The Colosseum

I couldn’t have been much more excited going into our Coliseum visit.  Aside from being one of the coolest historical sites in Rome, it was our first full day here and I could not wait to get our adventures underway. It’s hard to say what exactly I was expecting, but I was most looking forward to a great view from the inside of the stadium.  Everyone has seen beautiful pictures from the outside, but I know very few people who have had the opportunity to go in and walk around.  I would definitely say that the visit exceeded all of my expectations.

            The first thing that I found remarkable was the sheer size of the structure.  The stadium could fit around 87,000 people, bigger even than Camp Randall!  Their innovations in architecture such as the invention of cement and widespread use of arches allowed them to make structures like this far bigger than would have been possible otherwise.  Even so, I can only imagine the amount of time and slave labor was required to complete its construction.  Also, they managed to create a retractable roof out of canvas in order to turn the stadium into a virtual dome when necessary.

            The other aspect of the Coliseum I found fascinating was the progression of the games themselves.  They began initially as funeral games, eventually moving on to animal hunts, executions, and man on man combat.  They even would occasionally flood the stadium and have aquatic battles on boats.  Regarding the executions, I learned that Christianity carried a very negative connotation in the early Roman times, and numerous Christians were killed in addition to criminals, prisoners and slaves.  Often Roman citizens were beheaded and others were crucified, burned or fed to the beasts.  Without a doubt it was a very successful day 1 in Rome.

~ Dylan Lawrence