The Colosseum

The main attraction of the ancient city of Rome would have to be the Colosseum. This really is an amazing structure. The scale of this building takes one's breath away. Even today it is a huge theatre. The incredible thing is that it was built 2000 years ago. It was built using the Jewish money and Jewish slave labour the was taken from Jerusalem in the successful Roman siege of Jerusalem in AD 70. Some cheeky New York Jews have been known to make the point that it really should be regarded as a Jewish building given that it was built using Jewish money, labour resources and expertise.

The Colosseum was Nero's gift to the Romans to entertain them and buy their support for his rule and policy. He opened the theatre with a festival which went for 100 days during which spectacles were held every morning, midday and afternoon. It was gladiators versus animals in the morning. It was executions during lunchtime, often involving criminals being thrown to wild animals, being crucified or being killed by the Roman sword. In the afternoons it was fighting to the death between gladiators. Sometimes the gladiators numbered in their hundreds. It was reported in the displayed information that 11,000 gladiators were involved in one festival.

The Colosseum is a testimony to the cruelty of man. It represents the kinds of conduct that even the most sophisticated ancient society was involved in. Human beings are not much better than animals when such sport is the preferred entertainment of the people.

The arena was at times filled with water and naval battles took place using full-size naval ships. Sometimes the drama of the event told the story of famous battles the Roman emperor felt should be told to communicate their greatness.

The Colosseum is one of the best places we visited.Read more