Month: March 2013

The Colosseum is an amphitheatre built in the centre of Rome by Emperor Vespasian from 72AD – 80AD. It was then further modified by Vespasian’s son, Domitan, from 81AD- 96AD. He added tunnels underneath for slaves and animals. The reason it was called ‘the Colosseum’ was because it was built near the giant statue ‘Colossus’. It was slightly modified for a few more years after it was built. The circular building was the biggest amphitheatre in the world being 189m long and 156m wide with a height of 46m. That is a lot of materials like marble! This huge structure could hold about 50,000 spectators. It was used for many things than just gladiator fighting such as animal hunts, executions and even dramas. This building was also used for hundreds of years after it was built and was estimated to have took the lives of about 500,000 people and over a million wild animals. The Romans which attended the events were given free food such as fruit as it grew on the trees around. Since it was free people might have threw their fruit down into the middle of the Colosseum if it was a poor performance. The seating was all set out in chunks. The important people at the bottom closest to the action and the less important to the top. It would go a bit like Senators – important officials – citizens and soldiers – women and slaves. (Bottom to top) Even though so many people sat there watching, it was pretty quick to get out with 76 entrances and exits. There were so many probably because in case of emergencies. Each entrance was numbered and the spectators had tickets that said where to go. In 847 a large earthquake occurred and collapsed the southern side of the Colosseum.