The Colosseum

Rome's Colosseo still ranks as the world's most famous sports arena, site of gladiator combat and the wholesale slaughter of wild beasts to amuse the public

*** Il Colosseo (The Colosseum or Coliseum)
Piazza del Colosseo
tel. +39-06-700-4261
To book entry or tour: +39-06-3996-7700
www.pierreci.it
Adm

Open daily as follows:
Last Sun in Mar–Aug 31: 8:30am–7:15pm
Sept 1–30: 8:30am–7pm
Oct 1–last Sat in Oct: 8:30am–6:30pm
Last Sun in Oct–Feb 15: 8:30am–4:30pm
Feb 16–Mar 15: 8:30am–5pm
Mar 16–last Sat in Mar: 8:30am–5:30pm

Viator.com tours
• Skip the Line: Ancient Rome and Colosseum Half-Day Walking Tour
• Private Tour: Ancient Rome and Colosseum Art History Walking Tour
• Imperial Rome Afternoon Tour
• Ancient Rome Half-Day Walking Tour
• Private Tour: Imperial Rome Art History Walking Tour
• Rome Photography Walking Tour (doesn't include site admission)
• Rome by Night Walking Tour (no entry)
• Illuminated Rome Night Tour with Dinner (no entry)
• Rome Segway Tour (no entry)
• Rome Hop-on Hop-off Double Decker Bus Tour (no entry)

ReidsItaly.com Rome Map


» View ENLARGED MAP with all listings

TOURS FROM TRUSTED PARTNERS

Intrepid Travel

G Adventures Travel

iExplore
The Colosseum in Rome
The Colosseum in Rome, Italy.

This wide majestic oval with the broken-tooth profile is the world's most famous sports arena.

Started in AD 70 on the filled-in site of one of Nero's artificial fish ponds (see the "Poor Flavians" sidebar below), this grand amphitheater was the "bread and circus" of the Roman Empire, an arena of blood and gore to amuse 50,000 of the masses at a time.

The inaugural contest in AD 80 lasted 100 days and killed off 5,000 beasts—these contests eventually drove to extinction several species, including the Middle Eastern lion and North African elephant—and countless gladiators.

The Life and Death of a Gladiator

Poor Flavians
The official name for this giant sports arena is the Anfiteatro Flavio, or Flavian Amphitheater, because it was started by the Emperor Vespasian in AD 70 and finished by his son Titus in AD 80, and their family name was Flavian. The emperors never really got their due, though, because, even in antiquity, the stadium quickly earned the nickname "colosseum" (in Italian, colosseo).

See, before there was an arena here, there was a giant artificial fish pond built by Nero as part of his imperial pleasure gardens connected to the famed Domus Aurea, or Golden House.

Nero being Nero, his palatial complex (most of which lies buried under the hill just NNW of the Colosseum) included an enormous statue of himself as the god of the sun in gilded bronze. At 35m (115 ft), this was the largest bronze statue ever constructed, and the idea was to outdo the famed Wonder of the Ancient World, the Colossus of Rhodes.

The statue was known as the Colossus of Nero, or simply "The Colossus," and when Hadrian moved the thing (it took 24 elephants) to stand beside the Flavian Amphitheater in the early 1st century AD, the nickname spread to the arena as well. (Which, incidentally, is why it's properly spelled "Colosseum" and not "Coliseum.)"

The last remnants of the statue were destroyed in 1936, though you can still see its raised base, 7m (23 ft) to a side and planted with an ilex grove, at the end of Via dei Fori Imperiali between the road and the Colosseum.
The Colossus of Nero as Sun King standing by the Colosseum on a San Martino stamp.

Russell Crowe aside, professional gladiators were young men (sometimes women) who, either poor or ruined, slaves or criminals, were lured by the promise of prize riches to sell themselves into a kind of slavery to the trainers and lead brutish, dangerous lives.

If a gladiator was seriously wounded but not mortally, he stretched out on the ground and raised his left arm for mercy. The victor then usually decided his opponent's fate, however, when the emperor was around, he got to make the call, giving us a gesture we still use today.

Gauging the crowd's reaction, he judged whether to spare the loser by flashing the thumbs-up signal, or give the order to finish him off by gesturing thumbs down.

(Some spoilsports would have us believe the two gestures in ancient times were actually thumbs-down for death and thumbs-sideways for life; I try to ignore these people.)

The only release from gladiatorial life was death in the ring or the granting by the emperor of the rudis, a wooden sword that signaled a dignified, well-earned retirement from the games.

Incidentally, Christians were not thrown to the lions here—or at least an event was probably never billed as such.

It was true that oftentimes prisoners were tossed into the arena to fight to the death with wild animals, and since Christianity was outlawed at various times during the Empire, Christ worshippers were probably among those unfortunates on occasion. But it's unlikely many screamed for Christian blood by name.

How to Build a Colosseum

Architecturally, the Colosseum is a poster child for the classical orders of architecture: three levels of arcades set with by niches once filled by statues and supported by columns that became more ornate with each level, following the Greek orders of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, respectively.

A fourth level, plainer in design, supported an apparatus of pulleys, beams, and canvas that created a retractable roof, winched out by a specially trained troupe of sailors to shade the seats from sun and rain. (Astrodome, eat your heart out.)

Visiting the Colosseum

The interior of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy.
The interior of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy.The most impressive aspect of the Colosseum is viewing it from afar, admiring that unmistakable silhouette, the symbol of Rome itself. The interior is, frankly, a bit disappointing, although the recent reopening of the upper levels to visitors has dramatically improved a visit (and goes a long way to justifying the admission price).

"While the Colosseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Colosseum falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, the world shall fall."
—AD 7th century Anglo-Saxon pilgrims' proverb, quoted by the Venerable Bede

The Colosseum fell into disuse as the empire waned; earthquakes caused considerable damage, and later generations recycled its stone building blocks and marble cladding as a mine of precut building materials for their medieval buildings, Renaissance churches, and baroque palaces. The seats are gone, as is the wooden floor, though one-fifth of it has been restored so you can see how it once appeared.

The overall impression, though, is that of a series of nested broken eggshells of crumbling brick, littered with lazing cats and cupping a maze of walls in the center (these walls mark the corridors and holding pens for the animals, equipment, and gladiators).

Booking entrance tickets
Book your entry ticket to the Colosseum ahead of time and save yourself an hour in line. Bonus: the ticket also includes the Palatine Hill: tel. +39-06-3996-7700, or on-line at www.pierreci.it

You'll notice as you're waiting in line (though you should book tickets ahead of time; see sidebar) a huge marble arch standing alone between the Colosseum and the back entrance to the Roman Forum. This is the Arch of Constantine, one of the largest of Rome's ancient triumphal arches.

Tips

Related pages


   ShareThis

Intrepid Travel

Search ReidsItaly.com

This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

about | contact | faq

» THE REIDSITALY.COM DIFFERENCE «

Copyright © 2008–2011 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.