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THE ROMAN COLOSSEUM: THE MOST POPULAR MONUMENT OF ROME |
If the roman forum served as the spiritual and political center of imperial Rome, the Colosseum was its popular hub, a monument that simultaneously calls to mind the greatest and the most repulsive qualities of ancient roman society. A masterpiece of engineering and architecture, for almost four hundred years it was the site of innumerable spectacles, like the gladiator combats.
Although the Colosseum has earned its bloody reputation, not all the legends that have accumulated around its immense structure have any basis in historical fact. We know a good deal about the circumstances and methods of its construction, as well as the spectacles that took place within it, because the ancient romans were as amazed by the place as modern visitors are.
The Colosseum was commissioned by one of the most appealing Roman rulers, the emperor Vespasian ( 70-79 AD ). A shrewd, humourous, earthy, and eminwently sane self made man, Vespasian came from a modest family in the sabine hills north of Rome. A successful general, he became emperor in the middle of one of Rome's bitterest wars: the long struggle to subdue the hebrew kingdom of Judaea. Once installed in the exalted role of emperor, Vespasian remained notably unimpressed with imperial pomp.
When not involved in public duties, he clomped about the palace in his old army tunics and the ancient roman equivalent of carpet slippers. A widower of sixty when he became emperor, Vespasian refused to follow the advice of his aides and exchange his favorite mistress, a plump, gray-haired woman who had been his companion for many years, for a glamorous young wife. He was a superb administrator who rescued Rome from the brink of anarchy, he is remembered in Rome as the emperor who slapped a tax on the city's public latrines: Rome's toliets are still called " Vespasiani".
The Colosseum is much more fitting monument to this excellent emperor and we may wonder why the structure is not bringing the name of the emperor who built it. Instead the amphiteatre has the name of his precedessor, and precisely of the statue representing Nero called Colossus. The basement of this bronzed artwork is still today visible outside the second most visited monument in Rome after the vatican city.
The architectural genius who designed the Colosseum is unknown. In imperial Rome was the patron who counted; the architect often was merely an anonymous employee. The works began in 72 AD and continued for almost 10 years and the monument was inaugurated by his son Titus.
At the culmination of each fight, in theory the emperor had the right to decide if the fallen combatant should live or die, but in practice the mood of the crouwd determined his decision. If thousands of thumbs went up, the emperor would graciously spare the defeated man's life, but if the crowd was feeling mean and the signal was " thumbs down " the emperor would indicate that the victorious gladiator should finish off his rival.
The Roman colosseum could fit 50.000 spectators divided in four levels, whose the top one was made of wood.
The architect's first task before he could begin any construction was to drain Nero's artificial lake into the Tiber and he did so wonderfully his job that the Colosseum was used by the Romans for at least 4 centuries and it still survives after 2000 years in 40 per cent of its massive structure.