Monday, January 21, 2008

The Colosseum and Roman Ruins

Here is super-muscular Dave inside the Colosseum. Rome was absolutely my favorite city! It was just phenomenal, all the ancient ruins and the history of the city. I only got to spend 3 days there, but I told myself it was no big deal because I am going back soon. The entire city was just fantastic!

Did you know the name Colosseum wasn't chosen because the stadium itself was so large, but because a statue that stood outside the stadium was large! It seems so silly now, but it's true! The statue is no longer there, but the Colosseum still stands. Largely ransacked in the Middle Ages, much of the stone (which is always expensive) was removed from the 'eyesore' of the Colosseum to build new churches and other buildings. The same fate awaited many of the ancient pagan temples (and probably pieces of Stonehenge too) from thousands of years ago.
This picture shows the extensive tunneling below where the battle ground was. At the far end of the picture, you can see where the stage would've been. The fighting occurred in the circular arena, and below were the cages for the animals like tigers and hippos that were used in the games. All kinds of openings and passageways existed to get to the arena from below. The senators sat in the front rows just around the circle. The crowds had to climb much higher up, on tiny, dangerous-looking staircases.

All over inside the Colosseum, there were what looked like prison cells. Actually, they were all over the city! I'm not sure exactly what they were used for, especially the ones that were so far away from the actual fighting.
Just outside the Colosseum you can see here the Arc of Constantine. It has some very intricate design work on it.
There used to be a huge monument here, but all that is left is the foundation. Somewhere in this area is where the giant statue stood (maybe in the circle?) that the Colosseum was named for.
Outside the Colosseum is a huge grounds with Roman Ruins. It is simply amazing. It's like a little city that's 2000 years old. Here are some of the ruins.

This next set of pictures is from one of my favorite things, the Palatino. There is a giant palace complex just outside the Colosseum that is 2000 years old or older. I can't remember which king or ruler was said to have lived here, but the layout and the grounds are simply stunning. The place is extremely vast! Look at the size of the people compared to this courtyard!

This space is so large, you can't even see the people in the picture for a scale. There are two people up on the top level. Look closely!
This field seemed to be about the size of a football field nowadays. Nobody really knows exactly what it was for, but perhaps some kind of games?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

some of the pictures of just the colosseum are really nice