the structure not to fall. Later they decide to experiment and invent their own brick and so the Romans combined different materials to build the structure on a large scale.

Originally the amphitheatre was entirely white, covered with travertine marble slabs. In fact, what we admire today is only the skeleton of the structure.  If you look carefully you can still see the remaining marble nails that allowed the plates to remain in place. The Romans knew that iron nails would rust and that they would ruin the marble slabs.

The Colosseum contains also two underground levels. Inside them, many gladiators, criminals but also animals attended the fights. In the basement, there were special effects and sets used on the ground floor. They were brought to the ground floor with the use of winches and trapdoors that you can still admire today.

The terraces where the crowd could sit were covered entirely in marble.  The terraces could hold 50 to 70 thousand spectators. The Roman plebeians could only sit on the upper terraces while magistrates, senators, vestals and priests could sit at the lowest terraces and balconies.

Shows and games in the arena

The arena by Ichigo121212 – Pixabay

According to ancient sources, the “Ludi” (aka games) initially had a funerary origin. They were born to please the spirits of the dead through the use of sacrifices. But later on, the Romans turned this practice into a show to ensure electoral support.

With the construction of the Colosseum, the games took place more and more often. Over time the shows in the Flavian Amphitheatre became real carnage, but not only. During the fighting, the death sentences were carried out.

For example in 167 BC after the victory of Rome over Macedonia, the Emperor had all the Roman deserters trampled by elephants.

This “spectacular” execution was called “ad bestias” and was used for the condemned but also for the Christians.

The games in the Colosseum had also the intent to amaze the entire audience. Exotic animals, impressive armours, music and different choreography were used during the games.

For this reason, gladiatorial schools were born throughout Italy to train real specialists. The most famous were the schools of Pompeii and Capua in which the famous Spartaco trained.

Until Emperor Constantine I banned all the games. But despite the ban, the gladiators held the games in places far from the Emperor’s city.

The different gladiators

A gladiator in the arena by Franck Barske – Pixabay

The gladiators weren’t all alike. They had different weapons and armours as:

1. “retiarius“: using a trident and a net;
2. “mirmillo“: it had a shield and a helmet in the shape of a fish’s tail;
3. “secutor“: equipped with helmet, sword and shield;
4. “thrax“: equipped with a curved sword and an oval shield;
5. “essedari“: they used a cart;
6. “saggitarius“: they used arrows.

What happened before the games?

A few days before the event in the Colosseum, the investors published programs throughout the entire city.

They contained information about the games, but also the names of the participants. The evening before the event the gladiators and the condemned to death had the right to a “free dinner“.

Before the games, there was always a “gladiatorial parade” to enter the arena.

The games could last from dawn to dusk, they included single or team fights. But sometimes gladiators could fight against ferocious animals in battles known as “venaciones“.

What happened at the end of the games?

Once finished on the ground the gladiator turned to the emperor to ask for pardon.

But it was the spectators who decided, taking into account the courage and the skills of the wounded gladiator.

They shouted “mitte” to leave him free or “iugula” to deny the gladiator’s grace.

The end of the Colosseum

Colosseum by Pascal Wiemers – Pixabay

In 1322 the last show was held inside the Colosseum, with a “bull hunt” commissioned by the Senate.

But starting from the sixth century the Colosseum fell into disuse.

It was used as a cemetery, as a quarry for the travertine marble used to build San Pietro, Palazzo Barberini and Venice.

Pope Benedict XIV had the walls of the arches restored and with an edict of 1744 imposed penalties for those who caused damage to the structure.

Tickets and timetables

If you would like to visit the Colosseum you will  find two types of tickets:

1. Access to the Colosseum with a visit to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill at € 16 and valid for 24 hours. It allows you only one access to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill

2. Access to the Colosseum + Arena, visit the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill at € 18 and is valid for two consecutive days. It allows you only one access to the Colosseum and its arena, access to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.

The reduced ticket: € 2.00 is reserved for citizens aged between 18 and 25 years Italian, European and non-EU countries.

Visiting hours are from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm with the last entry at 3.30 pm.

To get to the Colosseum from Termini take:

1. Metro B Colosseo stop
2. Bus no. 75 – 81 – 204

You will find more information here at their .