The Colosseum

The Colosseum is one of Rome's main tourist attractions. Its construction was started by emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty in 72 AD and was finished by his son Titus in 80 AD. The Colosseum was about 500 metres in circumference, could seat over 50,000 people – some scholars estimate capacity crowds numbered as many as 87,000 – and could be filled or emptied in ten minutes through a network of vomitoria that remains the basic model for stadium design today.

In the giant ‘ruins’ of the Colosseum, you can visit the stands, the arena and the underground spaces of the largest Roman amphitheatre. In the Colosseum, if costly, highly trained professional gladiators were often spared at the end of their bloody bouts, not so the slaves, criminals and assorted unfortunates roped in to do battle against them.

And just to make sure there was no cheating, when the combat was over, corpses were prodded with red- hot pokers to ensure no one tried to elude fate by playing dead. Animals fought animals; people fought animals. By the time wild animal shows were finally banned in AD 523, the animal population of North Africa and Arabia was severely depleted.

Location: Piazza del Colosseo, Rome, Italy

Website: https://www.rome.net/colosseum

Tel: 39 06 3996 7700

Hour: 9:30 AM - 16:30 PM

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