The Roman Colosseum.

We walked there….. And believe me, when this ancient building came into sight, a chill went up my spine and I got goose bumps. I’m still having a WOW moment and it’s days past that I’m writing this.

Of course it’s under renovation and you’ll see that in some of the pictures a bit later.

Most like everything else that I visit I tend to look for and at the things the usual tourist don’t. I was in awe ( of everything, but…) of the pillars. Yeah, they hold up the building and people take them for granted but…..there were some ( a lot) that were just fallen and had been rolled to their resting place possibly to be restored and used. I like that sort of stuff. Look.

To the left is a limited view of the the fallen columns. If I sit on any of them my feet don’t touch the ground…as a matter of fact, they hang to about 3/4 of the way down! The center column is free standing in a blocked off area where statues, columns and such are being restored. That’s what the lady is doing there. I’m sure that whatever she is using wasn’t from Home Depot. and the far right one is a ‘huge’ support column (there’s 2 like this) in a large arched area looking out towards Palatine Hill where we’ll find the Roman Forum and Ceasar’s buriel area. If you scroll back up to the picture of the colosseum at the top….look to the left at the highest portion and the second floor (from the bottom) and that’s where this is at. Another thing about that picture to the right. You’ll notice the huge chunk that is broken off on the corner that faces me.

The Roman Colosseum was not all fun and games….

I have mixed feelings about this place. The history of it has me in awe….it’s still here, I touch the walls where ancient Roman’s hustled around for their day of entertainment. By the way, Roman citizen’s were admitted for free…. Not bad. But back to my mixed feelings. This was a horrible place!! Upwards to 400,000 people were killed here and 1,000,000 animals. During intermissions of entertainment an individual would be brought out naked and defenseless and executed by a wild Animal. The spectators would watch as the animal would tear the body apart. Supposedly this was a bad person condemned to death. Supposedly.

The only way the killings of humans and animals was stopped wasn’t out of conscience but out of finances. It was costly for the capture and keep of the animals and early on the colosseum was deteriating so the cost of the upkeep was too much too. Thus, lives of humans and animals were sparred. BUT….there were other places around to share this sickening sport….for lack of any other word.

Now, the view you see here above is as a cuttaway version. There’s restoration work being done on the underlyings of the colosseum known as the hypogeum (which litarally means ‘underground’). This hypogeum was covered with wood and sand on top. This is where the gladiators fought and the animals feasted.

It consisted of a two-level subterranean network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. Eighty vertical shafts provided instant access to the arena for caged animals and scenery pieces concealed underneath; larger hinged platforms, called hegmata, provided access for elephants and the like. It was restructured on numerous occasions; at least twelve different phases of construction can be seen. Thanks Wikipedia.

Roman Colosseum!!! Free admission!!!!

If you look to the opposite side you’ll see the flooring that made the colosseum floor (not this one, this is new, but you know what I mean) that covered the whole arena floor that was covered with sand.

Russel Crowe was nowhere to be found.

Here’s another unique aspect of the colosseum. Periodically it would be flooded and scaled down versions of battleships would be brought in to re-inact battles!!

In the bottom photo to the left about midway you’ll see a cross. It was to the left of that is where the Emperor would enjoy his entertainment surrounded by scantly clad women. And grapes….I think they fed him grapes and used a fan during the summer months to keep him cool.

Along the outer section walkway on the second floor is like a museum….

Should you visit Rome and the colosseum, here’s a word of advice. For the colosseum you get admission to the collosseum and The Palatine Hill. Get the ‘Super Ticket’. There’s a few sights at Palatine Hill that you’ll want to get access to. I didn’t get this and regretted it. Approach your visit like you’ll never get to see this stuff again and you can’t go wrong. The extra Euros are worth it.

Peace, love, and beaches,

John