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  • The Colosseum in Rome is one of the most notable and impressive

  • feats of architecture in the history of the world.

  • Opened in the year 80 CE by the Emperor Titus,

  • the arena was used to stage gladiator combat, skirmishes

  • with wild animals, and even mock naval battles

  • with actual boats.

  • The unknown architects behind this design

  • put extensive thought into every detail.

  • If you've ever wanted to construct your own amphitheater

  • of death, then this is your lucky day,

  • because today we're going to take a look at how

  • the Romans built the Colosseum.

  • But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the Weird

  • History Channel, and let us know in the comments below what

  • other historical sites you would like to know more about.

  • Do you want to be entertained?

  • OK, let the video begin.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • In 64 CE, Emperor Nero built himself

  • a home, which he humbly nicknamed the Golden Palace.

  • Clearing the land necessary for construction

  • meant seizing property from numerous ordinary Romans,

  • which as you might imagine, wasn't a super popular move.

  • After Nero died, the empire quickly

  • cycled through four other corrupt emperors.

  • Then in 69 CE, Vespasian seized power.

  • Looking to reverse the damage Nero and his successors

  • had done to the Roman people's faith in government,

  • Vespasian lived a more modest lifestyle

  • and aggressively advocated for Rome's citizenry.

  • It was around 70 CE when Vespasian promised

  • to build a public amphitheater, which would

  • hold gladiator tournaments.

  • In a politically symbolic move, Vespasian

  • chose to build this arena directly

  • on the site of Nero's Golden Palace.

  • In 80 CE, after 10 years of construction,

  • Vespasian's son, Emperor Titus, would finally

  • open the Colosseum.

  • The venue was inaugurated with a festival

  • that boasted 100 days of games.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Vespasian chose to have the Colosseum constructed

  • on what was once the site of a lake in the garden of Nero's

  • Golden Palace.

  • The construction would require drainage

  • 26 feet beneath the surface to divert rivers and streams that

  • flowed from the nearby hills.

  • It would also mean the concrete foundations of the Colosseum

  • would have to run extra deep to prevent collapse.

  • Dirt that was dug out of the ground

  • to make space for the large foundation

  • was repurposed to build up the land around the structure.

  • This elevated the Colosseum 23 feet above ground level

  • forcing crowds to look up at rather than down

  • on the building.

  • Don't rush off to see for yourself though.

  • Due to changes in the landscape in modern times,

  • the Colosseum sits level with the ground.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • The blocks of travertine stone used

  • in the construction of the Colosseum

  • were quarried in a place called Albulae, located near what

  • today is the town of Tivoli.

  • The site of the quarry was about 20 miles

  • from the site of the Colosseum, so transporting the blocks

  • wouldn't be easy.

  • To help things along, the Romans built a road specifically

  • for the purpose of moving the stone from the quarry

  • to the construction site.

  • Each cart load contained 30 to 50 stones.

  • And historians estimate workers would have transported

  • roughly 240,000 carts.

  • 20 to 30,000 people would have been

  • involved in the construction.

  • The majority of them were slaves.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • The Roman Empire was an innovator

  • in the use of concrete to build larger and sturdier structures

  • than had ever been built before.

  • The vaults and arches of the Colosseum

  • were made from concrete, which allowed the massive building

  • to maintain an open and airy atmosphere, while still

  • being structurally sound.

  • The foundations were also made of concrete.

  • Starting at the outer wall, the foundation

  • was laid out in concentric circles that

  • moved inward toward the arena.

  • The lowest part of the foundation

  • is roughly 42-feet deep, and it becomes

  • shallower as it moves inward.

  • Roman cement was usually made by heating

  • limestone to create calcium oxide, also known as quicklime.

  • Submerging the quicklime in water

  • created a putty that acted as a binding agent in the cement.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • The unknown architect of the Colosseum

  • wanted the dimensions of the building

  • to reflect a ratio of five to three,

  • which was considered ideal at the time.

  • Indeed, the arena ultimately measured 280 by 168 Roman feet,

  • and the width of the auditorium and arena

  • were equal to the height of the Colosseum.

  • Because of the Colosseum's arches,

  • the perimeter of the amphitheater had to be exact.

  • There were 88 entrance arches and each

  • had to be 20 Roman feet wide and have three Roman feet of space

  • between them.

  • For the record, the size of a Roman foot could vary,

  • but generally it was around 11.5 inches.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Construction of the Colosseum started with the arches.

  • Made from sturdy travertine stone,

  • the arches allowed the laborers to start

  • work on both the bottom and top of the structure.

  • Indeed, the upper seating, wooden portico

  • and walls at the top two floors of the amphitheater

  • were built simultaneously with the lower

  • portion of the building.

  • It was this forward-thinking construction plan

  • that made it possible for the Romans

  • to construct the Colosseum in less

  • than a decade, an absolutely astounding feat for the time.

  • [SINGING IN ITALIAN]

  • For the safety of the spectators in the front rows,

  • the seats closest to the stage were raised nearly seven feet.

  • In addition, a fence would be placed around the ring

  • to keep wild animals at bay.

  • Made from marble and travertine, these seats

  • were also the most grandly decorated and usually

  • had ceilings adorned with intricate works of art.

