Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Ultimate in Roman Antiquities...the Coliseum...


We opted for a guided tour through the Coliseum...got to pass the line and go straight in...a definite bang for our buck!!!

Our tour guide was great...but darned if I remember what the significance of this window was!!!

Just above the walkway, where you see the arches and sloping walls, is actually the gallery of seats where the vestal virgins sat and cheered on the gladiators of their choice...
(Now, that I do remember!!!)

Under the floor of the coliseum were halls and rooms where the animals were kept...


They would also stage ship battles in the floor of the Coliseum by flooding the main floor...

Gladiators, of course, were the main source of entertainment...with a thumbs up, thumbs down vote to decide if they're fighting to the death...

4 comments:

  1. It's a place of myth and fascination. But I can't see photos of those "underground" chambers without imagining the horrors.

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  2. It's amazing to think of what was so commonplace back then...We may still be a brutal society, but "we've come a long way, baby"!!!

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  3. So they had a wooden floor or was it stone? Anyway you look at it it's a wonder to see. And yes, I much prefer our virtual violence to the real thing.

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  4. Welcome Paula!!! good question!!! I believe it was stone...covered with dirt...but not really sure. The often flooded the coliseum for staged naval battles, so wood doesn't seem likely....

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