 Hey, this is Darius Aria for the American Institute for Roman Culture. This is Ancient Rome Live. Today we're going to be talking about the life and afterlife of the Colosseum. So this is the world's greatest amphitheater. This is the great iconic symbol of Rome and Roman Empire, Ancient Rome. Let's take a look at its history and then let's talk about what's in store for the monument in the coming years. There is an ongoing conservation project funded by Todd's, which moves forward, which is guaranteed to give more access and better understanding of this, the greatest amphitheater from the Roman world. Hey there guys in Chicago. Thanks everyone for joining in. Sometimes I don't know we get spotty Wi-Fi or we have Zoom outages, but here we are. So the Colosseum is behind me and I'm going to be sharing some images of this one second. Here we go. Okay, so what we're taking a look at today, what we're discussing today is the Colosseum. First, just a couple little points. There was something here before. It was the Lake of the Domus Aria of Nero, who's the emperor at the last of the Julio-Claudians reigning. So one of the great genial moves that the Spasian who's going to succeed him in the year, the four emperors, is to drain out that lake that was used for private enjoyment and entertainment of Nero and give that space to the people. It's a space that actually as known as today, the Colosseum Valley, it was already known in antiquity with very many important Roman monuments and shrines, particularly lining up against the Palatine Hill in this photo then behind me taking the picture into the right. So it was a way of giving back a big chunk of the city of where 100 acres of the Domus Aria were appropriated by Nero, giving some of that land back to the people. Why not the greatest venue from ancient times? Now there were previous amphitheaters in ancient Roman times, so we can go back and just basically and review. The first gladiatorial games are documented in Roman 264 BC in the Forum Boarium, but by the second century BC we're here about the gladiatorial games, the spectacles as they're known. They're set up temporarily in the piazza of the Roman Forum itself. And we won't have a proper permanent amphitheater in Rome. And to the time of Augustus, he doesn't build it. It's built by one of his friends and supporters, Statilius Taurus, somewhere in the southern campus marshes. So it takes a while to get a stone amphitheater in the city of Rome, in part because the Romans don't like huge entertainment venues to be permanent where people can gather and potentially outshine one another politically. So there's a reason why in the Republic they build them temporarily. Most famously, let's have Gaius Scribonius Curio in 53 BC builds a double theater, two theaters coming together to form that circle. And that's what the word actually means, double theater. But because it has a well-established practice and location in the Roman Forum, then it's in the Roman Forum that we get that elongated shape, which then defines all amphitheaters over 250 of them throughout the Roman Empire. So that real unique shape, that a perfect circle, is determined by some of the early games where people were fighting, performing in the long rectangular piazza of the Forum, and then you had to bleed your seats surrounding it in a kind of an ellipse or oval-like shape that will then determine the shape of all successive amphitheaters when they become a permanent. And the oldest stone amphitheater that's preserved with certainty is the one in Pompeii after it becomes a Roman colony during the Social Ward. And this becomes a colony established by the general Sulla. And we date that amphitheater there, known as Spatacula, plays for spectacles to about the mid-70s BC. So there is a long life of amphitheaters in Rome, but the first permanent one we can date to about 29 BC, Cetillus Taurus. Then we can turn to, we have notes of a wooden amphitheater being built by Gaius, otherwise known as Caligula near the Septum, the Cypita in the Circus in the Campus Marchus, that's abandoned by Claudius. Then we have an amphitheater of Nero built after the fire of 64. So the idea is the record show that the stone amphitheater of Cetillus Taurus have been destroyed. Here's a magnificent one, some people say not so magnificent, of Nero made of wood, and of Nero it's time for something new. What a big bold statement, a new stone permanent amphitheater for the city of Rome. Here it is, not known as the Colosseum until much later. It's known throughout antiquity as the new amphitheater to distinguish it from the previous ones. It's known as the Flaming Amphitheater named after the family name of the Spasian who built it. So we'll take a look today just briefly at the Colosseum and some very recent images, literally even taking just a few days ago. And we can see that the sod here, that brings it up to almost 50 meters in height, solid block stones of travertine have been cleaned, and this is part of the phase one of the conservation project that's sponsored by Todd's. You see in the distance the Arch of Constantine, the magnificent Arch of Constantine will be able to address it in the near future, and the big hole in the front where there's that sign that says Domosauria this way and entrance to the Colosseum this way, that's Metro C. So that work continues today. So it's a busy hub, it's the juncture point now for Metro B, which literally runs from the vantage point of where I'm standing, taking the photo, and then straight through underneath the Arch of Constantine on its way to the Circus Maximus on its way to the Port d'Astiense and the Pyramid of Cestius, so it's known as the Pyramide Stop. So again, we've had some breathtaking views as Rome loosens up and we're allowed to travel around. We get incredible views and vistas, and in this case here we see that section of the exterior wall of the Colosseum that is beautifully cleaned as well as it can be cleaned, and I'm going to give you a little insight on that process just