Colosseum, Rome

The Colosseum is one of the most recognized landmarks of Imperial Rome that exists today and became a definite 'must-see' for me while in Italy. Experience from past travels encouraged me to locate myself within walking distance to as many local highlights as possible, not only to save on transportation costs but to enjoy these landmarks in context of their neighborhood. I was fortunate to find a hotel online, named the Caesar Hotel, located at the center of Rome so the Colosseum and other ancient ruins would be within easy walking distance.

To give you a flavor of my neighborhood in Rome, imagine going for a walk after dinner on a nearby cobblestone street and looking up to see the Colosseum at the end of it! When this happened after my first day there, it seemed like I was walking on a set from the movie Roman Holiday... I kept looking for Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn to ride by on a bike =)

During my stay in Rome I learned a number of interesting facts, like:

• slaves and prisoners of war were forced to construct many of the ancient buildings, like the Colosseum under the direction of Flavian dynasty emperors (following the reign of Nero) during the years 72-96 AD
• the Colosseum was primarily made of large stone from a local quarry, chiseled, put into place via brute strength and later tied together with iron clamps to hold in place
• these clamps were removed during the Middle Ages since metal was scarce yet the building still stands nearly 2000 years later

Our guide also informed us that:

• the Colosseum was built on land that used to occupy a man-made lake; this land was originally part of Nero's Domus Aurea or palace grounds as seen in the above pictures
• the original name of the Colosseum was Amphitheatrum Flavium but people started referring to it as "the building beside the colossal statue of Nero" which stood nearby and was similar to the famous statue Colossus of Rhodes... hence, the nickname Colosseum took hold

The closer I got to the Colosseum on the day of the tour, the more I was amazed at this towering structure. I didn’t notice this at first but our guide highlighted that the exterior relief columns on the first level is of Doric design, the columns along the second level is Ionic while the upper third tier has Corinthian columns.

The exterior is quite intriguing in and of itself with its 80 arched gates at ground level, intended to effectively move estimated crowds of 50-60,000. Even 2000 years ago authorities were concerned about crowd control! Visitors would have their ticket in hand – made from a piece of pottery – and enter/exit from the gate identified via roman numeral. We were standing at gate 10, as identified by the X above the arch.

It obviously wasn’t enough to just see the Colosseum from the outside, so I arranged to go on an extended tour that included the arena, underground chambers and upper tier. Our guide took us through a locked gate into the middle of the arena where the action once took place.

As it was, the Colosseum from the 1st to 5th centuries was used for (what I would term) gruesome entertainment that could last all day – audiences could observe simulated animal hunts in the morning, executions of criminals at high noon, and to-the-death gladiator combats in the afternoon.

The arena floor was built with a wooden platform covered by sand. In this way, the sand could soak up blood while trap doors could be built and used to elevate animals onto the arena floor from below. Nothing like entertaining the audience with an element of surprise such as introducing a hungry lion into the arena.

I expressed my surprise that crowds would enjoy watching people die but our guide explained that people back then had a different view of death: they were more concerned about how they died than when they died. We were told slaves and thieves often wanted a chance to die in a 'dignified manner' as hero before crowds, which would elevate their status, rather than simply die execution style somewhere behind the scenes.

This thinking ended after the year 538 when Christian rulers did not want to be responsible for putting criminals or slaves to a premature death since Christians believe that God should be in control of when and how a person dies.

Not only were we able to see what lay beneath the arena floor from above (since the wooden platform disintegrated) but we were allowed to visit the maze of rooms and corridors underground. For instance, our group walked the same corridors where gladiators were held for days and escorted to the arena, visited the man-powered elevators that hoisted animals and scenery through trap doors to the arena above and got a close-up view of the construction of the Colosseum's foundation.

Before our tour group left the Colosseum, we went up quite a few flights of stairs to get to the upper tiers. These steps were not exactly easy to navigate and I learned the steep uneven stairways were intended to slow the movement of crowds. Hence, soldiers were able to monitor the masses better when the people had to watch where they were going as they climbed up and down. After visiting the upper tiers, I can imagine it would have been difficult for the lower class (who were forced to sit there) to see exactly what was going on in the arena below... but the views of Rome were amazing from up there!