A G: Italy Day 4 - Rome Day 4 Part 2 by Gordon, Colosseum, Trajan's Column, Piazza Venezia & Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Italy Day 4 - Rome Day 4 Part 2 by Gordon, Colosseum, Trajan's Column, Piazza Venezia & Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica

Colosseum, Trajan's Column, Piazza Venezia and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica

~ Gordon

Colosseum & Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

The Colosseum is one of the most famous attractions in Rome. The emperor Vespasian started building it for public entertainment. The Colosseum can be very bloody with around 1 million animal deaths, and 600 thousand people died in total all time. It is expensive to maintain, and collapsed over time. Usually the crowds would get to decide whether a gladiator died with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Up meant that the gladiator lived, down meant the gladiator was to die.

Slaves, criminals and volunteers (gladiators) all stepped down and to fight in the Colosseum. With its length of 83 meters by 48 meters, the Colosseum is in a circular shape held up by around 600,000 lbs. of iron. That’s a lot! It has collapsed though. Can you believe that the colosseum has 2 names? The Colosseum and the Flavian Amphitheater!

Commodus, a crazy emperor, competed in the Colosseum. The rules were that you could not injure Commodus (it was hard to anyways, since the sword the gladiators got were wooden), but the emperor could injure you (or kill you as the emperor’s sword was sharp and made of metal). It was an easy win if you ask me. Commodus sometimes preferred not to go down into the arena, but to stay behind railing. Once, Commodus killed 100 lions with only 100 spears. Imagine how accurate he must have been!

The Colosseum was abandoned for some time. After the fall of Rome, the popes were basically Christian rulers. That is why people obeyed when one of the popes, Pope Benedict XIV, wanted to turn the Colosseum into a sacred place because he claimed it was covered with the blood of Christian martyrs.

Colosseum has an awesome striking history with lots of amazing highlights. I wonder if the Colosseum was painted during the strong-point of Rome. I have so many question to ask, but I have to wait until next time.