Built by the Flavian emperors (Vespasian, Titus, Domitian) on Nero’s drained lake, the 50–80,000‑seat amphitheatre fused travertine, tuff, and Roman concrete to stage hunts, executions, and gladiatorial games. Damaged by fires and earthquakes, quarried in the Middle Ages, and stabilized from the 18th century, it now undergoes continuous conservation and managed visitation.
Begun 70–72 CE under Vespasian and inaugurated by Titus in 80, the Colosseum re‑publicized land seized by Nero, reorienting imperial largesse toward the populace. Spoils from the Jewish War underwrote the works; enslaved laborers and specialist crews executed construction. Domitian added the hypogeum and finished seating.
An ellipse 189 × 156 m and ~48 m high, the amphitheatre deploys superposed arcades (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian orders) in travertine ring walls braced by radial walls of concrete and tuff. Iron clamps pinned ashlar piers; barrel and annular vaults distributed loads efficiently. Marble revetments and numbered entrances choreographed crowd flow for 50–80,000 spectators.
Domitian’s hypogeum—corridors, lifts, cages—mechanized performance, swapping the early sand floor’s floodability for subterranean scenery changes. Games mixed venationes (animal hunts), gladiatorial combat, and capital punishment; inaugural festivities reputedly slaughtered thousands of animals.
A fire in 217 destroyed upper timber structures; earthquakes in 422, 508, and 1349 collapsed sectors of the southern exterior. Medieval quarrying stripped marble and metal clamps. Despite tenuous direct evidence for mass Christian martyrdom on site, later tradition sacralized the ruin; Benedict XIV consecrated it in the 18th century, curbing quarrying.
19th‑century buttresses stabilized the shell; 20th–21st‑century campaigns cleaned façades, consolidated masonry, opened upper tiers and hypogeum routes, and introduced controlled ticketing. Recent public‑private restorations (2013–2016) advanced stone cleaning and system upgrades. Today, timed entry, defined circuits, and interpretation balance access with preservation.
