The Colosseum

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The Colosseum

• a.k.a. The Arena Of Death by hamibum, molrad, and
  goosey

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Contents

• The Colosseum True Story
• The Colosseum 2009
• The Colosseum 70 AD
• The Life Of A Gladiator
• The Details
• The Colosseum in pictures

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The Colosseum- The True Story

• The Colosseum originally named the Amphitheatre
  of Flavian was nicknamed The Colosseum because
  of the colossal statue of Nero standing
  outside. The Colosseum is one of Rome's main
  landmarks, built over 2000 years ago still,
  almost, standing today! During the Roman Empire
  it was used for festivals and sporting contests
  including bloody gladiator fights in the huge
  centre.

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Continued

• The emperor Vespasian started to build the
  Colosseum but it was not completely finished
  until the time of his sons, Titus and Domitian.
  The Colosseum is an example of the great roman
  architecture - along with many other famous
  designs like the great aqueducts and the temples
  built for the Gods and Goddesses.

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The Colosseum 2009

• Today the Colosseum remains standing although not
  all features are intact and most are in ruins.
• It is a major Italian tourist attraction and many
  tours take place every year.

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The Colosseum 70 AD

• When the Colosseum first opened the emperor
  ordered 100 days of games to celebrate in which
  9000 animals where killed!
• The Colosseum was a very popular place and
  activity for the Roman people in 70 ADbut not
  for the gladiators

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The life of a gladiator

• As you may know Romans loved gladiator
  fighting-but how did a gladiator actually live?
• Well a gladiator tended to be a slave or a
  criminal who had been condemned to death
• They would enter the arena and collect two
  weapons and fight to death.

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More..

• If a gladiator won he would win his life. The
  loser however would not.
• A gladiator would fight all his life until
  eventually he would earn his freedom
• He would then be a free man
• But how did they train?
• Well the Romans even had special schools where
  they trained their gladiators.

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Even more..

• There was four main types of gladiators
• Murmillo Had a shield, short sword and body
  armour
• Thracian- had a round shield, and carved sword
  called a scimitar
• Retiarius- had a trident and net he often lost!
• Samnite- (same as Murmillo)

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The details

• There are only 31 of the outer arches that remain
  from the original 80.
• Each arch is 4.20 meters wide and 7.05m high
• It took 20000-30000 people to build-wow!
• Three to four stories high 616 feet in diameter.

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The Colosseum in pictures
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Thank you

• Thank you very much for listening
• We hope you enjoyed our talk about one of the
  worlds most beautiful historical landmarks!
• We will now answers any questions.