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Did You Know These Interesting Facts About the Colosseum?

Dhvani Dedhia

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The Colosseum is one of the most renowned manmade structures that represent the architectural and engineering genius of its time. This quiz will show how much attention you paid in your history class.
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The Colosseum can be found in the center of the city of Rome, it is one of the most visited tourist destination in Italy.
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The Colosseum was built as an amphitheater during the Ancient Roman civilization and took nearly 8 years to complete.
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The construction of the Colosseum began under the rule of Emperor Vespasian. It is considered to be the largest amphitheater ever built.
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Although popularly known as the Colosseum, the original name of the structure is “Amphitheatrum Flavium” (in Latin) named after the Flavian Dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire during the construction of the amphitheater.
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A velarium was a retractable canvas to protect the spectators from the sun while cooling down the area with redirecting the wind flow. It is believed that sailors from the Roman navy were appointed to work on the velarium.
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The construction started in around 72 AD under Vespasian’s rule and completed in 80 AD under Titus’s rule, his son and successor.
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Emperor Domitian added the last level at the top called ‘maenianum secundun in legnies’ where women would stand to attend the events. The seating structure is a representation of the hierarchal social structure that existed in Ancient Rome.
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In Greek hypogeum literally means underground, hypo meaning ‘under’ and gaia refers to ‘mother earth’. The hypogeum wasn’t part of the original structure; it was later added by Domitian along with further modifications to the theater.
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The Italian version of the 5 cent euro coin depicts the Flavian Amphitheater on it along with the letters ‘IR’ (Italian Republic) on the top right and the year on the bottom.
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It is believed that the amphitheater could fit approximately 50000 people at once to attend the games or events and the senators and higher ranking officials sat in the front tiers and got the best view of the arena.