The Ancient Roman Social Structure in the Colosseum Ancient Rome is one of the greatest and most influential societies in the history of the world. From the basic rules of how the Roman Empire is set up to the infrastructures in the city, the strict hierarchy of Roman social structure can be reflected clearly all over the whole ancient Rome. In fact that “public architecture presents people with the official view of a society and provides the background against which its individual markers live their lives.”1 With the great desire of Roman for entertainment and their special taste for blood, the amphitheatre is considered as the most popular and most representative type of the entertainment building in the ancient Roman culture. And
The Colosseum was first built in 70-80 CE in Regio IV Templum Pacis, which is in Rome Italy today. Measuring some 620 by 513 feet, the Colosseum was the largest amphitheater in the Roman world. Unlike many earlier amphitheaters, which had been dug into hillsides to provide adequate support, the Colosseum was a freestanding structure made of stone and concrete. The Colosseum could seat up to 80 thousand people. The Colosseum was a gift to the Roman people from Emperor Vespasian.
Historical buildings play an important role in describing the social and cultural beliefs and values of a place of its establishment. People visiting the historic buildings are able to develop a proper insight into the community beliefs and practices that exist at the time of construction of a building (DuTemple, 2003). In this context, the present essay examines and evaluates the way in which the architectural building of ‘The Colosseum’ describes the societal and cultural values of Rome. In addition to this, the essay also demonstrates the technical and spatial features of the buildings and illustrates the way through the building is able to develop a language of classical architecture in Rome. The thesis statement of the present essay can be stated as ‘The extent to which the architectural building of ‘The Colosseum’ in Rome depicts the cultural and societal values and principles practiced in Ancient Roman Society’.
Source 1: Pompeian Amphitheatre * Built in 70BC, Pompeii's amphitheatre is the oldest and most complete pre-Colosseum style Thanks to the various sources and the multiple mediums through which they are presented we have learnt much about this aspect of Roman entertainment. Frescoes, mosaics, writings, graffiti, buildings, artefacts (gladiator's helmet, weapons, etc), inscriptions, reliefs and even bodies all reveal details of the many different facets and experiences of this ancient entertainment. We now know who went, what and who the entertainment was, and even the stories of the ancient Pompeians and reconstruct a variety of experiences. This source is a archaeological treasure as unlike others it did not deteriorate from non-use or knocked down, it was frozen on a typical roman day and has thus remained. It is also significant as we can compare this evidence to similar items of evidence from all over Rome and deepen our understanding of the life of the ancient Romans.
I don’t think that animals shouldn’t have been used in the colosseum for gladiator fights. Some might believe that animals were used to make the fights more entertaining. But I believe that it was very unkind to the animals and inhumane. This is misguided because they could have use something else to entertain themselves like plays or something other than killing thousands of animals and humans. Many animals went extinct in the colosseum. The animals killed a lot of people at the colosseum. They(people in the colosseum and the townspeople) would kill a lot of animals. The definition of a gladiator is a person who was a professional fighter, and fought in front of people in the colosseum in the Roman Empire. Some things about the colosseum are it was started to be built in 70 A.D and finished 10 years later. The height of the colosseum was 157ft and the perimeter was 1788 ft. There were 4 floors and it could hold 50,000 people. The arena was 180 ft wide and 287 ft long. One other thing about the colosseum is over 1 million animals died there.
