still not everyone visits an abatoir after the day is done and the place cleaned down, and they certainly don't eat icecream while doing so....

Modern revisionist history. I'm sure many of the Colosseum goers would be equally disgusted with many modern things. Let's judge today's world by their standards.

I think we can safely judge it as evil. The question is, "Are we any better?"

Nik - I doubt "many Colisseum goers" would be disgusted with anything that goes on now.
Remember - It was enterrainment. Pass the popcorn (so to speak).

I think that movies like "Gladiator" have in their own bloody way, romanticized them. Gladiators were slaves. As you walk around the Colosseum there are men dressed as gladiators. So cute! Let's have people dressed as holocaust victims at Auschwitz or slaves at some southern site. Can I take a picture with you?
Listen, a smile came to my own face as I watched a "gladiator" being asked to take a photo of a couple who had just finished the Rome Marathon. So there you are. I am just conscious of my own conflicting reactions.

Two things you might avoid in Venice.
1. The Campanile. Prisoners were hung up there in cages and left to die in front of the population.
2. The space between the two columns in the Piazetta. The air space was used for public hangings to deter the gambling that took place on the ground, by license. It is unlucky to walk between the columns.

Modern revisionist history. I'm sure many of the Colosseum goers would be equally disgusted with many modern things. Let's judge today's world by their standards.
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You must be a historian of encyclopedic knowledge of both history and mores. Depending on whom, what, where, and why thoughts would vary differently. For example, the Colosseum was funded by the pillage of the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem. Or which era and whom are referring to when thinking of the hundreds of years when it in use. Diocletian who ruthlessly persecuted the Christians. Or Severus, an able administrator?

Judge not lest ye be judged.

Think about all the boxers who've died in the ring. Or the NFL players that have died has a result of playing. Don't tell me the players today have a choice. The draft is modern day slave auction. Most of the players come from poor backgrounds with no real option.

It had entertainment value, certainly, the pre fighting day banquets, the adoration by the public of famous fighters. Not unlike people who watch F1 racing to which the possibility that a racer may crash adds spice to the experience.

However, gladiator fighting, the reenactment of famous battles from Roman history, the connection to sacred funeral rites, all this also had a spiritual side. Even if we cannot comprehend that spiritual sentiment at all.

Thank goodness! Or I'd be really lonely.

I imagine it's the age of the colloseum rather than it's former use that attracts people. Anything that old is fascinating.

< I am conscious of my own conflicting reactions.> Pass the popcorn, so to speak.

They are dressed as centurions and legionaries, not gladiators, btw.