The Colosseum

Today we went to the Colosseum! It was really cool because we had a tour guide and were able to learn what really happened there!
The Colosseum was originally built by Vespasian and wasn't called the Colosseum, it was called Flavian Amphitheater. The name has changed over time. People began calling it the colossal, as in large and it some how ended up as Colosseum in the end. Another interesting fact about the the Coliseum is that it was originally given as a gift from Vespasian to the city of Rome as a gift and was meant for plays and performances, not for slaughters, battles, and hunting.
As I said earlier they didn't continue to use this arena for plays, as it was meant, instead it was used for hunting in the morning, mid-day human executions, and evening battles.
Now when you think of this arena, you probably think it's a bunch of bleachers with a stage or field in the middle, sorry your wrong, it is way more complicated than that! The seating itself could probably hold around 50,000 people, including the slaves and women; who sat on the top of the stadium, the men; who sat in the middle, the senators and important people; who sat in the "V.I.P" section, and the Emperor; who sat in his very own fancy, box seat.
The Colosseum also has a stage with 80 trap doors leading to underground compartments.





Now when you think of what they did in the arena, you should probably think about something along the lines of the "Hunger Games," except for this wasn't for food and it was real. The daily schedule for the events in the arena went like this;
MORNING- The Romans would hunt in the stadium. They used real animals, not trained or fake or anything. Real! And they would recreate where you could find the animal and what it would really be like to hunt it. For example, they would put a Siberian tiger in the arena. Next they would make it like a zoo habitat for the tiger. Then, well, they would put you in there with a spear or sword or knife and see who won. You can kind of guess how that went...

AFTERNOON- they would have the human executions. You would be sentenced to slaughter for stealing, murder, disobeying the emperor, etc.
Now, this wasn't your normal beheading or hanging you would usually hear about. The Romans decided to get creative. They would recreate the deaths of gods. For example, Orpheus. Orpheus was a god who played beautiful, beautiful music that could put almost anyone into a trance. This is sad for the man who was about to be slaughtered in the arena, here's what happened to him: One day Orpheus is walking along and is by a tree in the meadow, (the man in the arena is tied to a tree in the middle), when a lion comes out of the woods, but the lion falls asleep from Orpheus's beautiful music, (lion falls asleep), next a wild boar comes out, (boar comes out from the side of the stage), but the music makes him run by orpeus without a scratch, (the boar runs by the man), suddenly a bear comes out of the woods, (bear comes out from the stage), sadly for Orpheus ,and the man in the arena, bears are tone deaf. Therefore the bear kills Orpheus, (and mauls the poor man tied to the tree in the arena).

EVENING- in the evening there would be Gladiator battles. There were men (sometimes women) gladiators that fought in the arena to the death.......sometimes. It was an interesting thing though because, for example, let's say that one gladiator has the sword (ormwhatever weapon was popular at the time) to the other gladiator's throat, he won't kill him, he will look up at the Emperor and the emperor will give a thumbs up or a thumbs down, decide if he should kill him or not.
This was the daily life of the Colosseum, hope you enjoyed! :)



Marin

Location:Largo dei Librari,Rome,Italy