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The Roman Colosseum

Caesar's death did not restore the Republic. In fact, his short reign as dictator had the opposite effect. It marked the end of nearly four centuries of a representative form of government. It paved the way for future leaders to become all-powerful emperors. By the time Julius Caesar's heir, Augustus, took over in 27 B.C., the Roman Republic no longer existed. In its place was the Roman Empire, and Augustus was its first emperor. His power was absolute. The citizens of Rome no longer had a say in the government.

Augustus knew that sponsors of gladiatorial games could become popular and influential and possibly a threat to his position. He wanted to make sure that he never faced that kind of challenge. He changed the laws so that gladiatorial combat and venationes could only take place as part of the annual government festivals honoring Roman gods, and only with his permission. Private citizens, no matter how wealthy, could no longer sponsor games. Traditional funeral munera became a thing of the past. The munera were transformed into ludi, official "games" sponsored and controlled by the emperor. To increase his own popularity and influence over the people, Augustus held more ludi than ever. By the end of his reign in 14 A.D., he was sponsoring more than 90 days of ludi a year in Rome.

Augustus devoted himself to the job of ruling the Roman Empire. He used his great power to create a time of peace and prosperity. Emperors who followed him did not rule as wisely. Some, like Nero, are known to this day for their terrible abuse of authority. Nero, who became emperor in 54 A.D., was notoriously intolerant of those who displeased him. He ordered the murders of many people, including his mother and one of his wives, for the smallest offenses.

In 64 A.D., a fire raged through the city, burning much of central Rome to the ground. Instead of rebuilding the homes that the fire destroyed, Nero seized the land for himself. On it he built his enormous Domus Aurea (Golden House), a luxurious palace and private garden. This only increased the resentment that his cruelty, irresponsible governing, and wasteful spending had already earned him. Even the Roman army, usually loyal to the emperor, turned against him. Nero was finally forced to give up the throne, and he eventually committed suicide in 68 A.D.

His death triggered a period of conflict and civil war in Rome. Military generals, backed by their legions of loyal soldiers, competed with each other to become emperor. In one year, three different generals won and then quickly lost the title. The city was in an uproar. A fourth general, Vespasian Flavius (father of Emperor Titus Flavius), emerged victorious from the civil wars. His soldiers defeated all the opposing armies and made him emperor. It was a great honor, but governing the sprawling empire was a difficult task.

Nero's neglect had allowed the provinces of the Empire to slip from Rome's control. The capital city itself, crammed with a million overcrowded, unruly people, had never recovered from the effects of the terrible fire of 64. Nero's extravagant spending and the chaos that followed his reign had caused widespread poverty in Rome. Many people were unemployed, hungry, and angry. It was a desperate situation.

When Vespasian became emperor he was already a tough and experienced leader. Nearly 70 years old, he had survived decades on the battlefield, as well as the whims of treacherous emperors like Nero. Above all, he was a very practical man, and he tackled the problems of the city in his usual very practical way. He could see that, in order to rule the empire, he had to first bring Rome's people under control. To ease their hunger, he distributed bread. To take their minds off their wretched living conditions, he sponsored frequent ludi.

People who were fed and amused were less angry and easier to control. Vespasian wasn't the first or the last emperor to rule by pacifying and distracting his subjects, but he did it very effectively. (A famous Roman writer named Juvenal called this uniquely Roman way of governing "giving the people bread and circuses." The phrase is still used today.) Vespasian also had to revive the people's confidence in the government. In our time, politicians use newspapers and television to influence public opinion. Vespasian chose to impress the people of Rome through the buildings he erected. Grand and imposing buildings would serve as constant reminders of his greatness.

He decided that his most magnificent building would be an amphitheater. By building the Colosseum, an enormous amphitheater devoted entirely to the ludi, he sent a clear message to the people. He not only demonstrated that he had the power to accomplish such a difficult feat, he showed his subjects that he understood what they liked and would provide the entertainment they craved. The location for Vespasian's amphitheater, on the bed of an artificial lake in the garden of Nero's hated Domus Aurea, was carefully selected. By building there, Vespasian gave back to the people the land that Nero had taken after the fire.

The Colosseum wasn't the first amphitheater in Rome. Temporary wooden ones had been set up in the Forum and dismantled when the games were over. Nor was it the first amphitheater to be made of stone. A smaller one had been built in the city of Pompei in 89 B.C. But the Colosseum was the largest in the world, and, because it was in the capital of the Empire, it was the most important. It was also a masterpiece of architectural design and engineering skill.

One of the greatest obstacles to building this huge and complicated structure was its great weight. If such a massive building was to stand for centuries, as Vespasian hoped, it had to rest on a very solid foundation. A drainage system was installed to empty the water from Nero's lake into the Tiber River. Then a wide oval trench, 18 feet deep, was dug underneath the area where the seats would eventually be. The trench was filled with solid concrete. The heavy stone and concrete walls would rest on this massive foundation.

Vespasian was in a hurry. He was an old man, and he wanted his amphitheater completed before he died. The architect, unknown to us today, was under tremendous pressure to finish the job quickly, and he devised wonderfully efficient ways of working. The way in which he organized the labor force and construction materials at the Colosseum would look familiar to a 20th century builder.

