COLOSSEUM OPENED IN THE YEAR 80 AD.
It used to be very grand, covered with marble and adorned by statues.
Wikipedia has a good description of what happened to it and how it became what it is today.
I won't get half the information right.
Got a ton of history crammed into my head in the last 17 days.
COLOSSEUM BY DAY
The underground labyrinths are exposed now, but all of that used to be covered with a wooden floor with sand on top where the games took place.
At the far end they have recreated a similar floor how it used to be.
Following is a model recreated to show how the seating was.
Compartments underground where the animals were kept.
The gladiators waited on one side, while the animals were on another.
COLOSSEUM AT NIGHT
Spooky here at night.
Down in the dungeons were the animals were kept.
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ELEVATORS in 80 AD !!
Recreation of an elevator used by the gladiators.
Took 8 slaves to work the elevator. They'd turn this wheel.
This trap door lifted and the gladiator would rise from the depths onto the floor above where the spectators waited in the bleachers.
Incidentally, this door was rebuilt and paid for when they made the Gladiator movie, so it was a bonus that the Italians didn't have to pay for. I think it was the Russell Crowe movie. Will have to watch it again now, after having been to the Colosseum twice now.
There were one million people in Rome in the 1st century. Each existing emperor wanted to keep the people happy and satisfied. (Would have kept any crime down.) Giving everybody free access to the games was part of what they did to maintain that. When the animals died, the poorer people were offered the meat to take home. I think the guide said they would get meat about once a year. Lived mostly on fish and vegetables.
Every family was given a "ticket" to get into the games. It must have been a piece of stone. On it was stamped a Roman Numeral, which told them what gate to come in. You can see all the entrances they had to get in. All the arches had a number over them. This made the entrance orderly and kept one million people from trampling each other trying to get in.
Example on the model below, there is X, number 10, above one door.
