Rome / The Colosseum

We landed at the Roman airport and drove to our destination where we'll be staying for six weeks. Our plan is to live here rather than just be tourists.

We had a few days of unpacking and getting used to the apartment before taking our first venture down to the Colosseum, which was originally called the "Flavian Amphitheatre".
The Colosseum was built by the best engineers of that time, Romans, and was the first building ever made with concrete much the same as used in buildings today.

This is me sitting on a fence just outside the Colosseum.

Like the Tower of London the Colosseum was being built in the 70's, or a 70's, in fact, the first 70's there ever was. In 72 AD the Colosseum's construction had begun. By the time the first 80's came the Colosseum's construction was almost complete. It was completed in 80 AD.

This is what computer animation believed it to look like.

It was an engineering feat of extrodinary sophistication and as beautiful as anything to be seen in the entire city of Rome.

The Colosseum has a circumference of 500 m or 590 yds approx.
It has 76 numbered entrances around it which give enough room for 50,000 people to; enter, get sorted into their seats, and sit down in 10 minuts. Try doing that at the MCG!
Amoung the circumference, on the upper levels were dozens and dozens of carved statues of very famous gladiators who had fought there.Some gladiators were normal people who wanted to fight (and die) just for other peoples' entertainment, some were slaves who had no choice but to fight and impress the crowd until the Emperor gave them their freedom.

It has 4 storeys in height and over a thousand stories in tales of bloody battles, carnivorous animals and bloodthirsty audiences.

It was built on top of Nero's Garden, Nero was a former king who was very selfish and was roumored to have burnt down alot of Rome.

We were fortunate enough to take a tour through the Colosseum and were also fortunate enough to be allowed to take photo's (unlike some places we've been to) like these.

After the visit, we had dinner at the "Hotel Gladiatori" overlooking the Colosseum and and the remains of the gladiator training complex that had been unearthed by archaeologists.

That night we all watched the movie "The Gladiator" starring Australian actor, Russell Crowe.
The movie showed us entirely what the Colosseum was like back then and I recommend the movie for you as well, it is not as scary as you think.