Can anyone visit Rome without seeing the Colosseum? Pip was not as keen as Sailor Boy, as he had heard how cruel the Romans had been, especially to Christians and animals. So after some discussion, the boys went their separate ways. While Sailor Boy took the tour to one of the most famous monuments in the world, Pip travelled across town to see other significant landmarks. Each wished the other luck for their journeys through the anarchic Roman traffic.
Arriving at the Colosseum, Sailor Boy’s first impression was of an awe inspiring building, but on closer inspection he could see that the marble was severely blackened in parts. It appeared badly in need of conservation cleaning. Why do they just leave it to rot and waste away, he wondered? And what do they do with all the entrance fees? One section seemed to have a distinct lean. Despite the thousands of tourists and guides milling around, this iconic building was clearly neglected.
Still he was on a tour and he followed the group inside to see where the gladiators had lived and fought. He marvelled at the frescos depicting the fighting gladiators who lived brutal lives. They trained all year for one event when they would live or die.
Sailor Boy learnt that the Colosseum spectacles were advertised on billboards and were usually held twice a year for several days – unless it was a special occasion when they could continue for 100 days. The normal program was quite straightforward. The morning contests were billed as man vs animal, followed by beheadings of criminals before lunch. When the guide started speaking about what they did to the wild African animals even before the shows, Sailor Boy understood why Pip didn’t want to come. Pip may even have felt a little nervous.
The afternoon program consisted of the gladiatorial battles of man vs man. Even in those days there were food and drink stalls and souvenir shops selling gladiatorial figurines.
Like most Roman endeavours, the Colosseum had been very well organised. With 50,000 seats to fill, spectators had tickets and entered through numbered arches to specific areas. Sailor Boy could see the remains of complex passageways under the ground level where props and machinery were used to turn the arena into a jungle or once, a pool of water to stage a mock sea battle.
Here animals had been held captive and tortured to enrage them before events. At times thousands of wild animals had been killed on a single day. Many animal skeletons and artefacts had been uncovered in excavations and were on display in the Colosseum museum.
While the Ancient Greeks had revered intellect and athletic displays, the Romans had revelled in blood sports. On reflection, Sailor Boy realised that he preferred the athletic celebrations and theatre of the Greeks, where crowds had been entertained by dramatic plays of tragedies and comedies, interpreting the grand events of life. Coincidently before the boys were to leave Rome, the Italian Ministry of Culture announced that conservation and cleaning program on the Colosseum was to begin later in the year. Fingers crossed.
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