How many spectators did the colosseum hold

Seats were split into sections depending on what class you were part of - the richer you were, the better seats you were placed in, of course.

Hours would be spent watching the action, and often free food was put on at the events! The stakes were extremely high in a gladiator battle - literally life or death - the gladiators had to be highly well trained. Upon recruitment they would be assessed and given a medical check, then they would begin training. Training would begin with wooden swords to make things safer; it would focus on different fighting styles, different weapons and different techniques.

Training would be customized depending on the type of gladiator - whether they were heavily or lightly armed would change things completely. The gladiators would have to know their way around many different weapons. These included swords as well as tridents, lances, nets and bow-and-arrows. The fighters had to be extremely physically fit, of course, and they had to combine this fitness with weaponry skills.

As is to be expected, there were a lot of deaths at the Colosseum. It was used for entertainment mostly fights, of course for just shy of years and in this time, it is estimated that , people died within the walls of this particular amphitheater.

That equates to around 1, deaths per year at the Colosseum alone - mostly marginalized people or those looked down on by the upper classes were victims of these brutal games. They also had to learn the correct way in which to die. Gracefully, of course, and showing no fear. Peter was martyred, and the obelisk from Nero's Circus was eventually moved to where it now stands in the embracing arms of the piazza in front of St.

Domitian, Vespasian's younger son, built a smaller race-course, probably for foot-races, in the area known today as the Piazza Navona in Rome, and the shape of the Piazza echoes the shape of the race-course. Question for Roberts: There may be a combination of both ideas.

Use the booms to suspend the canvas as in the first experiment to give retractable characteristics, then stretch ropes across to the opposite boom to extend the canvas to the desired distance, depending on the weather, wind, etc.

It would be a nice way of controlling the booms in that position—there's no argument about that—by linking the ends of them with ones opposite with a rope that goes across.

So you have the center of a spider's web, I suppose, at the middle, and what we found, the argument that would go against that is that we found that it was very convenient to be able to rotate the booms in towards the walls where the masts were supported in order to be able to work on the booms themselves. Now, that facility wouldn't be possible if we had rope linking across the arena from the ends of each of these booms. It's a facility for maintenance that would be essential, because everything, all the material that was used, would need constant maintenance.

It's just like working a ship. With a ship, you are always checking ropes, checking for wear, and you need to be able to get at the stuff. Now the other way we can do it, the way we found to do it, was just swing these booms in until we could reach them, and I think that's probably what was done in antiquity. So I don't really like the idea of linking them across, just in order to try to extend the canvas.

We can make the booms more than long enough, because the trees are long enough for this. And you don't have to have very thick wood towards the end of the boom, the inner end of the boom, because it's a good thing there to be thinner, because you're losing weight all the time; it's strong enough for the job. You could have very long booms and have them able to cast more than sufficient shadow over the arena. So I'm not totally happy about joining down the middle.

It looks attractive at first glance, I must admit. Question for Roberts: How complicated was the rigging that you did for the bullring roof compared to rigging that sailors of that time would have done?

What was combined was the rig needed to support the yard, which was suspended like the sprit of a Roman sprit-sail rig, and the awnings furling lines or brails in evidence on the Roman square-sail rig. All gear would have been familiar to any Roman sailor who might have come to haunt us.

Question for Goldman: What type of wood were the masts made of, and where were these trees found? And Rainer Graefe has made studies of the height that these trees have grown, and in his book, Velu Erunt, "There Will Be Sails" —and that's a good title, because that inducement was added on the graffiti "billboards" that were put up announcing that there were going to be gladiatorial games.

In his book, "There Will Be Sails," Graefe describes how he studied the heights that trees grow to so that he could figure out how long the booms could be.

They were usually conifer trees. Question for Goldman: Do you think the blood and gore shows that took place in the Colosseum have any parallels to today's extreme sports, or violent talk shows?

There seems to be an appeal in human nature something we try to hide under the carpet, but surely there to the violent aspect of human activity. Look at the number of murder mysteries written and presented in the public media in film and television.

One of the statistics in the Newsweek book on the Colosseum says that a young person will have witnessed 27, violent deaths on television and in film by the time he or she is an adult. Look at the slowdowns on the opposite side of the expressways when there is an accident. People are fascinated by death, and the ancient Romans had this terrible flaw in their character that they made the killing of captives, criminals, slaves, or anyone who bucked the system, a source of entertainment.

Look at the popularity today of the Demolition Derbies, the fights in the hockey games, the wrestling match absurdities. Question for Goldman: What was the most populated event that took place in the Colosseum? By the way, the games went on all day, so this business of the cast shadow in late afternoon does not apply, because the games did begin early in the morning; people stayed the whole day—there were criminals, condemned criminals who were put to death in the morning.

