The Roman Colosseum: Origins and Survival

In the first of three episodes about gladiators in ancient Rome, Emily and Cam explore the world’s most iconic remnant of ancient gladiator games: the Roman Colosseum. They talk about the appearance of the building, then and now; the origins of the building as part of the emperor Vespasian’s effort to legitimize his power; and the cycles of destruction and renewal that produced the ruin that survives in Rome today.Visit our homepage to subscribe and to find us on social media:https://havetogawilltravel.com----------00:10 - Introduction00:23 - The Colosseum: an iconic remnant of ancient Rome and its gladiator games00:57 - First impressions of the Colosseum in Rome from the exterior03:31 - The Colosseum’s interior: the exhibit spaces in the upper ambulatory and the arena05:38 - The Colosseum as it was in ancient Rome05:59 - The Colosseum, or the Flavian Amphitheatre?06:58 - What’s an amphitheatre? A southern Italian innovation, influenced by Greek theaters09:04 - The spread of amphitheatres in ancient Italy and elsewhere10:05 - The Roman Colosseum in its heyday: its appearance, its structure, and its amenities16:08 – Why was the Colosseum built? Vespasian and the legitimacy of the Flavian dynasty16:39 - Augustus and the legitimacy of imperial power19:05 - The fall of Augustus’ dynasty and the rise of Vespasian20:39 - Vespasian and the ideological importance of the Flavian Amphitheatre22:47 - A digression on Nero and his murder of his mother, Agrippina26:06 - The survival of the Colosseum after antiquity: cycles of destruction and renewal26:46 - Fires and earthquakes and flooding, oh my!27:35 Fit for plunder: the Colosseum as a source of building materials28:37 - Social, political, and economic transformations: the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the decline of the Colosseum30:17 - New Life in the 11th century: the palaces of the Frangipani and Annibaldi31:15 - A loss of memory: did anyone remember what the Colosseum was for?32:28 - Flavio Biondo and the “rediscovery” of the Colosseum33:05 - The Catholic Church, the Italian government, and restoration33:54 - Final Thoughts and a meditation by the Venerable Bede