The famous historical structure known as the Colosseum is a remarkable piece of architecture that has survived for over nearly two millenniums. It was commissioned by the Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty as a gift to the people of Rome and completed by his son, Titus in the year
Roman architecture has influenced our modern-day society in many ways. One of the ways is by the construction of the Roman Colosseum in 72 A.D. The Roman Colosseum was the first major stadium or amphitheater to ever be built. Without the planning, construction, and techniques used for Roman Colosseum, we
THE COLOSSEUM'S ROLE IN ANCIENT ROMAN SOCIETY JULIAN ARANA PROFESSOR HENRY LARES ARC 2701 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I 11/29/06 The Colosseum's role in ancient Roman society For as long as humans have existed, they have always found some way to entertain themselves. Even the earliest societies have left evidence of some sort of activity or hobby that they used as a form of entertainment. Perhaps the most famous building that was used as a form of entertainment is the Roman Colosseum, also known as the Flavian amphitheater. In ancient Rome, the most popular form of entertainment was the gladiator fights. These fights, usually among animals and trained public fighters, were staged in open arenas in a city's forum. There is evidence
Ample architectural evidence suggests that Romans altered the structure of pre-existing buildings in conquered cities, such as theatres and stadiums, in order to accommodate their own Roman forms of entertainment, such as gladiatorial combat and beast displays. By altering pre-existing buildings, the Romans essentially discredited whatever events the building had previously been purposed for, deeming them inferior to the Roman spectacles that would replace them. This can be clearly seen in the example of the Roman theatre at Corinth (see Fig. 1) where the existing Greek theatre was greatly expanded, the hard marble floor was replaced with sand, and other alterations were made in order to accommodate Roman spectacles. Together with the information regarding the geographic location of amphitheatres, these pieces of evidence clearly suggest that the Roman amphitheatre functioned as a tool to assert Roman dominance and promote cultural values, thus reinforcing Roman empirical expansion. It is crucial to note, however, the limitations of using architectural remains as a form of evidence. The remains themselves describe very little narrative of events or actual functionality of the structures. The cultural importance of these sites must be inferred by combining the architectural evidence with the historical record and other sources
Introduction Ancient Romans, like the Greeks, loved entertainment. Their idea of entertainment was usually something involving death and drama. They liked to watch plays, watch gladiators, participate or watch games, and watch or participate in animal hunts. Colosseum Events The Colosseum is a famous arena that 's still partly standing today. This
The Colosseum is a stone amphitheater, and it was the first building of its type (Sporre). It was constructed during the Flavian dynasty under emperor Vespasian in 70 A.D., and it was completed 10 years later during the reign of Vespasian’s son, Titus. The architect is unknown (Wilkinson). The Colosseum
Colosseum When Was It Built? The Colosseum was built in 70 AD in Rome, Italy and it is also known as the Flavian Amphitheater.
The Colosseum was made in the first century CE. From 80 to 404 CE the Colosseum was used for entertainment. People were entertained by gladiator fights, wild animals hunting, and public execution. The structure had 80 entrances, and 2 were used for gladiators to come out of and the other for removing the dead bodies of people. The Pantheon was made in 125 CE. It is one of the best preserved buildings in Rome. The Pantheon is very surprising on the inside since it seems like a square on the inside, but it is actually round on the inside. This building is a big step in agriculture because of the dome top. This has shown that arches can be made in a 3-D form. The building was made by adding multiple arches on top and then filling it in starting
Ancient Rome, The Roman Colosseum Historians have always used great structures from the ancient world to find out information about the kind of lives they used to live. The Colosseum in Ancient Rome, Italy was one of the most famous structures. The Colosseum in Rome gives historians a number of insights to the type of civilization that existed during the time of the ancient empire, through the gory battles and violent games that took place. This can be proven by the purpose of the Colosseum and the context surrounding its construction, the political and economic benefit of the Colosseum to the empire, the types of games which were held in the arena and the values which the structure suggests were important to the civilization at the
My colleague, Alison Guest, and I were assigned to travel to Rome to visit the beautiful Colosseum where we needed to record out findings and reveal the history of the structure. We traveled over eight hours from New York to Piazza del Colosseo, Rome, Italy to learn about the history behind the Colosseum. Being a new archeologist, it is mandatory to travel all over the world to cites to get a better understanding of history. Before traveling to Rome, I knew very little of the Colosseum. I knew it was made of cement and destroyed but I did not know much of the history behind its creation and its destruction. Little did I know, I would fall in love with the history and the beauty of the ancient Colosseum.