The History of the Colosseum

The Colosseum had some interesting informational and historical information signs that were pretty interesting.  I realize that this is fairly boring, but I didn't include much history in the last post, and since I took all of the time to take these photos, I thought that I would include them here.  (If you have trouble reading these, you should be able to see them in a larger size by clicking on them.

If you click here, you can fine a pretty good travelogue with information and pictures about the buildings in the Forum.  If you click here, you can find some pretty, artsy, black-and-white pictures of Rome, including the Colosseum and the Forum.  If you go here, you can see an artsy picture of the Colosseum at night.  

The Colosseum

The Colosseum and the Forum

The Colosseum, or the Flavian Amphitheater, was built in the late 1st century A.D.  It was used to display gladiator games, races, naval battles, and other (frequently gruesome) displays.  It was used for 400 years before it became to old to use (something the builders of the MetroDome might want to keep in mind).  It was an engineering marvel.  People who plan sports stadiums and arenas today still use the Colosseum as a good example of how to arrange exits and pathways so that people can exit quickly--an important issue both in the case of fires or emergencies, and in trying to handle large exoduses at the ends of games and concerts.

An overhead view of the Colosseum from Google Maps.  The people look mighty little!

Sunday morning, after breakfast, I headed toward the Colosseum and the Forum.  I didn't actually go into the Colosseum, although I did walk around it.  It was really expensive to get into the Colosseum.   Then, if you wanted to get onto the upper levels, you had to pay extra for a tour.  That just didn't seem worth (and also I was tired, and hot, and kind of cranky by that point).

You can see the size of the levels, compared to the size of the people.

The Roman paving system is really quite impressive.  I believe that the lava paving stones here are the authentic, two thousand year old road surface.  So, like I said, it is pretty impressive, compared to the speed with which pot-holes show up in the modern road.  However, they are really kind of hard to walk on.

The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine.  The people standing around in groups there, are all standing in the little spots of shade created by those few trees on the right.  There really wasn't shade any where else.  And it was hottish.

I did take some pictures of the interior of the Colosseum through the different entrance archways.  I thought that made for some interesting pictures.  I was a little bit jealous of the folks standing in the shady archways, but it didn't look like much fun to be climbing the stairs or to be standing in the middle of the Colosseum in the direct sun.

This short video has rather annoying music but it is interesting because it shows the interior of the Colosseum, as well as close ups of the Arch, from a high point.

The Flavian Amphitheater/ Roman Forum from Josh Glowicki on Vimeo.

The History Channel has little short clips (one or two minutes each) on different parts of Roman history--I think that they are clips from a show.  You have to watch a short commercial, but the videos are quite interesting.  This video talks about the building of the Colosseum.  This one talks about the Games.  They are both quite interesting.

Walking Through Rome

I saw loads of different things while I was walking through Rome, not all of which were worthy of their own posts, but I thought that I would post them for your entertainment.

A lamppost in Rome.  Notice the eagle, which was on the standard of Roman armies.  Also, note that the hitching rings are in the mouths of wolves, which are popular themes in city art because of the story of Romulus and Remus.

 The Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri
(the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs)

This was an advertisement in the metro station under the Terme di Diocleziano (the Diocletian Baths) which I wrote about previously.  It is an ad for Bavaria Beer, which is fairly irrelevant except that it is all in English, for some reason (despite advertising a German beer in Italy).  Also, I honestly cannot figure out what the point of the ad is.  It seems like a beer popping out of a blue sky, or perhaps out of the blue ocean, (or even a blueberry!) would be more appetizing. 

The front of the Roma Termini, The main central train station in Rome.

Looking toward the archaeological ruins on the Via Sacra, the main street in Ancient Rome.

One of the things that was funny about walking around Rome was the number of people
who were dressed up in costumes for the benefit of tourists.  This is actually the only
Roman centurion that I saw dressed in blue.  I looked it up and, at least according to one
site, blue was the color used by marines, because blue was the color of the sea.  That seems
a bit on the nose, but who knows?  I guess that it's good enough for most modern military
uniform color choices.  The fellow beside him, in the (very short!) white outfit (and the
bizarre purple socks, for some reason) is dressed in what was supposedly the uniform of
the average soldier, as opposed to the red outfits of those of higher ranks.

Some more typical centurions getting a drink at one of the ubiquitous water fountains.

Centurions would pose all over the place, though I think you had to tip them.  I think that that one tourist didn't tip well enough for the one fellow with the sword.  

I found Italian signage humorous.
This seems to epitomize Italians: dramatic and emphatic.
The sign says "Prohibited from Entering".  Dramatically.  

There were loads of booths of foods and souvenirs.

One of the fountains that you can find all over Italy.  This one has a large, ornate horse trough.  All of the fountains have potable water (unless they have really big signs signifying otherwise), and most of them are very ornate and old.

A lion head water fountain.