SPARTACUS!!!

Today we got up and worked (it's almost like we are back on a "normal for us" work day schedule for us) for a while, then headed out at about 1:30pm.  Today's agenda...the Colosseum!
First stop though...you guessed it...FOOD! We stopped in at one of the MANY little bars for a bite to eat. When we say "bar" we all automatically think alcohol, smoky, dark and filled with loud music, but Italy's bars are nothing like that. They are more like little snack shops that have premade sandwhiches and pizza ready to heat up, although there is always wine. These people drink wine like we drink coke. May as well put it in a machine and call it a fountain drink.

Eggs, tomatoes and cheese sandwhich

Pizza with mozerella and tomatoes

This is the bar. This one happens to SAY, "snackbar."

Then we got on the subway and headed to the Colosseum. 

It is MASSIVE

MASSIVE

Gladiators

Talon was asking what the Colosseum is made of...mostly limestone covered with marble.

You can kill me anytime. I am such a sucker! (Roger, put on your uniform and I am putty! HAHA)

What say you? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Thumbs up! Can we keep him, Tim?

All gladiators had this tattoo. SPQR= Senatus PopulusQue Romanorum, which essentially translates to, "The senate and people of Rome." It was basically a stamp of ownership from what I can tell. These gladiators gave their lives and freedom up to Rome.

Inside the Colosseum, there are 80 archways that are the entrances to the stadium.  It takes us about 30 minutes to fill up one of our large football stadiums, the Romans could fill this thing up in 8-10 minutes. They motivated the crowds to keep moving and moving quickly with the use of whips. That would motivate me to! OUCH!

The stench inside the stadium from the blood, sweat and vomit required that the huge awning be opened and closed several times a day, as well as having people come by spritzing perfume, burning incense and sprinking rose petals.

Again Tim? See the holes in the wall behind Tim? These are because these huge columns were held together with iron posts NOT mortar.  Iron became very valuable, useful and expensive later on and people began to chip away the limestone and pull the iron bars out. It all looks sort of like swiss cheese now due to this.

Swiss cheese look

It is MASSIVE

The Emporors would sit in the area farthest to the end there. The rest of the seating was done by social ranking. With slaves, women and actors being the lowest rank. They sat at the top, the better your social status the closer you  got to sit. Hmmm kinda like today, the more you pay for seats the closer you get to be.

Off to the right you can see where the floor of the Colosseum was.  It was a wooden floor covered with sand (to soak up the blood so it wasn't slippery).  There were 28 trap doors and 8 gates around the Colosseum. The trapdoors is where they would hoist up the wild animals to fight in the games.

They would starve animals for up to a week, keeping them in total darkness, making them extemely angry and hungry, then they would douse the slave or person that was to be executed in the blood of an animal and let the wild, hungry animals into the arena with the. Guess who won?

On the opening of the Colosseum, there were 100 straight days of celebrations/games with over 9000 animals killed during that time.  They had everything from porcupines vs dogs to women fighting midgets. (I would have liked to have seen that. LOL) Here is a strange fact...only 11 donkeys were entered into the games. Maybe they were to stubborn to do anything to keep it exciting?

The Emporers always had their names carved into their seats permanently.  When a new Emporor came into power, the old name was scratched out and the new emporer's name was carved in. That is where we get the saying, "I don't see YOUR name on that seat."

The "thumbs up, thumbs down" sign from the emporor is also a myth. He would hold his hand out straight, listening to the crowd to see what their preference was. Then for a "die signal," he would put his thumb OUT, for a "live" signal, he tucked his thumb back into his fist, indicating sheathing his sword to fight another day.

The Colosseum was in use for about 500 years, during which time, they figure 700,000 people were killed there and 3 times as many animals.

It was really some amazing information we learned. Tim said this was the best tour he has been on.

Next stop, Palentine Hill.