About the Colosseum: 5 interesting facts!

Symbol of the Eternal City, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and most famous amphitheater even built. You may think you know all about the Colosseum, well… I guess you missed these facts!

The building

Let’s start with some numbers about the Colosseum:
Built in/by: 70-80 AD by Vespasian and Titus
Type of structure: Amphitheater
Height: 48,5 m
Surface: 3.357 m²
Arena: 86×54 m
Arches/Entrances: 80
Maximum capacity: 50,000 spectators

The shows

Romans had a “motto”: panem et circenses. As long as people had food and fun, complains were unlikely possible.
The shows at the Colosseum were free for everyone and lasted all day long: in the morning there were fights between animals (the venationes), around midday public executions (noxii) and in the afternoon the gladiator fights (munera). Sometimes, instead of a classical fight, they reproduced an famous battle won by Romans in the past – even some naval combats, the so-called naumachia.

Modern facilities

Romans designed the structure of the Colosseum so that it could comply the necessities of all spectators. It had public toilets, shops and also a curtain on the top to protect spectators in the highest bleacher from the sun. Because of its size, it was quite difficult to set, so there was a special troop of sailors trained with the only purpose of maneuver it!

Gladiators and Gladiatrices

Gladiator fights are among the many reasons why the Colosseum is so famous – thanks also to the movie The Gladiator. We all know about these men fighting in the arena, but usually we don’t know that there were also women.
As well as men, women were incredibly strong and trained to fight with any kind of weapon with the aim of entertaining the audience.

[alert style=”info”]Contrary to popular belief, fights never ended with the death of the gladiators. Training a men or a woman for the shows required a lot of work and money, so each death was a huge loss for the lanista (the trainer). In fat, every time a gladiator/gladiatrix died, the lanista had to be reimbursed. [/alert]

Public executions

As mentioned, around midday it was time for public executions for rebels, traitors, runaway slaves or Christians.
The most popular was the damnatio ad bestias: the condemned had to face beasts in the arena, naked and unarmed. For what concerns crucifixion, only slaves or criminals like Christians could face this sentence; if condemned were Roman citizens, they could only be beheaded.

Interesting, isn’t it? 🙂
If you still have questions regarding the Colosseum, why don’t you send an email? Happy to help you!