This Saturday’s
seminar was a brush up on Roman History for me and the day our timelines were
due. Rome has so much history that it is hard for me to just choose one topic
that interested me the most. But the one
that was the most interesting is the Colosseum. It is highly overlooked because
it’s so famous in Rome and a very monumental tourist attraction. The Romans
built the Colosseum over two thousand years ago and not just in Rome but in
other countries they conquered. Romans built colosseums in Spain, Portugal,
Libya, Turkey, Romania, and Croatia.
The Colosseums were
built for pure entertainment and a way to escape the hardship of daily Roman
life. Some Romans weren’t rich enough to go to the Colosseums often so they
spent whatever money they had saved up to attend these bloody spectacles. The
richer Romans called the “Patricians,” sat in the front so they could get the
best seats possible. The lower classes called the “Plebians,” sat in the back
or as we now call it the “Nose Bleed” section. The emperor would sit in a box
style seating with his royal court and enjoy the sight of death as if a game.
In any weather the fight went on, an oversized sail attached to poles at the
top of the Colosseum would cover the Romans from rain and harsh sun.
The Colosseum was
built with over hundreds of trap doors containing live animals ready to set
loose and attack a traitor or gladiator. The people pushing the buttons open
the trap doors would rile up the animals to make them angry and attack whoever
they set their eyes on. The emperor would often put traitors or people who
broke Roman law in the colosseum and watch them parish by whatever trap door
opened. Very few gladiators won against
their fate inside the colosseums walls and claimed glory. I can’t imagine being
a gladiator and fighting for my life and dying just for glory. When they beat any lion, tiger, or some
vicious animal the winner would win money and fame. Romans found entertainment
in watching men die and fight for their lives. But much hasn’t changed in
modern times. Today Americans watch men punch each other as hard as they can in
boxing and knock each other as hard as one can in football.
The Roman Colosseum still stands today and
people can even take tours inside the amphitheatre. Many movies have been made
explaining the lives of gladiators fighting in the Colosseum like the hit movie
Gladiator with Russell Crowe. If I get the chance to go to Rome I know that
seeing the Colosseum will be an eye opening experience to see something built
over two thousand years ago.
The colosseum is where
emperors ordered fights to start and traitors to be killed in public to make an
example. A place where poor Romans would save up their money to escape their life’s
for a while. The Roman Colosseum a place for more than just death, a place
where people could escape their own reality to watch someone else’s end.
By: Myriah Catalano
source: google images http://www.raceandhistory.com/Europe/images/colo1.jpg
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