Roman Colosseum Research Paper

Although Romans are known for borrowing knowledge of architecture and arts from the Greeks, they have contributed some of their own innovations to the city of Roman, such as the Colosseum. The Colosseum, completed in 80 AD, was used to entertain the public with events such as gladiator fights, wild animal hunts, and public executions (Mark Cartwright, Ancient History Encyclopedia). The Colosseum, according to Keith Hopkins of BBC, was “a grand political gesture. Suitably for that great city, it was the largest amphitheatre in the Roman world”. This brilliant and beautiful piece of architecture accurately symbolized the savage and violent nature of the Roman culture and much of it still stands in Rome today.

The Colosseum underwent construction in 72 AD, during the reign of Vespasian. He wanted to build the Colosseum as a gift to the Romans as well to “restore Rome to its former

These civil wars that Rome faced were at large due to a poor job of ruling and following suicide of former Roman emperor Nero. When the amphitheatre was completed in 80 AD during the reign of Vespasian’s son Titus, it was considered as something never seen before in its time, containing four stories and capacity for 50,000 speculators (Mark Cartwright of Ancient History Encyclopedia). This 620 by 513 feet amphitheatre, made of stone and concrete, had a sanded floor of the arena, landscaped with trees and other means of nature to resemble the environment of the animals they used for hunting events. “Hundreds, sometimes even thousands of animals, were butchered in a single day’s event and often brutality was deliberate in order to achieve crudeliter -- the correct amount of cruelty.” states Cartwright. Within the Colosseum’s 80 entrances, two of them were used for the gladiators that were