The truly remarkable thing about Rome is that you can be walking down a street of old buildings, turn a corner and come across something REALLY old. That was the experience I had when we came upon the Colosseum.
The building was completed in 80 AD and could hold 55,000 people. You enter the colosseum in the same way a spectator would have, through the arches.
The place is huge. Note that what is missing are the actual seating sections. The angled walls are the parts that would have held up the seating section. And the area you walk on are the concourses that lead to the seats.
The gladiators were not the heros you may be picturing. Rather, they were slaves or prisoners or criminals who were made to fight. And they mostly were made to fight wild animals brought in from all around the world. Tens of thousands of animals were killed this way (as were quite a few gladiators).
The picture below shows the area that was under the floor of the colosseum. This is where the animals, and gladiators, were kept until their turn to fight. They were the brought up by elevators (lifted up by slaves) to the floor of the colosseum to fight.
Across the street from the colosseum is palatine hill. It stands above the Forum and was the home of a number of palaces. The picture below shows the garden of one such palace, and the building on the left was their dining room.
You can wander along what would have been the hallways of some of the buildings.
And can look down into courtyards that once held amazing fountains.
The view from the hill is stunning.
On the other side of palatine hill, away from the colosseum, is the Forum. This was the home to the center of roman politics and society.
The Arch of Titus, built in 82 AD, sits at one end of the forum.
You can then descend on the original road, the Via Sacra, that was used by the citizens of Rome in the 1st century. Pretty cool.
You can then wander among the ruins of this amazing location.
These are the columns from the Temple of the Dioscuri, in honor of Castor and Pollux.
The building below marks the location of the Temple of Cesear, the actual location where Cesear was cremated.
Inside is the actual altar where the cremation took place.
It’s hard to describe just how magnificent and overwhelming it is to see these sites. Even more so when you consider that the 21st century Rome co-exists right next door.
— Bret