Coliseum

The coliseum is a huge structure that began being built in 70 AD and was
finished in 82 AD. It is located in the middle of Rome, Italy. This magnificent
building was the meeting place for all Romans and is still an important artifact. In
this gigantic building there were gladiators that would battle to the death, and
when gladiators were fighting sometimes one of them would fall down through a
trap door and have to battle a fierce angry animal. There were many different
types of animals such as lions, elephants, hippopotamuses, and bears. The
Coliseum began being built under the rule of Emperor Vespasian. The area where
they chose to build the Coliseum was a flat valley in between the Caelian,
Esquiline, and the Palatine hills. In 217 the Coliseum was damaged by a lighting
strike that caused a major fire. This fire damaged the upper interior and the
coliseum was badly enough damaged that it wasn’t repaired until 240. It then got
further repairs in 250 and then again in 320. Another name for the coliseum is
amphitheatre; there were many other amphitheatres that were made of wood
but the stone amphitheatres were the ones that provided to be much more
durable. The oldest amphitheatre was built in the first century and is in Pompeii,
and this amphitheatre sat twenty thousand people.

Why Was the Coliseum Built?

The Coliseum was primarily built to honour the three Roman Emperors;
their names were Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. The first Emperor Vespasian
ruled for ten years and in that time he started to build the Coliseum. The next
Emperor Titus only had his position for two short years and after he was replaced
the Coliseum was very close to finished. Once the third Emperor’s time came to
be the leader of Rome the Coliseum was pretty much finished so all he did was
add some finishing touches. The Coliseum was built by these Emperors to show
their wealth and power. Another reason the Coliseum was built was so that the
people of ancient Rome had somewhere to meet and watch live entertainment.
The entertainment was a lot different than the entertainment in the twentieth
century it was real life action people fought to the death.
 The Coliseum Entertainment

The Coliseum had entertainment like none other, it was violent disgusting
and just sad that anyone would like to watch that kind of thing in real life. In the
time that the coliseum had entertainment more than 500,000 people died and
over 1 million animals died, which are huge numbers. Some of the different types
of entertainment included animal hunts, executions, gladiatorial contests, and
mock sea battles. The Coliseum had entertainment that would usually go on for
the whole day. In one day sometimes 5000 animals died and 100 gladiators
fought. The Coliseum would be flooded with people when there was an event, it
was made to hold 55,000 people and on the day there was an event it would be
crowded. The coliseum had many different types of fights the most popular ones
included gladiator vs. gladiator, animal vs. gladiator, and animal vs. animal. In
animal vs. Animal fights two animals would fight to the death, and before the
fight the animals were starved so that they would put up a good fight and want to
eat each other.
 The Gladiators of the Coliseum

Gladiators that fought in the coliseum had many different reasons to be

there some of the gladiators were slaves and were forced to fight. Most
gladiators were criminals, slaves, and prisoners of war. Not all gladiators that
fought in the coliseum were slaves some were volunteers that wanted the
fame and excitement. Anyone who became a gladiator automatically was
remembered and had a chance to become a favourite in the gladiator fights.
Gladiators went into training and learned how to use a dagger, sword, bow
and arrow, and many other weapons. When their time came to fight each
gladiator got to pick their choice of weapon to battle with. Two types of
gladiators included the:

Thracian - wore ocrea on both legs, carried a small square shield, wore
either a full visored helmet or an open faced helmet with a wide brim, and
carried a curved Thracian sword with an angled bend in the blade.

Secutor - took his name from the term for pursuer and fought virtually
naked and bald, carrying a large oval or rectangular shield and a sword or
 dagger, wearing an ocrea on the left leg, leather bands at the elbow and
wrists and a round or high visored helmet.

The picture on the

left is the area where all the gladiators trained and got prepared for battle.
Whenever a gladiator won a battle or survived a round they got paid money, and
if they survived three to five years they were free and didn’t have to fight any
more.

My Experience at the Coliseum

In the summer of 2009 my family and I went on a vacation to Italy, this trip
included many different places in Italy and I have to say my favourite was Rome.
When I was in Rome I found it very interesting because I learned so much history
that it was hard to remember it all once I got home. When I was there I went on a
few tours that I found very interesting but after a while a little boring. But when it
came time for our tour of the Coliseum I knew it was going to be amazing because
it was different than anything I have ever seen before. At the beginning our tour
guide took us to places that were around the coliseum they were called Forum,
and as we went along it was very interesting because our guide told us the story
of an emperor that was a crazy man. He had gone completely crazy over his
power and killed both his wife and his daughter, he got so crazy that he went into
every village and killed the men in a nasty way which included decapitating them.
Farther into the tour, our guide took us into the coliseum and showed us where
the trap doors were and where the emperor sat. He then told us that under the
floor were animals and before the entertainment began had been tortured in
such a way that if a gladiator was to fall down he wouldn’t have an easy time
getting out. Also on our tour the guides showed us around the training facilities
and let us have a look at the stone statues and engraved messages. After the tour
was over I was completely amazed of the stories he had told us, but at the same
time disgusted that Romans found it entertaining to watch real men fight for their
lives and die.

Bibliography for Websites

http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/colosseo.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum

http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/gladiators.html

http://legvi.tripod.com/gladiators/id1.html

http://www.roman-colosseum.info/colosseum/index.htm

http://www.historylink102.com/Rome/roman-enterniment-coliseum.htm
 Bibliography for Pictures

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