Research Paper On The Colosseum

The Colosseum, or as it was previously called the Flavian amphitheater, began construction under the emperor Vespasian in 72 A.D and was completed around 80 A.D. by his son and successor Titus. The Colosseum is the greatest known amphitheater that was ever built and to this day remains one of the most impressive building in Rome. The Colosseum was built mostly out of concrete which enabled it to be completed in less than ten years. The Colosseum was a feat of architecture and engineering. It measured 620 by 513 feet with the arena inside measuring 287 by 179 feet. The Colosseum had four stories and stood over 150 feet tall (Cartwright, 2012). The donut shaped building was built with three stories of arches, adding up to about 80 arches in total, these arches were used as entrances for spectators as well as exits to remove the bodies that were slain in the arena. The arches were supported by columns, each story contained columns of a different order. The bottom story consisted of columns from the Doric order, the most simple of the three; it consisted of a simple column with the top flaring out to a flat capital. The second level used …show more content…
Much like modern day amphitheaters the seats were numbered and assigned according to the ticket you held. Social ranking played a great deal in the types of seats you could get. The bottom seats were reserved for emperors and other dignitaries, the middle seats were divided between the rich and middle class citizens, and finally the third level was reserved for women and slaves. The floor of the Colosseum consisted of wooden slats that were then covered by sand which would often be landscaped for the type of event that was being held (Cartwright, 2012). Vespasian’s second son Domitian created a vast network of rooms and tunnels beneath the Colosseum floor, these were used to transport animals and gladiators to and from the