  • However, as with many modern sports arenas,

  • as spectators moved further up in the stands,

  • the seating would become less ornate and less comfortable.

  • Everyone, except the people in the front rows,

  • would've been tightly packed in with maybe one

  • foot of personal space and two feet of leg room.

  • While that does sound cramped, it's actually more space

  • than you get flying American Airlines, which

  • isn't saying that much.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • To remove the waste of humans and animals,

  • the Colosseum required a sewer system.

  • The public bathrooms, or latrines,

  • were a row of holes in the ground

  • dug over a pipe that carried flowing water,

  • not fancy, but effective.

  • The pipe would then empty into a drain

  • that connected to the city's main sewer, the Cloaca Maxima.

  • This system may have also provided fresh water

  • to the spectators, the cisterns placed

  • to the sides of the Colosseum, which drew water

  • from the Aqua Claudia aqueduct.

  • Delivery was accomplished by building lead and terracotta

  • tunnels in the walls of the Colosseum.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Within the Colosseum, marble and iron dividers

  • can be found on the staircases.

  • Though historians don't all agree as to their function,

  • some believe that they were intended

  • to keep spectators separated into their proper socioeconomic

  • classes, kind of like the border between the riffraff

  • and the jet set.

  • I wonder if there was a jet set before jets.

  • Support for this interpretation lies in the fact

  • that the highest section in the Colosseum,

  • where the poorest members of the audience typically sat,

  • was separated from the rest of the spectators

  • by a 16-foot high wall.

  • This seating at the top of the arena,

  • over 300 feet from the stage, is likely where women and the poor

  • would have been.

  • However, many historians have noted

  • that the five ascending sections in the arena

  • don't correspond with any known division

  • of the number of Roman social classes at the time.

  • This means that if the spectators were seated

  • by social class, it isn't obvious

  • how those classes were segregated.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • One of the coolest things about the Colosseum

  • was its ability to fill with a few feet of water,

  • so that sailors could hold mock naval battles

  • in miniature boats.

  • The transformation though was not easy.

  • In order to create the aquatic arena,

  • workers had to remove the amphitheater's floor

  • and wooden supports.

  • The arena would then be flooded with water

  • transported by aqueduct.

  • After it was all over, the Colosseum

  • would be drained through a series of runoff canals.

  • The popularity of these naval skirmishes decreased over time.

  • Eventually, the wooden supports were

  • replaced with masonry walls, which

  • ended the possibility of flooding the floor

  • and having naval battles in the arena.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Hypogeum is the Greek word for underground.

  • And the hypogeum is an area beneath the Colosseum

  • that was used for a variety of purposes.

  • Several sections of its walls are carved in unusual ways.

  • An historian spent many years working out the purposes

  • of the various carvings.

  • For example, in the late 1990s, architect Heinz-Jürgen Beste

  • discovered a set of tracks in the walls

  • of the hypogeum's hallways and strange diagonal indentations

  • near some of the entrances to the arena.

  • Beste eventually concluded that the tracks were likely

  • used to move animal cages through the hypogeum

  • during events.

  • The diagonal indentations allowed

  • for the placement of ramps that would lead

  • the animals into the arena.

  • Beste also theorized that a mysterious series

  • of semicircular cuts in the walls

  • were there to allow for the placement of devices

  • called capstans.

  • The capstans had four rotating arms

  • and could be used to lift heavy animal cages from the hypogeum

  • to the arena floor.

  • The architect found the locations

  • of 60 capstans of this type and another 20, which he believed

  • were used to set up and change scenery.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Laborers who worked in the hypogeum

  • received none of the luxuries that the audience

  • took for granted.

  • In summer, the poorly ventilated hypogeum was extremely hot.

  • And in winter, it became cold and damp.

  • It was also incredibly loud.

  • The tiny space housed machinery, wild animals

  • and numerous people who would be shouting to each other.

  • On top of all that, there were organ and drum cues

  • that signaled workers to send up scenery or animals,

  • as well as a boisterous crowd whose footsteps

  • would echo below.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • For those warm summer days, the Colosseum

  • was equipped with an enormous cloth awning known

  • as vela, which would be hoisted over the structure

  • to shade spectators.

  • The Colosseum wasn't the only one to use vela.

  • They were fairly common in ancient Rome

  • and most amphitheaters and arenas had vela.

  • The villa at the Colosseum were rigged similarly

  • to a sail on a ship, making actual sailors the most

  • qualified people to operate it.

  • That being the case, the Colosseum

  • used actual members of the Roman navy

  • to lift and secure the awning over the crowd.

  • The job was considered a privilege among the sailors,

  • as it meant they would get to see a large city, which

  • most never got the opportunity to do.

  • Sailors in the Roman navy were typically

  • enslaved young men and boys, who had

  • been taken from countries around the world that

  • had been conquered by Rome.

  • They would serve for 15 to 30 years, after which,

  • they earned their freedom and Roman citizenship.

  • And you thought student loans were a pain.

  • So what do you think?

  • What impresses you most about the Colosseum?

  • Let us know in the comments below.

  • And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos

  • from our Weird History.

The Colosseum in Rome is one of the most notable and impressive

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