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Walking in History – Coliseum in Rome

In the afternoon of our day in Rome, we took a tour to see the area around the Forum, which includes and is highlighted by, the Coliseum.  Throughout Rome, you will see the Coliseum spelled a number of different ways – I guess from modern day spelling back to the original Roman spelling.  I only say this to explain the different spellings in the titles of the images.  I have processed these images so as to be as close to the feeling they brought up in me as I saw these sights for the first time.  Come join me…..

Colosseo

It was incredible to stand on the outside waiting for our turn to enter the Coliseum and just look up at how immense it is…..and to remember it was built roughly 2,000 years ago. And, today’s stadiums look remarkably similar to this structure – a good idea lasts several lifetimes!

LII

I love the texture of the walls, don’t you?  And, again, the entry way – or gate – is marked in a manner fairly similar to today’s stadiums.  Except, of course, the LII was hand-carved 2,000 years ago – amazing how perfect it is!  And, as a piece of interesting trivia, tickets (which indicated the gate the ticket-holder was to enter the Coliseum) were made of bits of broken pottery shards.

Rough Edge

The years are taking their toll on this magnificent structure, tho.  Take a look at the crumbling, rough edge to one of the arched “windows”.  They are in the process of shoring up parts of the Coliseum but this is not one of those areas.  Still, with this closer in image, you can appreciate even more the workmanship of those ancient builders……and the architect who designed this.

Inside the Colosseo

After climbing up a couple of levels of some very steep stone steps, we reached a level of the Coliseum where we could get an overall view of the inside of this structure.  I have to tell you, some of the stories I remember from the Bible, about the martyred Christians, truly came alive for me when I saw this.  On the far right side of the image, you can see part of what looks to be a floor type structure (it looks white).  This is a rebuild of part of what was the actual floor of the Coliseum.  The area that is below that is the sort of basement is where the animals, gladiators and those condemned to die would be housed until it was their time to appear in the actual Coliseum for battle (or killing, as the case may be).  Above the floor, you can see the various levels of what would have been seats (probably more like stone benches).  The lowest level, closest to the “action”, would be where the rulers and very rich would sit.  Above them, in the middle section (in the area where I was standing when I took this image), would be the middle-class, probably merchants and the like.  At the top level, were the poorest people.  But, a day at the Coliseum was truly a day of barbaric entertainment, and I do use that term loosely.  The day  would begin with the killing of  those considered thieves , which would have included the Christians.  Next on the “agenda”, would be battling animals until death, and then the highlight of the day, the Gladiator battle, which frequently was until death as well.  Very grisly themes for a day of entertainment, but the Romans were not a gentle people.

Emperor Sits at the Cross

Here’s a closer in view of the area where the Emperor would sit.  There is a cross marking that section.  Originally, the cross was put there by one of the Popes (Benedict XIV), when he consecrated the Coliseum as a sacred place, clearly after the time the Christians were martyred there.  The cross that’s there now is a replacement cross put there by Pope John Paul II in 2000.  There are some who question whether the Christians were actually martyred there, but I’m just sticking with what it says in the Bible.  If you are having a tough time finding the cross, it’s in the center of the image, just slightly below the middle of the image.  You can also see it in the previous image, again in the center of the image, but just slightly to the right as you look at the image.  Notice – the Emperor was right now at what we’d now call the sidelines of the “stadium” – in a way, at what would be the 50 yard line of a football field.

Window Thru a Window Thru an Arch

I found some incredibly artistic touches to this place that held such violence, too.  I really like this shot mostly because I love the natural layers there are to the image.  The Coliseum was build much like today’s stadiums, where there is an outer shell surrounding an inner oval structure, with walkways in the space in between them.  That allows for this type of natural layering – We’re looking thru the 2 shells of the Coliseum to a window in a building next to it.

Arches and Windows

Again, some great artistic touches to a magnificent job of building this structure.  The arches were frequently the entrances for people to get from the interior walkways (I wonder – did they have vendors selling food and drink there like they do in today’s stadiums?) into the seating area of the Coliseum.  I’m guessing the windows (no glass, of course) were there in order to allow light to enter the inner walkways and seating area.

Arches Thru Windows

Here’s another image that I really like for the texture and details of the various building materials used to construct the Coliseum.  The windows allow us to look from the inside of the Coliseum thru to the large arches that you see on the outside of the Coliseum.

Floor of the Colosseo and Below

I talked about the basement before, but here’s another view of the floor of the Coliseum and the basement area.  An interesting item about the floor – the original floor was made of wood, covered with sand.  And, in the Roman language, the word for sand is harena or arena.  As you can see, the basement area consisted of, at least in part, a series of small rooms.  It was here that the Gladiators, the thieves/Christians, and the animals would wait until it was their time to go up to the floor.

Below Floor Passageways

And, in this image, you can see some of the passageways that were also down in the basement area.  These passageways seemed to encircle the above small rooms.  It kind of makes me wonder what today’s stadiums look like in their backstage or basement areas. 

Enjoy!