shortly. There are some tours still, just local at this point, but you can see how everyone still amires the incredible work that was done in this long-term conservation project of the Colosseum. Now here's a vantage point, I'm going to be taking you up, up, up in the scaffolding to give you some great views of the Colosseum. Over the years I've been allowed to go up to the Colosseum, so I'm going to share some of those with you and then literally take you all around the structure. So number one, as you can see, get a sense already of scale, absolutely gigantic monstrous structure, and we've already talked about how it's replacing the Golden Houses Stagnum or Lake and the time of Nero, I'm going to move around here, turning around, I'm literally standing on the top wall of the Colosseum. You get a sense of the view, you get a sense of how high it is and then how small and low everything else is. This truly dominates the landscape of Rome. Today there's the Vittoriano Monument, the distance, you get an idea that you're about the same height, and we can see here that's the scaffolding that I was up, and of course you can see the crowds that are at the current moment not here. But you can also see, just to the right of the scaffolding, you have a big wedge of brick arcades. That's one of two restoration projects done in the 19th century, in this case this one here in 1827 by Beledier. It is an extreme effort to shore up that exterior wall still standing that it doesn't push out and collapse. So that is functional, it is in great shape, and it gives you an idea over the years, over the centuries, what people have done to maintain this precious ruin. So we can see from this vantage point again from the top, we can see different series of tiers, and we can see the arena floor partially reconstructed. And beneath that Roman floor, that floor of the arena is the sub-structures known as the hippo-jam, where in the end by the time of the mission and beyond you have series of permanent wall structures inserted into which there are channels, corridors, and of course elevator shafts to hoist up props, animals, gladiators. So this truly is one great forum space you can say for everyone of all walks of life to come and be entertained. So think about this as a grand arena. Think of the galleries. We'll talk about a lot of the activities, but essentially it's a place to come together as a community and to watch order in a sense being imposed. Because you have criminals put to death at noontime, you have a horrific warm-up act of men fighting against wild animals, and the main event, the moon arena, these public obligations that are paid for by the individuals, or in this case here the state, only the emperor in this venue, you have the gladiatorial games of man against man fighting often to the death. And we can see a little bit of the neighborhood. I don't want you ever to think about this structure existing in a bubble. It did not. It was surrounded in this case here by a big temple, the temple of Venus and Rome built by Hadrian, rebuilt by Max Enchus. But if you look down there at the base, you can see a bunch of large dark niches where we're told in one historic source, that's where a lot of the games machinery that's used for the spectacles of the Colosseum were actually stored. And that gigantic space occupied by the temple of Venus and Rome is actually the Velia, what we call the Velia Hill, we come back to us looking at the hills of Rome. And then to the left is part of the Palatine hill. Now I'm standing in the temple of Venus and Rome, looking at the Colosseum, how magnificent it is. Again, the outer walls intact on the left, the scaffolding's there in the middle. Then you have the wedge of restoring, shoring up brickwork of the 19th century. And then you have the inner ring that is preserved. So as we make our way to the right, the outer wall is gone. It's fallen down in an earthquake sometime in the mid-14th century, the stone. Think about that exterior wall of 100,000 tons of travertine stone, so much of it was carved away mostly in the Renaissance times and documented. So what was right next to the Colosseum? Again, I'm standing on the top wall of the Colosseum, almost 50 meters up, where the trees are, that's where you had the base, this is verified archaeologically, the base of the Colossus. Basically, think that that was where you had standing, a statue about the size of the Statue of Liberty, which in the time of Nero, we're told, was up on the Velia Hill by the Archiptitis, moved here after the construction of the Temple of Venus in Rome by the Emperor Hadron. So we can think about seating arrangements, four stories divided into four floors for 50 to 60,000 spectators. Everyone is arranged according to social class and that's going to affect their social experience here inside the Colosseum. Again, there's a morning show, a noontime of executions and gladiatorial fights in the afternoon. The wealthy people traditionally went away at noontime to have a nice meal. The execution of criminals, burning them, throwing to wild animals, and so forth, was largely left for the rabble. It wasn't considered something for the upper classes. Okay, here, literally on the top wall of the Colosseum, you can see different layers of cement and solidation work has taken place over the years, but it was a great honor, a great opportunity to stand at the top and I'll show you the view in just a little bit. But of course, again, the Colosseum I just want to underline was not in isolation, was not in a bubble or a vacuum. It was surrounded by four gladiatorial schools. Right here, we're looking at the Lutus Magnus. There's also the Lutus Matatinas, the morning show, the Lutus Gallicus, Lutus Decticus, and there's an armory and a hospital and a morgue. So there's a lot going on on this side of what we call the Kylian Hill, partially excavated remains of the Lutus Magnus. So usually you're a guiding star gladiator. This is where Maximus was locked up in the movie, just in the shadow of the Colosseum. And