When we think of ancient Rome, we think of Caesars, gladiators, lions and early Christians, thumbs-up, thumbs-down… and of the Colosseum, Rome’s most enduring monument.
Built when the Roman Empire was at its peak in AD 80, the Colosseum represents Rome at its grandest. The Flavian Amphitheater (the Colosseum’s real name) was an arena for gladiator contests and public spectacles. When killing became a spectator sport, the Romans wanted to share the fun with as many people as possible, so they stuck two semicircular theaters together to create a freestanding amphitheater, the largest in the empire.
The sheer size of the Colosseum is impressive, even in our era of mega-stadiums. With over oversized stories, it’s 160 feet high, nearly a third of a mile around, and makes an oval-shaped footprint that covers six acres.
Imagine the Colosseum in its glory days. The whole thing was a brilliant white, highlighted with brightly painted trim. Monumental statues of Greek and Roman gods (Zeus, Venus, Hercules), also in bright colors, stood in the arches of the middle two stories. The top of the structure was studded with wooden beams sticking straight up, to hold a canvas awning that shaded the spectators inside.
The stadium could accommodate 50,000 roaring fans (that’s 100,000 thumbs). As Romans arrived for the games, they’d be greeted outside by a huge bronze statue of the emperor Nero – 100 feet tall, gleaming in the sunlight – standing where the cypress trees stand today, between the Colosseum and the Metro stop.
Though the Colosseum is massive, it looks light and airy. The three lower stories are nothing but open arches, framed by half-columns. The arches are stacked right on top of each other, and all the columns line up as well, drawing your eye upward. Meanwhile, each story forms a horizontal band that wraps around the structure. This combination of horizontal and vertical lines makes the Colosseum appear firmly planted on the ground while reaching for the sky.
Circling the Colosseum’s Exterior
You’ll notice that only about a third of the original Colosseum remains. The north side is the best preserved, with the top story still intact. But the more damaged south side gives a better look at the structural elements.
The Colosseum’s facade says a lot about the Roman personality. The Romans were great engineers, not artists, and the decoration is borrowed from the more sophisticated Greeks. Looking at the half-columns that flank the arches, one can see that they have no structural purpose: they’re just window dressing, done in the Greek style. At ground level, they are thick columns with simple capitals. Moving up to the second story, the columns are thinner, with scroll-shaped capitals. On the third story, we can see leafy capitals, and on the top level we see a fanciful mix of all three styles. These are the so-called “orders” of classical Greece: sturdy Doric on the bottom, scroll-shaped Ionic, and leady Corinthian. By combining these classy Greek elements with pragmatic Roman engineering, it added a veneer of sophistication to this no-nonsense arena of death.
Of the 250 or so amphitheaters in the Roman Empire, the Colosseum was the grand-daddy of them all, the biggest and most famous, with all the top-notch gladiators. Out-of-town visitors would marvel at it – the biggest man-made structure they’d ever seen. Over time, “The Flavian Amphitheater” acquired a nickname, perhaps from the colossal statue of Nero that stood outside, or maybe just because the building itself was so darn colossal, the wonder of its age. It became… the Colosseum.
The Colosseum was started around AD 72 under the emperors of the Flavian family. Vespasian broke ground on it, his son Titus inaugurated it, and his younger son Domitian finished it. It took less than ten years, which is impressive considering the size of the project.
To start, they had to drain a lake here in this valley between three hills. Next, they sunk concrete foundations 40 feet deep. Then they brought the stone here from Tivoli – it took 200 ox-drawn wagons shuttling back and forth every day for four years. The exterior is a skeleton made from heavy blocks of travertine, a hard white stone, like marble.
The Romans pioneered the use of the rounded arch, which is how they could build on this tremendous scale. Having unlimited slave power didn’t hurt either. Workers erected temporary scaffolding out of wood into the shape of an arch, then stacked the blocks without using mortar. When they got near the top they wedged an inverted stone – the keystone – into the peak of the arch. Then when they removed the scaffolding – Bravissimo! – not only didn’t the arch collapse, it could bear even more weight above it.
Check out the massive pillars that formed the exterior frame of the structure. Notice the holes that pockmark the exterior. This is where big iron brackets wee once driven in, stapling the larger stones together. Each of the pillars flanking the ground-level arches weighs five tons, and all in all, they used three-and-a-half million cubic feet of travertine.
When it was finished, the Colosseum made a political statement. It trumpeted Rome’s victory over rebellious Jews in Palestine in AD 70. Booty and slaves from that campaign helped build the place. Also, having been erected on the former site of Emperor Nero’s Golden House, the Colosseum symbolized how that hated emperor’s private land was now reclaimed for the pubic good.
The Colosseum is a marvel of engineering, ingeniously playing one architectural force off another. It’s a testament to how the enlightened Romans could conquer their barbarian neighbors – not just by brute military force but by brain power. Like many structures built by the pragmatic Romans, the Colosseum is more functional than beautiful. They loved good engineering. If ancient Romans visited the United States today as tourists, they might send home postcards of our greatest “works of art” – freeways.
