17 November: The Colosseum

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Vespasian, the Roman emperor responsible for the building of the Colosseum in Rome. Here are ten facts about his huge building project.

1. Vespasian commissioned the building in 70AD, for his successor, Titus. It took ten years to build, using over 60,000 Jewish slaves. Some historians believe the Colosseum was funded from the spoils taken from the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, during the brutally suppressed Great Jewish Revolt in 70 AD. It was originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, after the Flavian Dynasty of Emperors. It became known as the Colosseum later on because it was near a 100 foot statue of Colossus which had been erected by Nero.
2. The Colosseum is the biggest amphitheatre ever built. Its vital statistics are as follows: 189m (615 feet) long and 156m (510 feet) wide; 500m (1,640 ft) in circumference; 55m (180 feet) high. Its volume is 1,320,000 cubic meters or 47 million cubic feet. Enough capacity for 80,000 people. 100,000 cubic meters of travertine stones and tufa (types of limestone, naturally deposited by hot springs) were used to build it. It had 80 entrances and 36 trap doors in the arena for staging special effects.
3. Which brings us to the question of, why? Vespasian's predecessor, the infamous Nero, had built himself a pleasure palace and all manner of self-indulgent projects. Vespasian wanted to build something the people could enjoy. After Nero's death, his pleasure palace was torn down and the artificial lake in its grounds filled in. The Colosseum was built on the site of the lake. Citizens had free entry to the events and games at the Colosseum, and food was provided as well. It didn't mean, however, that everybody mingled. There was a strict seating plan separating rich and poor (the rich got the best seats, of course) and men and women. There were 76 numbered arches to guide people to their seats.
4. It is thought that over 500,000 people and over a million animals were slaughtered during the games held there, which could last over 100 days at a time. 9,000 animals died during the inaugural games in 80AD alone. The animals included exotic stuff, like Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Giraffes, Barbary Lions, Caspian Tigers, Crocodiles, ostriches, aurochs and Elephants. Some species even went extinct because of the demand for animal battles. It was the cost and difficulty of procuring the animals that ended the use of the Colosseum as a games arena. As for the people, the gladiators were often prisoners of war or slaves, occasionally volunteers. The West Exit was called the Gate of Death because this was the exit dead gladiators were carried out of.
5. It was possible to flood the arena and stage mock naval battles using miniature ships, but these weren't as popular as people slaughtering animals and each other.
6. There is no evidence to suggest that the Colosseum was ever used for throwing Christians to the lions. All the same, Pope Benedict XIV had the amphitheatre consecrated in memory of the Christians he supposed had died there. To this day there is a cross in the arena commemorating Christian martyrs.
7. The Colosseum had an underground complex below the arena known as the hypogeum. This was where the cages of wild animals were kept, and served as a waiting area for the gladiators as well. There was a system of elevators to convey them to the surface and there was an intricate system of pulleys, ropes and canvas which could provide cover for the spectators in the event of bad weather. The people operating it were usually sailors who'd been specially recruited for the task.
8. Ridley Scott almost made the film Gladiator in the Colosseum. He got as far as getting permission from the authorities to film there but eventually decided it wasn't big enough and that there were too many restrictions - so he built a replica in Malta at a cost of about $1 million.
9. Since the end of the gladiatorial contests natural disasters devastated the building, most notably the Earthquakes of 847 AD and 1231 AD. The hypogeum was filled in with dirt, and Romans planted vegetable gardens there and used the space for storage. Blacksmiths and merchants occupied the vaulted passageways above. At one point it almost became a wool factory. Pope Sixtus V had this idea, but died before he could put it into practice.
10. In 2000, the Colosseum became a symbol against capital punishment. The Colosseum changes its night lighting from white to gold whenever a death sentence has been commuted or a death penalty abolished anywhere in the world, such as in April 2009, when the US state of New Mexico revoked its capital punishment system.

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