Roman Arena at Pula, Croatia

If we closed our eyes, we would have heard the clash of gladiator's swords, the cries of the crowd and the roars of beasts waiting for their turn on the arena floor. This Roman arena reminded us of the Coliseum in Rome, but here we walked on the arena floor where Gladiators of old trod. In its day, the arena would have held up to 23,000 people and the spectacles would have continued for a week at a time. During this week, many powerful people brokered business deals and curried political favour.
We learned that the richest and most influential men sat in the lower bowl where they were closest to the action, while the middle class men sat in the next tier. On the third level where it was standing room only, women and slaves of both genders could watch the fray.Read more