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This year, Year 7 have been studying the Roman Empire and have been learning about Roman life and what gladiators did. Our History teacher Jack took us to the Colosseum, an important monument of Rome.
Our class have prepared Colosseum guides which hold information that tourists would find helpful.
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In the beginning...
The Colosseum was built in 72AD on the right bank of the river Tiber. It was started by the Emperor Flavius Vespasian, and after his death his son continued the construction. It was difficult to build, because it was on a lake therefore they had to drain the water. The lake had been a part of the palace of the Emperor Nero, and there was also a huge golden statue of the Emperor which was called a ‘Colossus’. This is where the Colosseum got its name from. It was really called the ‘Flavian Amphitheatre’. It had 80 entrances, so when there was an emergency the 50,000 spectators could evacuate easily in about a minute.
Why is there a cross in the Colosseum?
In the Colosseum there is now a cross to remember the Christians that died in the arena. The Emperor sat where the cross is now placed, with his family and guards.
What is it made of?
The Colosseum is still very big, and the Romans were able to make it because they had just discovered how to make cement. They then covered it in marble, although today a lot of the marble has been stolen or taken away to build other monuments in Rome, like the front of St. Peter’s Basilica.
by Alex
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Where do I sit?
Inside the Colosseum there were very tall stairs. In Roman times the shows in the Colosseum were free and people sat in different sections. Important patricians (rich people) sat nearest the action, then ordinary rich people and then, furthest away, the poor Romans. The only exceptions were women and slaves who had to stand right at the top.
Exotic!
We learned that the Colosseum used to be full of exotic flowers from Africa when it was first abandoned. Jack asked us to guess how they got there, and then told us that the animals that fought in the Colosseum used to bring the seeds of the plants over in their fur. We also found out that the Romans brought all of the animals to fight in the Colosseum in order to impress ordinary Romans with how big and exotic the Empire was.
The vomitorium... yuck!
We found out that the Roman people put sand where the gladiators fought to soak up the blood from the fights, and that the word ‘arena’ means sand in Latin. In the Colosseum there was also a vomitorium, which some people say was a room where people who felt sick (because they hated the sight of blood) could go and vomit!
Keeping the audience sweet
The Emperors also used to give out free bread to the Roman people at the Colosseum to keep them on their side. However, on one occasion Emperor Caligula threw a whole section of the crowd to the wild animals to be killed.
Vestal Virgins
At the end, we went to the Forum near the Colosseum. In the Forum we saw many interesting things, like the Temple of Vesta. The priestesses of Vesta were called the ‘Vestal Virgins’ and they had to keep the fire in the temple burning all of the time because Vesta was the goddess of fire. If they let the fire go out they would be beaten until they bled, and if they had any boyfriends they would be buried alive.
by Carolina
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Trained killers
We saw the trapdoors that the Romans used to bring up the wild animals to fight gladiators or eat criminals. Sometimes the criminals had to be painted with blood otherwise the animals would not try and eat them. The animals had to be fed human flesh before the games to get them used to the taste of it. Then they had to be starved and kept in the dark to make them more desperate and vicious. Even then some of the animals were too scared to attack the humans or each other when they came into the bright, noisy arena. If this happened, the beast master, who was in charge of the animals, was killed as a sacrifice instead.
by Viola and Flavia
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Fame!
The gladiators were usually slaves bought by gladiator schools. However, sometimes rich Romans became gladiators so that they could gain popularity and more money. Gladiators were like the pop stars of Roman times, and women wrote graffiti saying how much they loved their heroes.
A job for life
In some gladiator fights, many people died, because the “thumbs down”, which decided who died, was shown. On one occasion hundreds of gladiators had to fight to the death until there was only one left alive. However, in general gladiators were not killed because they were worth a lot of money, so that if they did die the organisers of the games would have to pay the school compensation.
Freedom!
Gladiators would be bought and sold between schools for huge sums of money like footballers today. Also many gladiators could survive the fights because the Romans’ experience of war made them so good at treating injuries. On average a gladiator would last about ten fights, since they had a one in five chance of being given the thumbs down if they were a loser. If gladiators survived enough fights they might get given a wooden sword, which represented freedom.
by Paolo
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