The amphitheater was divided into quarters. Independent crews of skilled artisans worked simultaneously on each quarter, making the job go faster. A skeleton of supporting walls was built all the way up to the top of the second level and covered with a roof. Once the skeleton was in place, the marble seats, staircases, and arched corridors could be filled in on two levels at the same time.

As big as the amphitheater was, it couldn't contain the hundreds of bustling workers who built the walls and the many stonemasons who shaped the marble seats and stairs. These were made in workshops and then brought to the amphitheater. The pieces were made to be interchangeable - all the stairs were the same width, for example - so they were simpler to install. This use of standardized parts is another thoroughly modern technique that is common in construction today.

The concrete used in the Colosseum would also look right at home on a modern construction site. Concrete was invented by the Romans in the 2nd century B.C., and it's made the same way now - by mixing lime, sand, and water with stone rubble and allowing it to harden. As it hardens, it doesn't simply dry out. A chemical reaction takes place, and the sand and limestone are bonded tightly together. The result is a rock-like material that is strong, cheap, and easy to use.

Since concrete was a relatively recent invention, the Romans were still learning how to use it when the Colosseum was being built. They weren't sure just how strong this remarkable new material was, and they didn't want to take risks in such an important building. They cautiously combined concrete and stone, an ancient and more trusted material. The ceilings of the corridors that circled the arena on each level were vaulted arches made of concrete, for example, but the supports they rested on were made of strong, heavy limestone. Vaulted arches themselves were also a Roman invention. The arched shape made them much stronger than a flat ceiling would have been. Vaulted arches made of concrete added strength to the building without adding excessive weight. Without concrete and vaulted arches, the Colosseum couldn't have been built.

Another great challenge for the architect was accommodating the audience. Fifty thousand people had to be comfortable during games that often lasted from morning til night. They had to be able to enter quickly, without pushing and shoving, find their seats easily, and exit just as calmly. Romans were an excitable audience, and the violence they watched in the arena did nothing to soothe them. Any confusion, any arguments or shoving, could easily provoke trouble and fighting in the audience. The crowds had to be controlled. The building itself had to work to control them.

The architect devised an ingenious system of entrances, corridors, and staircases that allowed the crowds to come and go smoothly. There were 80 separate entrance arches. Two were for gladiators (one for the living, one for the dead), two were for the emperor and other dignitaries. The remaining 76 arches had Roman numerals I through LXXVI carved into the stone above them. These numbers also appeared on admission tickets to help people find their seats. (The ludi were a gift from the emperor to the people. Tickets were required, but they were free of charge.)

There were four levels of seating, and each level was divided into sections. Each section on each level had its own staircase that led directly to it. By using so many separate entrances and staircases, the architect neatly solved the problem of crowd control. It's said that all 50,000 people could leave the Colosseum in just three minutes! People were seated according to their position in society. Upper class people (senators, nobles, and priestesses) sat in the first tier, closest to the arena. Lower classes (slaves and foreigners) sat in higher tiers, far from the action. Most women sat at the very top beneath a wooden roof. Sections in the middle tiers were assigned to people according to their trade, so that weavers sat with weavers and sandal makers sat with sandal makers. The emperor, with his own very visible and luxurious box, was clearly superior to everyone else. In the Colosseum, everyone knew their place and who their superiors were, which is exactly the kind of orderly society Vespasian wanted to see throughout Rome and the Empire.

Despite the speed and efficiency of Vespasian's workers, his amphitheater was unfinished when he died in 79 A.D. Work was still being done on it when his son, Titus Flavius, staged the 100-day opening celebration in 80 A.D. When Titus died, it was up to his younger brother, Domitian Flavius, to finally complete the Colosseum. He built the entire fourth level of seating and added many finishing touches. Beneath the arena, Domitian built a system of small cells and narrow corridors. Just as the audience was guided through entrances and stairways to their seats, the underground system guided the wild animals through trap doors and on to the arena floor.

Another system of ramps and ropes allowed scenery to appear as if by magic, transforming the arena into a jungle or a battlefield or anything the show called for. Tunnels connected the Colosseum basement to the menageries where the animals were kept and to workshops where the scenery was built.

No matter how fascinating the spectacle, sitting all day long in the blazing sun of southern Italy could have been a miserable experience for the audience. To make his guests comfortable, Domitian installed a velarium, an enormous cloth awning. It was suspended from 240 tall wooden masts that stuck up above the outside wall of the Colosseum. A system of ropes and pulleys allowed sections of the velarium to be extended over the audience whenever they were needed. Hundreds of sailors were brought to Rome to handle the complicated ropes.

The finished Colosseum was a far cry from the rough wooden amphitheaters that had been built in the Forum in earlier times. Statues filled every niche on the outside of the building. Inside, there were more statues, and fountains, and wall paintings, and soft bright cushions for the marble seats. Polished marble and gold gleamed everywhere. Romans had always enjoyed gladiatorial games. Now they could enjoy them in comfort and luxury.

Ironically, the name "Colosseum" did not come from Vespasian, but from Nero. When Nero built his Domus Aurea he put up a gigantic bronze statue of himself called a Colossus. Although Vespasian wanted to erase all traces of the hated emperor when he took the throne, he was too practical to destroy such a fine sculpture. Instead he changed the face to that of the god Apollo. Eventually the Flavian Ampitheater came to be call the Colosseum, after Nero's giant statue which stood nearby.

Elizabeth Mann. . Mikaya Press, New York. 1998.

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