The famous Colosseum is one of the greatest cultural monuments of ancient Rome. Once upon a time, sports competitions were held in its arena, and it was there that fights between gladiators took place. Now this majestic building is partially destroyed, but most of it has survived to this day. Let us have some interesting facts about the History of the Colosseum.
25 Interesting Facts about the History of Colosseum :
- Every night, employees scatter a lot of cobblestones on it, which are specially brought here. This is done because many tourists want to steal a piece of the Colosseum with them, and they could simply “disassemble” the ancient structure in a few years. And so each of them picks up a pebble from the ground and sincerely believes that he now has a fragment of this ancient arena.
- In fact, there were quite a lot of colosseums in ancient Rome. The one in Rome is gigantic in size, and it has been preserved well, so its name is written with a capital letter, like a proper name.
- It is already about 2000 years old. The construction of the Colosseum began in 72 AD by the order of Emperor Vespasian. In 80 AD, under the emperor Titus, his son, it was completed.
- Its official historical name is the Flavius Amphitheater.
- According to some estimates, if the Colosseum was built at the present time, the construction cost would be 39 million euros.
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- In the past, it was possible to get inside the Colosseum through one of the 80 entrances.
- On July 7, 2007, it was included in the list of “The New Seven Wonders of the World“.
- For its construction, a lake was buried, which was located at this place.
- This is the largest ancient amphitheater ever built. Stone blocks and a cementing mixture like concrete were used as building materials.
- A seat with a width of only 35 cm was allocated for each person here.
- the line of the outer ellipse of the Colosseum is 524 meters, the major axis has a length of 187.77 meters, and the minor axis is 155.64 meters. The arena has a length of 85.75 m, and a width of 53.62 M and the walls rise to 48-50 meters.
- The longest games in the arena of the ancient amphitheater lasted exactly 123 days.
- Sometimes the arena of the Colosseum was especially flooded about 1 meter deep so that it was possible to arrange ship battles of gladiators.
- For centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire, it was abandoned. Only in the XVIII century, the Catholic Church decided that the construction site of the Colosseum should be preserved.
- The Colosseum is the second most visited attraction in Italy and the first in Rome.
- In 2013, the implementation of a large-scale project to restore the ancient amphitheater began. It will cost millions of euros, but the building will not be completely rebuilt. It will only be strengthened and restored so that it does not collapse over time.
- The Colosseum has never made films about gladiators. His role in the films is played by the Amphitheater in El Jem, also known as the Amphitheater of Mark Antony Gordian because it is better preserved.
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- In addition to fights between people, fights with animals were arranged here. The gladiator, in order to stay alive and be the winner, had to kill a wild animal released from a cage into the arena.
- The last games in the arena of the Colosseum were held in 528, and the last fight with the participation of gladiators was held in 435, that is, almost a century earlier.
- The ancient amphitheater could accommodate up to 50 thousand spectators at a time. This is more than in many modern stadiums.
- In addition to battles, the Colosseum was also used for the execution of sentenced criminals. Moreover, this action was held in the presence of thousands of spectators.
- In the XX century, concerts were held here several times. In particular, Paul McCartney, Elton John, and other world stars performed here.
- The walls of the Colosseum were built from blocks of marble and calcareous tuff, which were brought from Tivoli, a city about 25 km from Rome.
- Thanks to the unique microclimate that prevails in the amphitheater, more than 350 species of plants can be seen in the ruins.
- The outer part of the southern wall of the Colosseum collapsed in 1349 as a result of a powerful earthquake.
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Conclusion :
- It is always a pleasure to get a chance to know the ancient Rulers and History. Here getting to know Colosseum is really important in this segment.
- Hope you have enjoyed the facts and History of the Colosseum thoroughly.
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