There were animals that were brought in, exotic beasts both to be paraded around and then to fight against each other or hunted, caught, and killed. Then there were the gladiatorial games in the afternoon, where teams of men who had been trained in a particular kind of warfare—these had been men who had been captured in war who were then put into training camps to refine their war skills in the particular way in which they fought from the countries they came from or to learn new skills—they were teamed up against each other to fight.

And then the climax of the day, and I think the most popular event, would be when the most famous gladiator who fought in one style was pitted against another gladiator who fought in a different style.

For instance, there was a style of costuming where the gladiator was completely armored, covered, protected who fought against the almost nude Retarius, the man who fought only with a net and trident.

And to have these unequal gladiators fight against each other would have been the climactic event, and these gladiators became so popular, they were like the screen stars—the women swooned over them. The popularity of them extended to the gambling, the betting that was put on on one or the other winning. The popularity made them the idols of the day. They had short, happy lives. Question for Goldman: Which of the solutions shown in the program to cover the Colosseum is best supported by archaeological evidence?

Whether the horizontal timbers to support the "sails" were there, as described by Graefe, is not so documented, and my own opinion is that that system would have been cumbersome, difficult to install, expensive although for the emperors, nothing was too expensive , and would not have covered the most important members of the audience, the nobles who sat down front, closest to the arena, except when the cast shadow gave shade, as it does today in the modern bull-ring when the sun is lower on the horizon.

Greafe's extensive work on all amphitheaters has to be considered with respect, and he is best of all authorities to document the feature on the cast shadow and on the length of timbers from trees. My own theory is that the rope oculus system is more practical, although we did not have time in the film to see the longer sails retracted, as the literary evidence implies, for the poets write about days when the winds are so strong that the "sails cannot be put out.

One of my Italian architect friends in Rome reminds me that in a building in use for over years, there might have been many different versions of the awning changed to suit the times. Question for Goldman: How long did it take to build the Colosseum and how much did it cost? It was probably begun about A. Titus only ruled two years and Vespasian's second son Domitian is said to have added the bronze shields at the top and the substructures after which there never could have been mock naval games for dressing rooms, dens for animals, storage for sets and scenery, elevators and ramps.

No one will ever know how much in cash was poured into the project, but it was money well-spent, since it assured the popularity of the ruling family, and the royal treasury had not bottom. Vespasian had a limitless work force, having brought back from the Jewish War an estimated , slaves, probably put to work in the quarries at Tivoli, for there were , cartloads of travertine estimated alone for the exterior.

There is evidence of skilled work done in stone yards for pieces brought already cut and finished to be installed, as is done today in modern construction projects. Question for Goldman: How did the elevators work that brought animals from the underground passageways? If you think of the stage props and how the scenery goes up and down, there are weights on one side that are made heavier by stones or bags of sand, and they were made so heavy that they raise the box, if you imagine the elevator as a box or cage, that would contain the animal on the other side.

A simple system of weights and pulleys. Question for Roberts: One post on top, like on the show—both theories—then another post toward the bottom; wood span between the two posts like a bridge. Canvas is strung between the posts on top, furled to the posts on the bottom, and fastened along the way.

This way, the rich are shaded; the poor are, too, but they get a crummy view because of the downward slope of the support posts and fabric. That's okay, though; they're poor.

Back to the design system—"keep it simple. I think, really, that we've seen a much simpler system. If we look at the way vessels were rigged, ships were rigged, boats were rigged, you don't see more equipment aboard than is necessary to handle the actual sails which they're setting. More complication means more work, more maintenance, and I think probably that isn't a good way to go. Question for Goldman: If canvas awnings used in your experiments were uncolored, would the Romans, in their lavishness, have dyed these cloths into decorative hues?

A poet talking about a theater maybe 75, years before the Colosseum was built, talks about awnings that were made of purple, red, and yellow, and they dyed the audience underneath in these colors when the light of day shone through them. So we know that it was possible to dye the cloth. We do not think that in the Colosseum itself, which demanded an enormous amount of cloth, that the cloth was dyed. But in Nero's amphitheater, which preceded the Colosseum, we're told about awnings of silk that had the picture of the emperor driving a chariot woven into the silk.

Now certainly there would have been color involved in that, and we know that for the emperors, nothing was too expensive. Question for Goldman: We were in Rome last week looking at the Colosseum. One guide says the place held 83, people, and a book I bought at the shop says that counting also the standing spectators, the amphitheater could accommodate about 70, people. The place is really huge, so wouldn't it really hold a lot more than 45,, as you cite? Remember, these people were probably much smaller.

I have to go along with those figures. I doubt that more than that could have been accommodated. I agree the place is huge, but I will accept the figures that the authorities have given me, and I prefer to go with 50, as tops. Question for Goldman: Was the Colosseum considered an architectural wonder at the time, or was it standard, if grand, for that time? Martial, in a whole group of poems that he writes about the spectacle, says that you can talk about your pyramids, you can talk about your hanging gardens of Babylon, but there was nothing in the world to equal the Roman amphitheater.

