Essay On The Colosseum

This paper will talk about the Colosseum’s history, innovating construction and architecture. It will also go over how a gladiatorial spectacular would have proceeded when the Colosseum was at the height of its prime as well as how it fell into ruin. The Colosseum is an important part of history and an example of astounding architecture. Not many people know that it not only hosted land battles but also sea battles. Another commonly unknown fact is that the Romans invented elevators strong enough to lift elephants and rhinos into the arena. Although most people think of the Colosseum as a tourist trap, it is a symbol of Roman history and architecture. It was and still is an amazing structure filled with almost two thousand years of history,

marked the beginning of the Flavian dynasty. Vespasian needed a way to appease the public so as to keep them from assassinating him like his three predecessors. His solution was to build a public amphitheater right on top of the man-made lake and gardens in Nero’s Golden House. Seven years into his reign he had workers and slaves drain the lake and build a six-meter deep foundation. The dirt removed from the construction of the foundation was used to raise the ground level by several meters to turn the marshy valley that once was a lake into a tall hill so that his amphitheater would be seen by all. Although Vespasian ordered the amphitheatre to be built, he was unable to see it completed because he died of natural causes in 79 A.D. After his death, Vespasian’s son, Titus, took over as emperor and dedicated the amphitheatre in 80 A.D. He held a great gladiator spectacular that lasted one hundred days and nights although still under construction. Titus’ reign ended in 81 A.D. when he died from a fever. As Titus had no children, Vespasian’s younger son was next in line to be emperor. He oversaw the completion of the Flavian Amphitheatre, as it was named because it was a symbol of the Flavian