"Rome Wasn't Built in a Day"- The Colosseum

“Rome wasn’t built in a Day” 
(Great Things take time)

 - The Colosseum -

  By Suryatej Vakkalanka

If you lived in Ancient Rome, it was common to watch land and sea battles and at the Colosseum, whether you were a poor artisan or a rich noble. The Roman Colosseum was built 2,000 years ago, and is still an amazing sight today, emphasizing Roman glory and strength.

After Vespasian fought against the Jews, he was crowned emperor of Rome in 69 A.D. Titus (Vespasian’s son) laid siege to Jerusalem during Passover, on 14 April 70 A.D. Titus easily won, as he had far more troops. During the siege, Titus also purposely ordered his troops to burn down and loot the ‘Temple of Jerusalem’. This event in history is known as the ‘Siege of Jerusalem’- the decisive battle of the ‘First Jewish-Roman War’. The ‘Great Revolt’, also known as the ‘First Jewish-Roman War’, was the first rebellion of the three major rebellions during 66-136 A.D. involving the Jews and the Romans. When Titus came back to Rome in June 71 A.D., he was greatly appreciated for defeating the Jews. Vespasian was also appreciated because he was giving back the glorious space where Nero had built his palace, to the public. Livy wrote “On the site of that Golden Palace, he decreed, would be built a new amphitheater where the public could enjoy gladiatorial combats and other forms of entertainment”.

Although Vespasian ordered the construction of the majestic sight to begin, he died before it was finished. As a result, Titus took over at 79 A.D., and succeeded his father by finishing the construction of the grand amphitheater, which took eight years to complete. The Colosseum was built by slaves taken from the Jewish war who helped master craftsmen. To commemorate this special event, Titus held a festival including ‘100 days of games’. One year later, in 81 A.D., Domitian (Titus’s brother,) became emperor. He erected the ‘Arch of Titus’ at the foot of the Palatine hill to honor his brother’s and father’s victories at the Jewish war. The ‘Arch of Titus’ is believed to be built with the money gained from the ‘Temple of Jerusalem’.   

As well as being in the center of Rome, the Colosseum is one of the few early free-standing amphitheaters. Being the largest amphitheater in Rome itself, the magnificent building stretched 620 feet long and 513 feet wide, rising 150 feet upwards. “It enclosed an arena about as long as a modern football field”. The exterior of this grand building contained three stories of arches in the stone walls, otherwise the structure would have collapsed under its own weight. There were also semi-circular-columns that supported the arches. The columns had a style for each story, which was the Doric, Ionic, and finally Corinthian order. Moving on to the interior, the Colosseum held more than 50,000 spectators, all while seating them within ten minutes of arriving. The seating arrangement depended on their rank- the Emperor sat closest to the arena, in the ‘Imperial Box’. Then the nobles, the common people and lastly the slaves and women in the nose-bleeding seats. Because the Romans couldn’t have possibly fit a wooden roof over the wide space of the Colosseum, they constructed a canvas awning. The entertainment mostly included gladiator and naval battles, with the exception of earlier plays. Beneath the sandy floor were over 28 lifts that hoisted animals up to the surface.

After four centuries, the public stopped adoring the Colosseum, and by the 20th century, two-thirds of the original Colosseum was destroyed because of earthquakes and lightning. Restoration efforts started in the 1990’s, and it is now a major tourist attraction.