The Roman Colosseum

The Roman Colosseum is an amphitheatre in the centre of Rome. Its construction started between 70 and 72 AD and was completed in 80 AD by Vespasian and his son Titus. When Vespasian became the new roman emperor, he wanted to show everyone that he cared about the people and not live luxuriously as Nero had. He even tore down most of Nero’s golden house and turned it into a public park. He was a pretty generous emperor.

The Colosseum is capable of seating 50,000 spectators. It was used for animal hunts, re-enactments of famous battles and dramas based on classical mythology.

Below the wooden arena floors of the Colosseum, were sets of rooms and secret passageways for wild beasts. Executions were another thing that was held in the arena. Sometimes the person had to fight with wild beasts, such as lions, and if the person was lucky enough to survive, they would make the person fight another beast the next day, until he or she would die, but they weren’t executing the people for entertainment, some of them had done some serious crime.

The height of each floor is 32 to 42 metres. The total height of the entire structure is 144 metres. The Roman Colosseum had 76 entrances and an extra 4 entrances for emperors, nobles and gladiators. There were tall nets along side the Colosseum to protect the spectators and, the arena of the Colosseum was made up of wood and sand.

The Colosseum was built in Nero’s park near the giant statue of Colossus. In 847, the southern side of the Colosseum was destroyed by an earthquake. Parts of the building including the marble facade were used for the construction of later monuments, including the St. Peter's Basilica.

The floors of the Colosseum have now been removed so that tourist can see the rooms in the basement, where the Romans kept the animals and equipment for the fights, and the chairs were stolen because they were marble and, people burned them to make mortar and cement.

The Roman Colosseum is considered the most impressive building in the Roman Empire, and attracts many tourists to Italy.