So even in its own time, it had a reputation, and it was imitated in all of the great cities that the Romans built throughout the Mediterranean world, and even as far as up in England and in Germany. Question for Goldman: What caused the ruin of the colosseum? What was the reason for not rebuilding? The fire and earthquake damage in the first through the sixth centuries A. And the emperors had little money for such repairs.

They needed the money for their bloody wars. They are what visitors see today when they visit. The Colosseum was built with an estimated , cubic meters or travertine stone, which were mined at the quarries of Tivoli, 20 miles away. The stone was held together by thousands of iron clamps. The hypogeum was an elaborate network of tunnels and chambers were gladiators, animals, and prisoners were kept before entering the arena. There were 80 vertical shafts to access the arena from the hypogeum, as well as an extensive network of trap doors through which scenery elements could be deployed during the spectacles.

It is impossible to know with certainty, but it is believed that as many as ,, between gladiators, slaves, convicts, prisoners, and myriad other entertainers, perished in the Colosseum over the or so years during which it was used for human bloodsports and spectacles. Lions, tigers, wolves, bears, leopards, wild boar, elephants, hyena, buffalo, hippopotamus, crocodile, and giraffe were all seen in the Colosseum at some point. It is impossible to know exactly, but based on accounts that described hunts and spectacles and estimates on the number of events held, it is believed that the number is well into the millions.

This is unconfirmed, but it is said the Colosseum was responsible for the eradication of certain species of animals from nearby regions.

The most common and most well known were gladiator battles. The Colosseum also held hunts, executions some by wild beasts, the famous damnatio ad bestias and right at the beginning, a few Naumachia — staged naval battles for which the Colosseum was flooded. In doing so, Vespasian also showed the Romans he was a man of the people, unlike Nero who'd taken all that land just for himself.

Emperor Vespasia n and his son Titus had conquered Judea Jerusalem , and had brought back with them many spoils of war, including artefacts from the temple. They also brought back with them about , Jewish slaves. Many of these men were put to unpaid work doing the hard stuff like dragging quarried Travertine rock from Tivoli all the way to Rome. Other more skilled citizens of Rome, such as architects, artists and engineers, were paid to do the more artistic and specialized work.

Vespasian began work on the Colosseum in around 70 or 71 CE. He died in 79 CE and his son Titus became emperor. A few years later, the last emperor of the Flavian Dynasty, Titus' brother Domitian added the highest tier, and also the Hypogeum , or underground complex , where animals and fighters were held until showtime.

One of the most basic facts about the Roman Colosseum - how big is it? The Colosseum was then, and still is today, the largest amphitheater in the world. The amphitheater was made by one family, Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian of the Flavian Dynasty.

Back to ego-maniac Nero - he'd also had a giant foot bronze statue made of himself. After Nero's death, Vespasian replaced the face and called it a sun-god statue. The statue was later moved with the help of 24 elephants by the Emperor Hadrian , in CE, to just next to the Amphitheater. There was never a clear rendering of it, so any depiction you see today, including on this page, are guesses as to how it looked.

But it was called a Colossus , and many scholars believe this is where the Flavian Amphitheater got its current nickname. When Titus inaugurated the amphitheater in 80 CE , he held days of activities. In that time, over animals were killed , and according to some, of them were killed in a single day. Around people died as well. About 30 years later, the Emperor Trajan held days of games, in which thousands of people and animals were slaughtered.

The animals came from all over the Roman empire. They were of a vast variety of species, from lions, tigers and bears , to horses, ostriches, rhinos and crocodiles. There was such a global demand for wild animals over the hundreds of years the Colosseum was in use, some animals disappeared entirely from their natural habitat, leading to eventual extinctions of some species.

The Colosseum could seat between 50, and 80, people. Entrance to the games was free. Spectators were given numbered pottery shards as tickets.

These indicated the appropriate section and row, according to their social status. Women and slaves were at the very top. There were 76 entrances for spectators, and they were numbered.

You can still see the numbers today. Four other entrances were reserved for the emperor, and for other people of importance including patricians, visiting dignitaries, and Vestal Virgins. A retractable awning called the Velarium could be pulled almost entirely over the structure, providing cover and in case of rain or heat. One of the stranger facts about the Roman Colosseum involves the Vomitoria. The word "Vomit" comes from Vomitorium - the verb meaning "to disgorge.

The vomitoria were the passageways that ran along the entire building behind and and beneath the seating tiers, to help with the flow of spectators. Because of the vomitoria , The Colosseum could be filled or emptied in 15 minutes. There were 36 trap doors in arena allowing for elaborate special effects.