Seeing the Colosseum

Photo by Amanda Ho
Photo by Amanda Ho

For those of you who have vivid images of Emperor Nero laughing maniacally as lions snacked on Christians in the Colosseum, I have bad news.

Nero, it turns out, died before the Colosseum was built in the First Century. In fact, in his day the site of the famous amphitheater was a lake.

This was something of a disappointment to me, since my education on all things Roman mainly comes from the apparently not-always reliable Hollywood School of History. However, I am happy to say the Colosseum is so cool that neither my dashed dreams nor the fact that I shared the visit with about a billion other sightseers dimmed the experience.

I think it may be the sheer scale of the building, which was capable of seating 50,000. Or it might be all the interesting innovations, like staircases dedicated to certain levels to make for quick exits and entrances. People streamed out so fast the passages for the 76 regular entrance arches were called vomitaria. A little gross, sure, but interesting.

As in today’s sports arenas, the best seats were at field level and there’s a small section of marble -covered bleachers in the prime viewing area that were reserved for people so special they had their names engraved on the marble. Luxury boxes, Empire style.

I came away feeling so fired up about spectatorship I almost want to take in an Oakland Raiders’ game this fall. The cheers of the crowd, the smell of the fried meat products, it could be fun.

Of course, I wouldn’t advise going anywhere near the rabid fan section known as the “Black Hole.”
Not even Nero would have been fool enough to fiddle around with those folks.

Cheers.

2 Replies to “Seeing the Colosseum”

  1. Bongiorno!

    Coco was last in Rome in 2007 but arrived too late for the Colosseum. (Long story.)
    She did love the city however! Can we look forward to some food and restaurant posts?

    Better yet, drop by Nissa la bella on the way home and see us! Or have you forgotten the little people in your past now that you’re a jetsetting globetrotter?

    Biz, Coco

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