What is the history of the colosseum in rome?

Answer 1

The construction of the Colosseum was commissioned in 70 by the emperor Vespasian (reigned 69-79) and was completed in 80 by his son and successor Titus (reigned 79-81). Titus' brother and successor Domitian (reigned 81-96) added a fourth tier. Since there were the emperors of the Flavian dynasty, the actual name of the arena was Flavian Amphitheatre (Amphitheatrum Flavium). The nickname Colosseum his thought to have been derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby which was called Colossus, after the Colossus of Rhodes.

The Colosseum was financed with the funds from the spoil of war of the victorious First Jewish-Roman War and was built Jewish slaves. In antiquity slaves were enslaved war captives. Josephus estimated that the Romans took 97,000 slaves from Jerusalem to Rome. It is not clear how many of them worked on the Colosseum. One estimate gives 20,000.

The Colosseum was badly damaged in 217 by a major fire which destroyed the wooden searings on upper levels. This was completely finished only in 240. There were further repairs in 250 or 252 and 320. It may have been damaged by a major earthquake in 443. there were more repairs in 484 and 508.

In 325 Constantine the Great banned gladiatorial games. However, this legislation and subsequent ones were ineffective. In 365, Valentinian I threatened to fine a judge who sentenced Christians to the arena and in 384 to limit the expenses of the games (something which had been done many times over two centuries). Theodosius I banned all pagan festivals in 393, but these games continued. Honorius legally ended these games in the western part of the empire in 399, and in 404. Valentinian III repeated the ban in 438. It seems that by this time the popularity of the gladiatorial games waned. However, animal hunts continued into the 6th century.

A small church was built inside the Colosseum by the late 6th century. The arena was converted into a cemetery. The vaults of the arcades under the setting were used for housing and workshops, some of which were rented until the 12th century. An aristocratic family, the frangipane, acquired the Colosseum probably used it as a castle and fortified it. In 1349 the upper part of the southern façade collapsed in an earthquake and the fallen stones were taken and sued as building materials. Over the centuries, like many other ancient Roman buildings, it was quarried for building materials. The interior was stripped of stone, and so was the marble of the façade. The bronze clamps which held the stones together were ripped away. A religious order moved into the northern third and in the mid14th century stayed there until the early 19th century. In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV declared the Colosseum as a sacred place where Christian martyrs had died and forbade its quarrying. He consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross. He declared it sanctified by the blood of the martyrs.

There were many projects, to remove the vegetation which had grown the Colosseum, causing damage. In 1807 and 1827 he façade was reinforced with triangular brick wedges. The interior was repaired in 1831, 1846 and in the 1930s. The substructure was partly excavated in 1810-1814 and 1874 and was brought fully to the light under Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.

Answer 2

The purose of the colosseum was that hundreds if not thousands of people would come to watch gladiators (often slaves, criminals of prisoners of war) fight to the death, to watch animals and gladiators fight, or just animals and animals. The colosseum was a very violent place and used for the public and upper-class entertainment.

Answer 3

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