The Colosseum

On October 2nd we spend a wonderful day exploring Ancient Rome. It was so interesting, especially for the engineer in Erik. He was amazed at what the Romans built, structures that had nothing close to the technology and durablity duplicated for hundreds of years after Rome fell. We got up pretty early to catch a bus, then the Metro to arrive at the Colosseum right when it opened.

Construction began on the Colosseum in 72AD by Vespasian and was completed by 80 AD by his son Titus. It could hold up to 60,000 people. In about the Middle Ages the Colosseum was abandonded and thus started many years of plunder and destruction to the structure. It was built with many fine materials such as travertine rock and marble. There was an earthquake in 1349 in which a large portion of the walls and the supporting arches on the exterior collapsed. The travertine blocks and marble were used to fix other buildings damages and later to help built St. Peters' Cathedal. In the 18th Centrury, Pope Benedict XIV dedicated it to the Passion of the Christ and had a Cross erected that still stands today, thus saving it from further destruction. Here is what we saw when we got there:

Erik in front of the Colosseum about 8am:Our first look inside!

This picture show some of the spectators seats, the flat looking riser areas above the arches and what they think were latrines used by the senators. Theses are the tall squares in the brick, they found grooves in the bottom that ran into a gutter. This is me in front of the pit area. This was actually covered by a floor, you can see a reconstruction of the floor in the background. This is where they kept the wild animals and gladiators awaiting their turn in the ring. Here is a close up of some of the arches inside:This shows where some of the other "layers" of the Colosseum were peeled away by earthquakes and other desruction.Here's a good shot of the outside later in the afternoon: See part two of ancient Rome tomorrow with The Roman Forum, Palentine Hill, Pantheon and more.