It is possible that such an architectural solution was intended to allow patricians to leave the building without having to interfere with the lower social strata. The viewers from the top rows had to walk down a corridor with a sloping ceiling in order to leave the facility, which is about 2.2 meters high at the highest point, which slowed down their movement. This was possible for viewers occupying the bottom and middle rows. Ultimately, however, Vespasian did not live to open the building, because he died in 79 CE.Īccording to many publications, viewers were reportedly able to leave the Colosseum within 5-6 minutes. As a famous and victorious commander – the conqueror of the Jewish uprising in Judea – the emperor had large financial resources and a great mass of prisoners and slaves. Vespasian, who came to power through a military coup, wanted in this way to win the favour of the Roman people, necessary to consolidate the acquired power.

Executions of Christians also took place elsewhere in Rome, such as in Nero’s private circus.Ĭonstruction of the Colosseum began around 70 or 72 CE at the behest of the founder of the Flavian dynasty, Emperor Vespasian, who ordered this structure to be erected on the site of an artificial lake in the unfinished rich residence of Emperor Nero – Domus Aurea (“Golden House”). Certainly, Christians died in the arena of the Colosseum, but there was no mass murder here, as many contemporary accounts show. However, this thesis is questioned by scientists. Over the centuries, the belief that Christians were murdered en masse in the Colosseum was established, which is now to be commemorated by a cross inside the building. Rome’s contacts with Africa and Far Eastįlavian Amphitheatre, Colosseum ( Amphitheatrum Flavium, Colosseum) is a huge oval-shaped structure, on which the games ( ludi) were held in ancient Rome – wrestling, gladiator fights, wild animal fights and sea battles (the so-called naumachiae).

What is the roman colosseum called