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The Colosseum Review

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The Colosseum

Address: Piazza del Colosseo, Rome
Phone: 06/39967700
www.pierreci.it

Category: Archaeological Sites
Location: Ancient Rome

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Fodor's Review:

The most spectacular extant edifice of ancient Rome, the Colosseo has a history that is half-gore, half-glory. Here, before 50,000 spectators, gladiators would salute the emperor and cry Ave, imperator, morituri te salutant("Hail, emperor, men soon to die salute thee"); it is said that when one day they heard the emperor Claudius respond, "or maybe not," they became so offended that they called a strike. Scene of countless Hollywood spectacles—Deborah Kerr besieged by lions in Quo Vadis, Victor Mature laying down his arms in Demetrius and the Gladiators, and Russell Crowe fighting an emperor in a computer-generated stadium in Gladiator,to name just a few—the Colosseum still awes onlookers today with its power and might.

Designed by order of the Flavian emperor Vespasian in ad 72, the Colosseum was inaugurated by Titus eight years later with a program of games lasting 100 days. Such shows were a quick way to political popularity—or to put it another way, a people that yawns is ripe for revolt.

The arena has a circumference of 573 yards and was faced with stone from nearby Tivoli. Its construction was a remarkable feat of engineering, for it stands on marshy terrain reclaimed by draining an artificial lake on the grounds of Nero's Domus Aurea. Originally known as the Flavian amphitheater, it came to be called the Colosseo because it stood on the site of the Colossus of Nero, a 115-foot-tall gilded bronze statue of the emperor that once towered here.

Inside, senators sat on the marble seating arrangements up front, along with the Vestal Virgins taking the ringside position while the plebs sat in wooden tiers at the back, then the masses above on the top tier. Over all was the amazing velarium, an ingenious system of sail-like awnings rigged on ropes and maneuvered by sailors from the imperial fleet, who would unfurl them to protect the arena's occupants from sun or rain.

Once inside, you can take the wooden walkway across the arena floor for a gladiator's-eye view, then explore the upper level to study a scale model of the Colosseum as it was (sheathed with marble, with statues ornamenting arcades of arches decorated with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian pillars; one arch near the Metro station still has traces of stucco decoration). From the upper tier study the so-called ipogei, the subterranean passageways that were the architectural engine rooms that made the slaughter above proceed like clockwork. In a scene prefiguring something from Dante's Inferno, hundreds of beasts would wait to be eventually launched via a series of slave-powered hoists and lifts into the bloodthirsty sand of the arena above.

Legend has it that as long as the Colosseum stands, Rome will stand; and when Rome falls, so will the world. This prophecy didn't deter Renaissance princes from using the Colosseum as a quarry or the Nazis from riddling it with bullets. In the 19th century, poets came to view the arena by moonlight; today, mellow golden spotlights make the arena a spectacular sight.

TIPS

Are there ways to beat the big ticket lines at the Colosseum? Yes and no. First off, if you go to the Roman Forum—just adjacent to the Colosseum or Imperial Fora—and purchase a ticket there for 12 euros, this also includes admission to the Colosseum and, even better, lets you jump to the head of the looooooong line. Another way is to buy the famous Romapass (www.romapass.it), a combined entry pass and transport ticket—the Colosseo is covered and you get booted to the front of the line. Still another way is to book a ticket in advance through a service like http://selectitaly.com (with a hefty surcharge) or www.pierreci.it (with a small surchange)—the latter is the main ticket reservation service for many Italian cultural sights. Private tours usually have advance bookings. Now for the bad news: even people who jump to the front of the line still have to wait on the security line.

Guided tours in English are available. The small exhibition space at the arena often features fascinating temporary exhibitions (for an additional admission charge of 3 euros). A bookshop is also on site.

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While the Colosseum had 80 entrances, it only had one exit named after the Roman goddess of death—the Porta Libitinaria—which was how dead gladiators were trundled out of the arena. Historians state that most of these warriors did survive to fight another day. If the die was cast, however, the rule was a victorious gladiator was the person to decide to take his opponent's life. He was often spurred on by the audience and the emperor—pollice verso meant the downturned thumb. Gladiatorial combat, or munera, is now traced back to the funeral rites of the early Etruscans when prisoners of war would sometimes be sacrificed to placate the spirits of the underworld. Rome's City Council, in conjunction with Amnesty International, tries to make amends for these horrors by floodlighting the Colosseum by night every time a death sentence is commuted or a country votes to abolish capital punishment.

Cost: EUR 12 (combined ticket with the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and Imperial Forums, if used within two days)
Open: Daily 8:30-1 hr before sunset.

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