062910_0135

The famous, historic Coliseum located Via del Teatro Valle, 47 in Rome, Italy. Started by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavia family, it was opened by his son Titus in 80 A.D. The highly ostentatious opening ceremony, lasted one hundred days during which people saw great fights, shows and hunts involving the killing of thousands of animals (5000 according to the historian Suetonius). For the opening, the arena space was filled with water for one of the most fantastic events held in Roman times, naumachias – real sea battles reproducing great battles of the past. The Coliseum is one of the most imposing ancient structures. Imagine it all white, completely covered in splendid travertine stone slabs. It is elliptic in shape in order to hold more spectators. It had four floors; the first three had eighty arches each; the arches on the second and third floors were decorated with huge statues. What we see nowadays is just the skeleton of what was the greatest arena in the ancient world. Three-fifths of the outer surrounding brick wall are missing. A pigeon is perched on a stone wall overlooking the Coliseum.

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Copyright: (c) Megan Q. Daniels - All Rights Reserved
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The famous, historic Coliseum located Via del Teatro Valle, 47 in Rome, Italy. Started by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavia family, it was opened by his son Titus in 80 A.D. The highly ostentatious opening ceremony, lasted one hundred days during which people saw great fights, shows and hunts involving the killing of thousands of animals (5000 according to the historian Suetonius). For the opening, the arena space was filled with water for one of the most fantastic events held in Roman times, naumachias – real sea battles reproducing great battles of the past. The Coliseum is one of the most imposing ancient structures. Imagine it all white, completely covered in splendid travertine stone slabs. It is elliptic in shape in order to hold more spectators. It had four floors; the first three had eighty arches each; the arches on the second and third floors were decorated with huge statues. What we see nowadays is just the skeleton of what was the greatest arena in the ancient world. Three-fifths of the outer surrounding brick wall are missing. A pigeon is perched on a stone wall overlooking the Coliseum.