Colosseum
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008
Colosseum or Coliseum , Ital. Colosseo, common name of the Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, near the southeast end of the Forum, between the Palatine and Esquiline hills. Begun by Vespasian, c.AD 75, and completed by his son Titus in AD 80, it is the most imposing of Roman antiquities. The vast four-storied oval is 617 ft (188 m) by 512 ft (156 m), much of which is still standing; it had tier on tier of marble seats accommodating c.45,000 spectators. It encloses an arena measuring 250 ft (76 m) by 151 ft (46 m) where gladiatorial combats were held (see gladiators ) until 404. According to tradition, persecuted Christians were thrown there to beasts. The Colosseum has been damaged several times by earthquakes.
Bibliography: See J. Pearson, Arena: The Story of the Colosseum (1974).
Author not available, COLOSSEUM.,
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press
Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research
|
Colosseum barely surived Washingtonius's reign
Chicago Sun-Times; 11/16/1986; Bob Herguth; 357 words
; The Colosseum in Rome still stands after something like 1,900 years. But it barely was saved from demolition. During the reign of Emperor Haroldus Washingtonius, about the year 200 A.D., the Tiber River Gladiators began militating for night jousts in the Colosseum. They claimed that 100,000 torches
Read more
|
|
Scotland's GBP 62m answer to Rome's Colosseum unveiled
The Scotsman; 10/28/2005; Jim McBeth; 448 words
; PLANS for Scotland's spectacular GBP 62 million national arena were unveiled yesterday. Constructed on classical Greco-Roman lines and due to open in 2009, the Colosseum will rise to 148 feet (45 metres), with a dome measuring 394 feet (120 metres) across. It will be clad in translucent material
Read more
|
|
City Life: Rome: Why all roads lead again to the Colosseum
The Independent - London; 7/26/2001; Frances Kennedy; 532 words
; ON THE grimy outer wall of the Colosseum, at the first-storey level, is a gleaming white square, a bit bigger than your typical computer screen. The shallowly carved figure on it is clearly identifiable as a gladiator with a bow and arrow. The white athlete is framed against the blackened wall near
Read more
|
 "The Independent (London, England)")
|
City Life: Rome: Why all roads lead again to the Colosseum.(Foreign News)
The Independent (London, England); 7/26/2001; Kennedy, Frances; 531 words
; ON THE grimy outer wall of the Colosseum, at the first-storey level, is a gleaming white square, a bit bigger than your typical computer screen. The shallowly carved figure on it is clearly identifiable as a gladiator with a bow and arrow. The white athlete is framed against the blackened wall near
Read more
|
|
THEATER RETURNS TO THE COLOSSEUM.(Brief Article)
Europe; 11/1/2000; d'Aquino, Niccolo; 306 words
; The last show was held here 1,500 years ago. Since then, the Colosseum, a symbol of Imperial Rome, was sacked, then abandoned, and later transformed into a virtual quarry. (Many Roman palaces of later epochs were built using its stones.) It is the perpetual symbol of the Eternal City, present on
Read more
|
