Colosseum

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The Roman Colosseum , originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was commisioned in AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian.
Located on marshy land between the Esquiline and Caelian Hills, it was the first permanent amphitheater to be built in Rome.
Its monumental size and grandeur as well as its practical and efficient organization for producing spectacles and
controlling the large crowds make it one of the great architectural monuments achieved by the ancient Romans.

It was
completed by son of Emperor Vespasian , Titus, in 80, with later improvements by Domitian.
Hundred-day games were held by Titus, Vespasian's successor, to mark the inauguration of the building in AD 80.
In the process, some 9,000 wild animals were slaughtered.
The amphitheater is a vast ellipse with tiers of seating for 50,000 spectators around a central elliptical arena.
Below the wooden arena floor, there was a complex set of rooms and passageways for wild beasts and other provisions for
staging the spectacles. Eighty walls radiate from the arena and support vaults for passageways, stairways and the tiers
of seats. At the outer edge circumferential arcades link each level and the stairways between levels. 
The arena was then known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, after the family name of the emperors who built it.
The name "Colosseum" was not used until 7th century, and derives from the colossal statue of Nero that once stood here.
After Nero's death, the statue was transformed into a representation of Helios, the sun god. It remained standing until
the Middle Ages, when it was probably melted down for its bronze.

The Colosseum fell into disrepair shortly after its closure in 523. In 526, the barbarian Totila and his forces destroyed
parts of it in order to take the valuable bronze clamps that held the stones together. After that, Romans freely helped
themselves to the great arena's stones in order to build their houses.
Vespasian ordered the Colosseum to be build on the site of Nero's palace, the Domus Aurea, to disassociate himself from the
hated tyrant.
The Coliseum is huge, an ellipse 188m long and 156 wide. Originally 240 masts were attached to stone corbels on the 4th
level.

Just outside the Coliseum is the Arch of Constantine , a 25m high monument built in AD315 to mark the
victory of Constantine over Maxentius at Pons Milvius.