At ground level, you might notice some Roman numerals above some of the arches. Entry points were actually numbered.
Fans could pour in through eighty ground-level entrances, including the emperor’s private entrance on the north side. Your ticket was a piece of broken pottery telling you the entrance, section, row and seat number. You’d pas by concession stands selling fast food and souvenirs like wine glasses with the names of famous gladiators. The hallways to the seats were called by the Latin word – vomitorium. At exit time, the Colosseum would literally vomit out its content, giving us our English word. It’s estimated that all 50,000 fans could enter or exit in 15 minutes.
The View of the Arena
After going thru security and getting inside, you first climb upstairs (or take the elevator). On the top, you first encounter a museum which is well worth a look around.
Just take in the staggering expanse. To our modern eyes, it’s immediately obvious what this place was – it’s a sports stadium! There’s the playing field – it’s oval shaped. And surrounding it are bleacher seats that slant up from the arena floor.
50,000 fans looked down on the playing surface, shaped like an ellipse and lined up on an east-west axis. The arena is big- not quite long enough or wide enough to play modern football or soccer on, but close. Overhead, the entire stadium could be covered with an enormous canvas awning that was hoisted across by armies of sailors to provide shade for the spectators – the first domed stadium.
If you’re having trouble seeing the playing field, that’s because the original arena floor is missing. What we see today are the underground passages beneath the playing surface. Originally, the arena was covered with boards, then sprinkled with sand, 9 inches deep. Fun language fact – the Latin word for sand is… arena. 🙂
The elliptical-shaped arena is 280 feet long and 165 feet wide. The ratio of length to width is 5 to 3, often called the golden ratio. Since the days of the Greek mathematician Pythagoras, artists considered that proportion to be ideal, with almost mystical properties. The Colosseum’s architects apparently wanted their structure to embody the perfect 3 by 5 mathematical order they thought existed in nature.
Looking at the complex web of passageways beneath the arena, you can imagine how busy the backstage action was. Gladiators strolled down the central passageway, from their warm-up yard on the east end to where they entered on the west. Workers tended wild animals, while others prepared stage sets of fake buildings or trees that could transform the arena from an African jungle to a Greek temple in an instant. These were lifted up to arena level on eighty different elevators fitted with a system of ropes and pulleys. You might be able to make out some small rectangular elevator shafts, especially near the center of the arena. Animals, warriors, and stage sets could all be made to magically appear from eighty different spots in the arena.
Find the bronze cross. The cross stands on ground level, at the edge of the oval-shaped arena. It’s at what would have been the “50-yard line.” That cross, erected in recent centuries to honor martyrs, marks the north side of the stadium. It’s thought by some scholars that the cross stands right where the emperor’s box would have been . He obviously had the best seat in the house for watching the games.
Roman Brick and Concrete
While the Colosseum’s exterior was built with big blocks of heavy travertine, the interior uses another great Roman invention – brick and concrete. They built hollow shells of brick, then filled them in with concrete made of cement and rubble. Brick shells filled with concrete could be shaped into pillars and arches to support the bleacher seats, which radiate out and up from the arena. The bare brick we see today was once faced with sheets of ornamental marble and decorative columns. A few marble seats have been restored – you can see them at the far, east end of the arena
The Colosseum was built at Rome’s peak, midway in its glorious history. Remember, Rome lasted a thousand years, from 500 BC to AD 500. It grew for 500 years, peaked for 200 years, and fell for 300 years. For the first half, Rome was a Republic, ruled by elected senators, with an economy based on farming and trading wine and olive oil. The next 500 years, Rome was an Empire, ruled by a dictator called the Caesar. Rome’s wealth came from conquering and occupying foreign lands, which supplied Rome with booty, tribute, and slave labor.
The Colosseum was built in Imperial times, as a grand venue for public spectacles sponsored by emperors and ambitious politicians.
The Colosseum was strictly segregated. Down at ringside, the emperor, senators, Vestal Virgins, and VIPs sat on marble seats with their names carved on them. The next level up was for those of noble birth. The level that we tourists are at was probably for ordinary free Roman citizens, called plebeians. Up at the very top – a hundred yards from the action – there once were wooden bleachers for the poorest people, for foreigners, slaves and women.
The top story of the Colosseum is mostly ruined, but some of it survives, along the north side. This was not part of the original three-story structure but was added around AD 230 after a fire.
The Colosseum’s Surroundings
Along the southwest side of the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine (I’ll cover that in a bit). Beyond the Arch rises Palestine Hill, dotted with umbrella pines. The pedestrian roadway that leads west from the Arch is the Via Sacra, or Sacred Way, once Rome’s main street. It heads up an incline toward the Arch of Titus. That marks the start of the Forum, the religious, political, and commercial heart of ancient Rome.