of course, you won't see any of the scaffolding up now on the exterior. That conservation work on the exterior phase one is complete. I'm just making our way around the magnificent structure. The original circumference is 545 meters. That's the length of the Circus Maximus. And you've got to think of the amenities, the bathrooms, the awning, the fountains, concession stands, souvenir stands, just as you would expect in any modern venue. We're making our way continually around here. We can see that when we look at the pavement, we can see where those white steps are. That's where the original exterior that has disappeared once went. We're looking now at some of the inner rings and the lower rings of the Colosseum. The walls are peppered with holes where the metal clamps, holding block to block, has been extracted in the Middle Ages as people are foraging for building material. This was a great source. This was, as I'd like to tell people, Home Depot, but for free. But by the 1200s or so, the Francipani family takes over this as a large fortification. What still stood could be reused. A lot of recycling history takes place later on in Rome's history. And it is amazing to think that even as a ruin, a lot of things were going on here. In the Middle Ages, of course, people are still making a buck off the Colosseum ticket sales. And of course, these centurions and gladiators have long since disappeared. But of course, you can still visit the Parque Colosseum reopening to the public after a closure of many months to the pandemic, it's opening up June 1st. So we think of this massive structure, 545 meters of circumference, almost 200 meters long, sometimes damaged by fire, 217 was a famous one to put it out of commission for five years. It largely served most of its life as a ruin because the gladiatorial games ended in 434 and the animal hunts ended in 523. There's already a church documented being inside and burial is already in the sixth and the late sixth century AD. And again, the Francipani family takes over in about 1200. That earthquake, mid 14th century, tunnels down that outer wall. So we can't see it in this photo. Can't see it in this photo. But that white line that's traced in the pavement shows us just how far out and how much of that exterior we are missing. It's a grand site as a ruin. And of course, we jump inside, we might see the occasional cat. We do see the different phases of the hippo jame, the substructures for the wooden floor here, partially reconstructed, sometimes in ashlar blocks of tuff, sometimes in brickwork. And potentially with the new conservation work, the entire floor will be reconstructed for more access to visitors we don't know. I would say it's more probable than not. So enjoy this view while it lasts. And we can see from this vantage point again, the floor, how much of the hippo jame is exposed. Later, if you look at it, more recent times, I haven't put up any of the more recent photos, the actual hippo jame walls have been beautifully restored and clean and consolidated. And they are now much more legible. Here's some reconstruction of some seating, which is incorrect because the seats at the bottom for the senators would have been much wider. And as you went up, then you got more closely related to that nosebleed kind of seat, less comfortable less showy, less visible. Of course, down at the bottom, you had the best views. And there was a gilded bronze fence in netting to protect you from being killed by gladiators or wild animals. It's a great view of the Colosseum and the arch of Constantine here from the Palatine Hill. I'm standing in the Vina Barbarini. It's a grand view from here. And from the top standing, you can see how tiny those people are now on the pavement of the arena floor. They were very up high. Indeed, the Castelli Romani, the Alvin Hills, where Romulus and Mabus were born, and we're all the way at the top for, I think, a quite unique view. Of course, who knows when the scaffolding is going to be up next. So I consider myself pretty lucky to have gone up there a number of times. Currently, again, the restoration work, the Grand Conservation Project funded by Todd's, is going to be concentrating, is concentrating on the interior spaces, the corridors, and so forth. They've made a lot of progress. And you'll notice that the next time you visit the Colosseum. So I want to thank you all. Let's see if there's any questions coming right back. Hey, then Indiana, great data that this is your favorite topic. And Todd's TOD, Apostrophe S, is essentially a luxury brand that makes things like shoes and clothing and purses. And the owner and CEO has donated money over the past years going towards this. And it really kickstarted Italian fashion brands to contribute to preserving the cultural heritage of Italy. It's been a great idea. It was a new idea at the time, now much more acceptable, much more current. Nobody's going to question anything like this today. But he was a real innovator to do this. And I think they've seen a lot of great results. The ongoing attention then will complete the conservation work on the interior. And then I think you're going to see some work also on the outside piazza, even with a new kind of guest center, information center and so forth, hidden out of view, but also another necessary step to accommodate people and having a better experience in the Colosseum. You can go underground, you can go up to the second tier, even the third tier. And of course you saw where I was, if I just come right over here, I was right up there and brought you to the tippy top when the scaffolding was up. Just give you some views of the Colosseum, the grand amphitheater, the new amphitheater, the Flavian amphitheater. Thank you very much for joining me for a little overview of the Colosseum, the structure and the ongoing conservation work that is taking place. Thanks for joining me here for Ancient Rome Live. You can support us, just go to ancientromelive.org slash donate. 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