One word
sums up today – wow!!!!! Between the Forum and the Coliseum and the history
behind them we were totally blown away. We started our day by going to a small
neighbourhood patisserie and bar for breakfast. I had expresso for the first
time –whoa, talk about getting your daily caffeine in 2 mouthfuls. The pastries
were delicious though.
We were a
group of approximately 20 for this tour. Our guide was Francezco and he was
very good. We all had headsets, so we were able to hear him very well
throughout the tour. We started at the Forum. We saw the spot where Julius
Caesar was murdered as well as the spot where he was cremated and buried.
We
also saw the Circus Maximus which is where Marcus Aurelius (of Gladiator fame)
fought as a gladiator. Apparently the final fight with the emperor, Commudus never
happened. Marcus Aurelius was co-consul with the emperor for several years.
After
climbing the Palentine Hill which is one of the 7 hills of Rome we headed for
the Coliseum. The line-ups just to get a ticket to go in were incredible (it is
off-season). Fortunately, our tour was called “Skip the Line” and that is
exactly what we did. Unfortunately, within the Coliseum we had to have one of
their guides and their headset system which was nowhere near as good as the
first one.
The Coliseum
was built on the site of Nero’s lake (the Forum was also built on land that Nero
had appropriated for his own use). He used the entire valley as his own
personal space – several acres in the centre of Rome.
The tour was
amazing. We started out on the main floor which really no longer exists,
however you can see how the spectators sat and the lower level where the
animals, gladiators and sets were kept. Gladiators were rarely killed in their
fights because if a gladiator was killed, his owner had the pay the owner of
the dead gladiator twice his worth.
After the
main floor, we went to the lower level to see up close and personal where the
animals and gladiators stayed during the games. Slaves used an amazing pulley
system to lift the animals to the first floor and open the doors to set them
out.
The Coliseum
was used until the 6th century and then was abandoned and became the
primary quarry for building materials in the city. The walls now look like
Swiss cheese because people dug holes to try to get to the metal clamps that
held the travertine blocks together. This quarrying was what led to the
collapse of the south side. An amazing piece of history!
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