Colosseum

Last Updated on 17 November 2018 by TT

Colosseum

The Colosseum is also known as Flavian Amphitheater and is the largest ancient theater building in the world. It is the second most visited museum in Italy and the eighth most visited museum in the world with 6 million visitors in a year. The building is also among the most important works of the world architecture history. Colosseum is an amphitheater as it has a full circular shape. On the contrary of the examples of such as a gigantic building in the Ancient Greek, it was constructed in a circular shape without leaning towards a slope and this is the most important characteristics of it. Colosseum was constructed in the place of the Roman Emperor Nero‘s Palace. This palace was shipwrecked as a result of the rebellions. The construction was started in the east side of Roman Forum Area in 72 AD by Emperor Vespasian and completed by Emperor Titus, son of Vespasian, in 80 AD.

Colosseum Tickets

There are different ticket applications to enter in Colosseum. There are also long ticket lines in the Colosseum ticket office in every season which may take up to 2-3 hours waiting depending on the season. For this reasons, it is recommended you buy your “skip-the-line ticket” here in advance. The tickets are free for the visitors under the age of 18 and discounted for the EU citizens between the ages of 18 and 25. The price of earphones is € 5.5.

colosseum skip the line ticket

Roman Forum Tickets

Wit the same ticket you can visit the Roman Forum area nearby to Colosseum and your ticket vill be valid for two consecutive days.

entrance to roman forum and colosseum

How To Get To Colosseum

Colosseum is located in the center of Rome, near by the Roman Forum and at the walking distance of 1 km to Piazza Venezia. Address and transportation; Piazza del Colosseo (at the walking distance of 800 meters to Piazza Venezia), Metro Colosseum (Line B / Blue Line).

closest metro to go to colosseum

Opening & Closing Hours

Opening / closure hours of Colosseum for 2018;

  • 02.01 – 15.02; 08:30 – 16:30
  • 16.02 – 15.03; 08:30 – 17:00
  • 16.03 to last saturday of March; 08:30 – 17:30
  • From last sunday of March – 31.08; 08:30 – 19:15
  • 01.09 – 30.09; 08:30 – 19:00
  • 01.10 – to last saturday of October; 08:30 – 18:30
  • From last sunday of October to 31.12; 08:30 – 16:30

Last entrance is one hour before the closing time.

The Information Of Colosseum

The opening celebrations of Colosseum lasted for 100 days and more than 5000 people and animals were sacrificed during the celebrations. Supplements were made to the building by Emperor Domitian between 81-96 AD and some of its parts were restored. As the three important Roman Emperor who constructed Colosseum were from the Flavian Dynasty, another name for Colosseum is Flavian Amphitheatre.

So, where does the name Colosseum come from? The root of the word Colosseum is “Colossus” and it means “huge, gigantic” in the Ancient Greek. In the past, there was a gigantic statue of Roman Emperor Nero by Colosseum with a height of 30 meters. The name Colosseum was given with reference to this statue.

Colosseum was used for three centuries and it is estimated that 500.000 people and 1 million animals were killed brutally during that period. Italians leave the lights on for a week when a person is put to death at any point of the world to draw attention to these unprecedentedly inhuman wild games and to express their regrets.

what is inside of colosseum in rome

Gladiator Fights

In the Ancient Roman, the wild animals of Africa like alligators, lions, tigers, rhinos were captured and brought to Rome. These animals were the most important figures of the games and entertainment in Colosseum. These animals were starved in the barns under the Colosseum and they were branded to make them more aggressive. These animals were starved and sometimes they were made to fight with each other and sometimes they were made to fight with gladiators. “Feed (one) to the lions” idiom comes from these wild games. The Roman people watched these games joyfully for free, together with their children, bringing their food with them. Among these games, there were innovative ones as well the brutal ones. For example, in one of the games, several battle scenes were portrayed. In this game, the inner walls of Colosseum were isolated and filled with water. This water was brought from River Tiber, a few km away, through the canals made with a certain slope. The pool was filled with alligators and snakes and a sea warfare was portrayed with boats.

colosseum naval battle

Where does the word “Gladiator” come from?

Gladiator comes from “gladius”, a Roman war sword. Gladiators were composed of slaves and prisoners. The gladiators were specially educated in schools and they were bought and sold. The people, who wanted to be famous and risked death, other than the gladiators may join the fights. The gladiators may fight with each other or with animals. The only aim of the gladiators was to win. They were able to be free only by this way. After the fight, the gladiator looked at the Emperor and watched him indicating with his finger. If the finger of Emperor was upward the gladiator would be free if it was downward, he would be killed. Yes, many films were taken and computer games were made on the gladiator games and it was such a cruel entertainment.

gladiator fights in colosseum

The strongest love potion

The gladiators were the pop stars of that period. They were famous and their fights were told mouth-to-mouth for years. For women, they were both objects of desire and a means to reach their goals. Women and young girls almost worshipped to some gladiators and made their names written on their bodies and beds. Even, women rushed to the area after the fight and they crushed each other to take from the blood and sweat from the groin of the gladiator. According to the belief, the potion made of these liquids was the strongest love potion.

The seating order

The seating order in Colosseum was completely class-oriented. Emperor and the noble and rich class sit in the lower parts, the closest parts to the arena, and upper parts were for the public and the uppermost parts were for slaves and women. The slaves sat in the seats in the lower parts and they warmed the lower seats for Emperor and the noble before game had started.

The Architectural Characteristics of Colosseum

Colosseum was inspired by the amphitheaters in the Ancient Greek but it was not constructed on a mountainside or hillside like them.It is not a full circle but an ellipse with 189×156 meters and it takes a space of 24.000 m2.This gigantic building is composed of the two unaccustomedly nested walls. The Arena can be emptied easily in only 5-10 minutes by means of its 80 gates. The building made of travertine and its siding was made with marble. When you look at it from the outside, the holes on the walls are the places where these marbles are attached with iron rods. By the time, these marbles were displaced and fell off due to earthquakes and the iron rods were stolen at the times when the iron was valuable. Due to the damages of earthquakes, the inner walls are visible.

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