Basic HTML Version
194
TRAVELLER
ICONS
TheColosseum
ANATOMYOF AN ICON
Getting themeasure of Rome’s famous FlavianAmphitheatre
WHAT’S IT
MADEOF?
CROWD
CONTROL
STAR-SPANGLEDHISTORY
LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OHMY!
COMMODUS
The naked appearances
of the 'Gladiator Emperor'
weren’t popular – he
charged the citizenry a
million sesterces each time.
LORD BYRON
The Romantic poet was
so taken with the building
on an 1818 visit, he wrote:
“Heroes have trod this spot
– ’tis on their dust ye tread.”
PAUL MCCARTNEY
In 2003, the singer played
a charity gig he joked
was “the first since the
Christians." Tickets cost up
to ¤1,295 each.
ENRIQUE IGLESIAS
Got his comeuppance in
a 2004 advert for Pepsi,
baited by gladiators Britney,
Beyoncé and P!nk, and
mauled to death by lions.
A 12M-DEEP STONE FOUNDATION
80
ENTRANCES ANDEXITS
TIERS
HIGH
300
OFMETAL CLAMPS TO
HOLD IT TOGETHER
TONS
FOUR
400,000
CUBICMETRES
OF TRAVERTINEANDMARBLE
During just one festival in 240AD… 70
lions •
40
wild horses •
30
elephants •
30
leopards
•
20
wild asses •
19
giraffes •
10
antelopes •
10
hyenas •
10
tigers •
1
hippopotamus and
1
rhinoceros…
were slaughtered at the Colosseum.
ANAREAOF
24,000M
2
Up to 55,000
people could
enter and exit
through 80
numbered
arches (like
a football
match). It was
designed so
that, in the
event of an
emergency,
it could be
emptied
in just 10
minutes.
188M
LONG
156M
WIDE
(EQUIVALENT TO 8 TENNIS COURTS LAID END TO END)
RESEARCH ALEX MURPHY. PHOTOS ALAMY