The Colosseum was built between three of Rome’s legendary seven hills – the Palatine, the Esquiline to the north, and the Caelian to the south. The Colosseum was built on land where the notorious Emperor Nero once had his sumptuous Golden House, with a colossal statue to himself standing at the front door. The house stretched from the Arch of Titus in the Forum across the valley where the Colosseum stands today, and up onto Esquiline Hill. With the construction of this mammoth arena, Nero’s statue became the Colosseum’s 100-foot-tall doorman.
The Temple of Venus and Rome
Rome’s biggest temple once covered the entire hill. Along either side, to the left and right, you can still see some of the massive columns – nearly 6 feet thick – that mark the perimeter of the temple complex. In its day ,the temple was one of the most prominent in all Rome. The size of a football field and 100 feet tall, the grand temple sat on this raised platform for all of Rome to see. It was a Greek-style temple, surrounded by white columns, and topped with a triangular pediment above the entrance.
Now focus on the main ruin in the center – the tall brick alcove with a cross-hatched ceiling. This was the cella, or sacred chamber of the temple. Under the arched ceiling, at the center of the temple, once sat a monumental statue of Venus, the goddess of love. Worshippers – especially newlyweds – would climb the steps to the entrance to make a sacrifice and ask Venus to bring them good luck.
The temple was designed by the 2nd-century Emperor Hadrian, an amateur architect who also built the Pantheon. Hadrian’s design was critiqued by Rome’s best-known architect, who complained that the huge statues would have been so cramped they’d bump their heads if they stood up. Hadrian – who never took criticism well – had the architect killed.
Remember that this was the Temple of Venus AND Rome. It was actually a double temple, home to TWO goddesses, seated back-to-back. While Venus faced the Colosseum, another statue faced the Forum – the goddess named Roma Aeterna. Paired together, Venus (the legendary ancestor of Romulus) and Roma Aeterna (the personification of the city) symbolized the birth and eternal destiny of a race of people meant to endure forever. The goddesses’ Latin names were written back-to-back in the twin cellas. On one side – “ROMA”- and on the other “AMOR”. R-o-m-a, flip the letters, A-m-o-r, get it? It’s a palindrome. The symmetry of their names reinforced that Rome and Love were meant to go together.
After the Fall of Rome, a Christian church with a bell tower was built atop the ruins. These days, Roman newlyweds get married here to ensure themselves love and happiness… for eternity.
The Arch of Constantine
If you are a Christian, were raised a Christian, or simply belong to a so-called “Christian nation,” ponder this arch. It marks one of the great turning points in history – the military coup that made Christianity mainstream. In AD 312, Emperor Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius in the crucial Battle of Milvian Bridge. The night before, Constantine saw a vision of a cross in the sky. He attributed his victory to this vision. Constantine – whose mother and sister were Christians – became sole emperor and legalized Christianity. With this one battle, a once-obscure Jewish sect with a handful of followers was now the state-sanctioned religion of the entire Western world. Think of it this way: In AD 300, you could be killed for being a Christian; by AD 400, you could be killed for not being a Christian. Church enrollment boomed.
This recently restored arch is like an ancient museum. It’s decorated entirely with recycled carvings originally made for other buildings. By covering it with exquisite carvings of high Roman art – works that glorified previous emperors – Constantine put himself in their league. Fourth-century Rome may have been in decline, but Constantine clung to its glorious past.
The Colosseum’s 2,000-Year Legacy
With the coming of Christianity to Rome, the Colosseum and its deadly games slowly became politically incorrect. However, gladiator contests continued here sporadically until they were banned in 435. Animal hunts continued a few decades more. As Rome’s Empire dwindled and the infrastructure crumbled, the stadium itself was neglected. Finally, around 523, after nearly 500 hundred years of games, the last animal was slaughtered, and the Colosseum shut its doors.
For the next thousand years, the structure was inhabited by various squatters – used as makeshift apartments or shops; as a church, a cemetery, or as a place of refuge during civil disturbances. Over time, the Colosseum was eroded by wind, rain, and the strain of gravity. A series of earthquakes weakened the structure, and a powerful quake in 1349 toppled the south side.
More than anything, the Colosseum was dismantled by the Roman citizens themselves, who used it as a quary throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. They carted off pre-cut stones to be reused for palaces and churches, including St. Peter’s. Much of the marble was pulverized into mortar, and tons of iron brackets were pried out and melted down, resulting in the pock-marking we see today.
Finally in the 16th century, a series of popes took pity on the pagan structure. They saw themselves as protectors of Rome’s legacy and preservers of the memory of Christians who may have been martyred here (whether true or not). They shored up the south and west sides with bricks and placed the big cross on the north side of the arena.
Today, the Colosseum links Rome’s past with its present. Major political demonstrations begin or end here, providing them an iconic backdrop for the TV cameras. On Good Fridays, the pope comes here to lead pilgrims as they follow the Stations of the Cross.
As legend goes, so long as the Colosseum shall stand, the city of Rome shall stand, as well. For nearly 2,000 years, the Colosseum has been the enduring symbol of Rome, the Eternal City.