The Coliseum

Today’s highlights included a visit to the Coliseum and tours of several churches, including Saint John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Mary in Victory. We also took a trip underneath the Basilica, allowing us to see the original Basilica of St. Clement, and the Ancient Roman House located underneath that. But first, I cannot go without commenting on our two-hour visit to the Coliseum, which was the most impressive relic of ancient Rome I have encountered so far. Since the Coliseum was designated as sacred by the early Catholic church, it is also the most well-preserved of the ancient structures. In fact, one of the first things you see when entering the Coliseum is a cross, which seems slightly out of place surrounded by pre-Christian architecture. As I have found in this city, photos are incapable of depicting the enormity of the structures, and the coliseum was even larger than I had expected. Though the seats themselves are no longer intact, the supporting beams still give a fairly good idea of how the structure would have looked. The remarkable thing is that the Coliseum is not much different from our modern stadiums. What surprised me most, however, was the center of the Coliseum. Since the original center floor has deteriorated, all that is visible is the system of tunnels that run underneath the floor. As I overheard from a tour guide, the ancient Romans used these tunnels as a staging area for animals and other props and hoisted them up onto the stage using a series of lifts and trap doors. Also, the Romans would often flood the stage with water in order to stage naval battles inside the Coliseum. The flooding process was accomplished in a 24 hour period, due to the use of a special plumbing system and aqueducts. This information proved to me that not only did the Romans have the ability to build incredible structures that resemble our modern stadiums, but they also had the ability and the knowledge to create shows that rival those found at our modern theme parks. Often we look down on ancient cultures as inferior to our own, when, in fact, these people had less technology than we do but accomplished similar feats. Imagine what these people could have done with our modern equipment. It makes you wonder if the human ability itself has truly progressed, or only our tools.