14/03/2024
🔙👑 Colosseo
The Roman Colosseum was constructed between 70-80 AD in the heart of Rome. It was originally called the Flavian Amphitheatre, a name derived from the Flavian dynasty of Roman emperors who reigned during its construction and opening: Vespasian commenced its building, but it was his son Titus who inaugurated it in 80 AD with a grand celebration of games that lasted 100 days, featuring gladiator combats, animal hunts, and executions. The Amphitheatre was the largest ever built in the Roman world, capable of seating between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators and had numbered seats, thus organizing the different social classes with the wealthiest citizens close to the action and the commoners and women in the upper levels.
The Flavian Amphitheatre was not just a place of entertainment; it was a hub for social and political cohesion. It featured a total of 80 arches around its perimeter on each of the first three levels, totaling 240 arches. These arches were not only aesthetic elements but also distributed the weight of the building and allowed for a spacious interior space as well as ventilation throughout. However, the best feature of these arches was their ability to facilitate rapid evacuation thanks to their ingenious system of corridors and exits, enabling the venue to be emptied in less than 10 minutes. These passages were called "Vomitoria," which means "to expel" in Latin.
Beneath the arena where the gladiators fought lay an underground area known as the "Hypogeum," a complex network of corridors and rooms that housed wild animals, gladiators, and props that could be raised to the stage unexpectedly via a system of pulleys and elevators. This ensured a seamless flow of battles and created a fascinating and highly dramatic spectacle for the spectators. What few know is that on some occasions, the arena was entirely filled with water to conduct naval battles, and sometimes, the water was dyed red to intensify the drama of the scenes. These naval practices are known as naumachias.
The Roman Colosseum is a world of mysteries, and it is known that there exist secret underground tunnels directly connected to the Colosseum, one of which led directly to the Gladiator Schools (Ludus Magnus), the Palatine, site of imperial residences, among others.
All opulence has an end, and the great Roman Colosseum is no exception; it ceased to be used for public spectacles during the 6th century, around the year 523 AD, under the reign of the Eastern Emperor Theodoric the Great. The abandonment of the Colosseum and its eventual fall into disuse were due to several reasons but mainly due to the decline of the Roman Empire. With its abandonment and neglect, the Colosseum eventually became a space for workshops, shops, and even homes, where families built structures within the arches and used the space as their home. Its current incomplete state is due to earthquakes, like the one in 1349 that caused the collapse of the southern portion of the exterior facade, and mainly, from the Renaissance until the 19th century, it was used as a quarry for materials for the construction of new monuments and buildings in the city, including St. Peter's Basilica, extracting marble, travertine stone, tuff blocks, metals among others; this practice of reusing materials from ancient buildings is known as "spolia."
In 2007, the Roman Colosseum was declared one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Despite facing the relentless advance of time, looting, earthquakes, and a history marked by sacrifices and struggles, Rome will remain as an example of what an empire can achieve, and the Roman Colosseum, with its inscriptions and engravings on its walls, narrates anecdotes from an era where valor, courage, and heroism were part of everyday life.
📍 Colosseo - https://bit.ly/-Colosseo
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