The ancient building that is called one of the 7 wonders of the world is the Colosseum. The building, which is located in the city of Rome, Italy, holds terrible stories about the spirits that wander. Do you like horror stories and feel courageous to listen to scary stories? If yes then you are at the right place. This is the history of the Colosseum as a building wonders of the world.
Before knowing more about the history of the Colosseum, let’s trace the origin of the name of this amazing building.
The origin of the naming of this building is based on the name of a statue inside the building area. The height of this statue is 40 meters, equivalent to 130 feet.
This statue represents the Colossus, the re-form of Nero’s successor. Nero himself is considered to be the representative of the Roman sun god, known as Sol. They added a sun crown to the Colossus statue to complete its meaning of representing the successor to the Sun God.
The fate of the statue of the Colossus is not as good as the famous Colosseum. Since the Colossus statue was made of copper, it had been melted down again. No expert has yet been able to uncover why and how the statue was melted down. While the other names of the Colosseum, the history is not the same.
The Flavian Amphitheater was installed in this circular building without a clear history. There is no record of who was the first to give the name of the building with the nuances of the theater.
In Italy, there is another name attached to the Colosseum building, namely Il Colosseo. In Romance it is called ‘Le Colisee’ and ‘El Coliseo’.
In the past, the Colosseum building was a gladiatorial arena. There is an amphitheater that is used as a place for people to watch shows. In the local language, this area is called Flavian Amphitheatre. Indeed, in the Middle Ages, almost all nations in the world highly glorified art and performance. It’s no wonder the Roman amphitheater is as big as the Colosseum.
The first builders of the Colosseum were the local rulers, a Mayor named Vespasian, when Italy was ruled by Domitian. The work is not finished immediately. Construction was completed when the land was controlled by his descendant Titus.
The Colosseum was built with the aim of meeting the needs of the Roman people for an amphitheater. The building with a unique architecture in the style of the greatness of the Roman Empire is capable of loading 50,000 people in it.
In addition to including the 7 wonders of the world, it turns out that the Colosseum is also included in the 60’s miracle buildings that came from the middle ages.
There are other large buildings which are located adjacent to the Colosseum.
Nero by the name of Domus Aurea was destroyed by a fire that hit Rome in 64 AD. Then, where Nero had been, a palace was built. So, the Colosseum is located close to a luxurious palace.
A tragedy which at that time was considered as a festive party colored the opening of the building to the public. 9,000 wild beasts were deliberately slaughtered in the Colosseum. Surely you will imagine the pool of blood.
The Romans at that time had outsmarted the bloodshed by covering the Colosseum floor with sand. The goal is that the blood of the thousands of animals slaughtered in those 100 days does not spill everywhere.
After the Colosseum was inaugurated, the building finally carried out its functions. Shows that are shown at the Colosseum are not in the form of films as we usually watch cinemas. The people of Rome at that time turned out to have a unique taste. They prefer extreme shows than romance dramas.
Animals which in Italian are called Venetaiones became the main object of the show at the Colosseum. These animals were deliberately fought against the prisoners (noxii) who had been sentenced to execution.
The fights between prisoners, namely between munera or gladiators and other fights always cost the life of one side for the victory of the other.
The habit of showing bloody battles for hundreds of years has gradually created a long list of deaths in the Colosseum.
There were thousands of human and wild animal lives lost in the Colosseum.
As a building belonging to the townspeople, the body of the Colosseum was designed with a large size. It is 48 meters high, 188 meters long and 156 meters wide. The entire building has an area of 2 to 5 hectares.
There are other factors that take into account why the Colosseum was built with a round or elliptical shape.
Unlike the theater arena in general, the Colosseum is actually more like a stadium.
It turns out that the round building shape applied to the Colosseum is not just an architectural art form. The designer didn’t want the battle players to suddenly escape and get an opening to successfully escape to a corner of the building. Meanwhile, the spectators will remain safe by keeping their distance from the main arena of the fight.
The first two years of the Colosseum’s journey were still purely used as a performance area. Mayor Vespasian had several children, the youngest being Domitian. Vespasian’s son later succeeded his father. He took important policies that had an impact on the history of the Colosseum.
Domitian built the Colosseum underground construction. The construction, known as the hypogeum, has two levels of roads that meet under the ground. The form of tunnels and cages. The gladiators with the beasts were stationed here before the match started.
There were many traps set up throughout the Colosseum’s underground area. These traps were set up there with the aim of preventing the possibility of other beasts from entering the room. Several doors were deliberately made to secure the Roman army’s weaponry, which was partially stored in this underground space.
The Colosseum building was still used as a venue for performances until 217 AD. This building had been struck by lightning. However, it was corrected in 238 AD, so that the gladiator performances did not stop for too long.
These uncivilized fights only stopped after the devout Christian group tried to end this bad habit. Their efforts did not immediately succeed, but with the reason that many lives were lost, finally slowly the gladiator’s habit of fighting risking his life could be eliminated.
The government doesn’t just let the buildings that have been built. Moreover, the Colosseum was a large building at that time. Instead of being an empty building, the Colosseum finally turned its function into a storage area until 524 AD.
During this time, the Colosseum faced two natural disasters such as earthquakes in 442 and 508 AD.
Rome, Italy, in the past, has been a frequent area of earthquakes. It was recorded that there were earthquakes in 847 AD and 1349 AD that hit the area around the Colosseum, thus causing this building to suffer heavy damage. The government then transferred the function of the Colosseum to be a fortress. There was an addition to the church building erected at the Colosseum. This shows the change in the character of Roman society and its culture, after experiencing developments for hundreds of years.
Many renovations of the Colosseum were carried out by adding layers of buildings with marble stones. The scars of the earthquake and fire no longer leave the Colosseum building a bad appearance. Even the emperor’s family actually took marble from the Colosseum to make the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica and the Palazzi building (a kind of special house for the Roman emperor family).
The year 1749 AD became an important year for the history of the Colosseum maintenance. Pope Benedict XIV who had a strong influence on the Romans issued an order. These high-ranking Christians forbade mining in the Colosseum.
Entering the second millennium, there were violent protests that took place in Italy in 2000. These protests demanded the abolition of the death penalty to be implemented in all countries in the world. Italy itself has put an end to this terrible policy since 1948. The Colosseum is associated with this policy because the protesters used the Colosseum as their demonstration base.
Since the demonstrators took action in front of the Colosseum, this building became a symbol of opposition to capitalism. The Romans replaced the Colosseum with gold — before it was white at night. The locals use candlelight and neon alone to change the color of the Colosseum so that there is no more death penalty on earth.
