The Colosseum, or Flavian Amphitheater, built under the emperors Vespasian and his son Titus in the 70s-80s. AD, - evidence of the exceptional engineering and construction abilities of the people of Ancient Rome. For centuries, it remained the most ambitious building, created for entertainment.
In ancient Rome, the concept of "people" denoted free citizens with citizenship rights. The Roman people consisted of patricians - people of noble origin and plebeians - noble people. Over the centuries of its history, the Roman state waged almost continuous wars. And as one of the results - in ancient Rome there were a huge number of slaves. The work of a slave was almost free and over time amounted to substantial competition for free labor. The ruin of the plebeians in the 2nd century A.D. has become widespread. Rome was full of unemployed citizens, which the state maintained. But besides bread, they demanded spectacles.
One of the main entertainments became gladiatorial fights. Deprived of real life, here unemployed citizens could feel themselves the arbiters of fate. With one gesture of a hand they gave or took lives. The word "gladiator" comes from the Latin gladius, which means a sword. And the spectacular battle of armed people originates from the Etruscan funeral rite. The Romans, who adopted this tradition, also initially held demonstrative fights during the funeral of their fallen comrades. But over time, gladiatorial battles turned into a real industry with special schools. They were recognized by the state and many noble people, including emperors, had their own troupe of gladiators.
Each group of gladiators had their own weapons and their fans, between which from time to time there were far from comic clashes. Gladiators fought in pairs, groups and whole crowds, depicting armies of different nations. Of particular interest to the public were the battles in which the animals took part. There was even a special kind of athletes - bestiaries, who measured their strength exclusively with animals. Some gladiators sought special respect from the public, the most skilled and successful managed to win dozens of victories.
Initially, gladiatorial games were arranged in the circus, but in 29 BC the wealthy citizen Statil Taurus built the first stone amphitheater on the Champ de Mars, designed specifically for this type of entertainment. The word "amphitheater" is Greek, it is customary to denote a building for various kinds of spectacles, where spectator seats are located on all sides of the arena. In the era of the empire, the construction of spectacular buildings in ancient Rome reached a special scale. A huge number of them were built on the territory of modern Italy, and even more in the provinces.
A feature of the architecture of Roman theaters and amphitheaters is the widespread use of supporting structures for the construction of spectator seats. In Greece, hillsides were almost always used for this. The seats for the audience were tiered, rising from the arena at an angle of 30 degrees. They corresponded to the galleries, which were connected to the audience with corridors-foyers. Galleries were blocked by arches, which are visible on the facade in the form of rows of arches - arcades. The amphitheater, which has two tiers of galleries, was considered large. A grand amphitheater was built in Rome at Flavius. Emperor Vespasian began construction, and his son Emperor Titus finished it.
The Flavian Amphitheater is most often called the Colosseum. The name most likely comes from the Latin word colosseus - huge, colossal. Indeed, the Colosseum surpassed them all with its dimensions - 155.64 by 187.77 meters.
The facade of the Coliseum is made in the form of repeating semicircular arches, separated from each other by half-columns. This is the so-called Roman architectural cell, developed by the masters of the Eternal City and widely used in world architecture. The Flavian Amphitheater has three tiers of arcades and a wall with windows in the fourth tier. The total height of the structure is 48.5 meters. It was the invention of concrete by the Romans that made it possible to erect this miracle of architectural genius.
Cells on the facade of the Coliseum alternate in a special way from the bottom up, in accordance with the applied version of the order. Below, the most powerful in its proportions is the Tuscan - Roman version of the Doric. Above it are a series of more slender half-columns of the ionic order. Even higher - the Corinthian half-columns - the most elegant in this series. The uppermost tier, completed later, is decorated with pilasters with Corinthian capitals.
In antiquity, in the second and third floors in the apertures of arches there was a sculpture. Between the windows of the fourth tier were installed shields. Even higher was the row of masts that supported the awning; it protected viewers in the rain or in intense heat.
In the Middle Ages, the Flavian Amphitheater served as a quarry, as a result it lost about two-thirds of its mass. Powerful substructures that served as the basis for the audience stands were exposed. The Coliseum accommodated about 50 thousand spectators. But there was never a crush. 76 of the 80 facade arches served as entrances and exits. Thirsty spectacles easily found their place by checking the number on the ticket. Four arches at the ends of the building did not have numbers; through them came the emperor with his entourage and gladiators.
The arena cover has also disappeared. Now you can look at the top of the room, which used to be located under it - ipogee. These are numerous transitions, gladiator chambers, animal cages and warehouses. Here complex mechanisms were hidden, with the help of which the scenery rose and fell.
In an arena measuring 85 by 53 meters, up to 3 thousand pairs of gladiators could simultaneously battle. Prior to the construction of underground utilities, a canal system was used. Water was supplied through them, turning the arena into a lake, and then sea battles were played out.
The impressive mass of the building served as the embodiment of the steadfastness of the Roman Empire itself. Each of the crowd of many thousands that filled the Coliseum felt itself to be part of a great and powerful state that subjugated many peoples to its will.
