What Really Happened Inside the Colosseum?

[@DonariaRegia]

The gladiatorial sea battles are astounding. Those held in the coliseum were small in comparison the spectacles held in purpose-built lakes on the outskirts of Rome. That subject would make an excellent companion to this very informative short video. Not beating around the bush just facts and information. Top quality content!

[@AncientRomeLive]

We really appreciate it. @dariusarya has been involved in more than 1 tv documentary on that subject.. lots of new discoveries on the drainage in recent years- even this year. So a lot more to report on!

[@Z__K217]

Greetings. I hope you are not in Roma slogging it out making these as a virtual tour guide. Kind regards.

[@gregputman]

Most people don't even realize that gladiatorial games didn't even really happen that often in Rome. Maybe six or seven times a year, with most of those happening during the Saturnalia celebrations, or other special events. Most of the time Romans were entertained by theater.

[@H.J.U.49]

This may explain why these gladiators were admired so much by young men and boys that they were depicted on house walls around the country (see Pompeii) as a tribute from their fans!

[@BestSWFLRealty]

What is the source of your information that it didnt happen often? Just curious because I've read otherwise...

[@gregputman]

@@BestSWFLRealty Do your own research. You will find that gladiatorial games did not really happen that often. Mostly just during special occasions. As for gladiators fighting to the death, it only happened about 10% of the time. So all in all, a gladiatorial fight to the death was a pretty rare occasion. You have to remember that we have 2000 years of exaggeration when it comes to these stories

[@slemire58]

Great Video...thanks for posting

[@AncientRomeLive]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@annslato5210]

The mass amounts of animals is difficult to conceptualize. Also how they survived such long periods of travel. Please do a video of how these animals were transported to various arenas.

[@jessd7281]

I just discovered your channel and it is fantastic! Filled with so much information! If you have seminars coming up, I would love to attend. I have been fascinated with Ancient Rome and other ancient cities (Pompei, Herculaneum, Baiae, etc) since 2016 with my first visit to Pompei and I have not stopped researching since! Thank you for the great content!

[@AncientRomeLive]

Awesome, thank you! If you go to ancientormelive.org you can subscribe and get access to free zoom lectures each month. You can see the topics listed on the calendar tab. The monthly masterclass is for a fee.

[@wbstone4388]

Great video! Our tour guide told us that the Colosseum was still standing up in good shape before the early Catholic Church stole half of the building stones / marble to build their own buildings, some of the marble from the Colosseum was used in the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City

[@PRH123]

The Church and the City of Rome were the owners of the colosseum at the time, so it can't be said that the materials were stolen.

[@wbstone4388]

@@PRH123 Stolen by both corrupt organizations

[@fredyair1]

Hi Darius, I noticed some scaffolding on the top of the Colosseum, is it there for maintenance or are they performing some reconstruction work? Thank you, great video.

[@AncientRomeLive]

The scaffolding goes up periodically … it’s been moving around the exterior and interior over the past several years. Yes - maintenance is KEY. Thanks for watching!

[@stevenordstedt2535]

Must have been a heinous horrific times to have fallen under the terrible heartless human Romans in those days. Just like the Nazis Heartless, no mercy for their fellow man they’ve earned their trip to hell I can’t feel sorry for terrible people like that. It’s a choice & a bad one.

[@Fat12219]

Now the Judgment Day 😮😢

[@mard9802]

Thank you - very informative. But dang they were vicious.

[@jontyarnold8522]

Very good video, enjoyed this…

[@AncientRomeLive]

thank you!

[@jennifersiegrist8440]

Wow, incredible. Thank you for sharing your adventures with us. Can’t wait for another episode, much love ❤❤

[@AncientRomeLive]

thank you!

[@annanardo2358]

Augustus YOU CRETAN....DAMN THOSE EMPERORS for their ruthlessness . What awful times to be living in when one man alone had the say for everybody and everything living.. Psychopaths, I'm ashamed of their blatant cruelty to animals and defenseless innocent people.👿👿👿👿👿👿👿

[@alanzeleznikar]

What’s going on with the tomb of Augustus? Is it open yet? I vaguely remember poking around in it 25+ years ago and then it was closed for many many years. Maybe you could do a video on it?

[@AncientRomeLive]

Yes, opened for a chunk of time last year... Closed again as they complete the new staircases for public access.. Now they are excavating anew around the area outside the base - on all sides. Yes, we owe you a video- when @DariusArya was invited- he went up to the top level!

[@ingemarolson3240]

at about 1:45 - 1:50 you say that the first stone amphitheatre in Rome was constructed at the time of Augustus. Do we know where? and what happened to it?

[@AncientRomeLive]

Statilius Taurus built it in the Campus Martius. Apparently it was destroyed - probably in a fire.. Then we had that wooden one of Nero... Finally, the Colosseum... Some scholars place it in the Circus Flaminius area-- but no remains credibly identified...

[@DilihiEkanayake]

Great 🎉❤❤❤❤❤

[@WalkingToursVlog]

Amazing incredibly beautiful video! 👍😍 Respect to the author! 🏆 Thanks for sharing! 🤝

[@AncientRomeLive]

Thank you!

[@kikinnit]

Id love to watch a video of someone from back then (first century Rome) watching these gladiator reenactors play fight each other.

[@perlefisker]

12:54 What is that tomfoolery?

[@davidpitchford6510]

This deserves ten million views minimum.

[@AncientRomeLive]

Thank you. We think this one is a good one. Maybe it will get noticed by more people as our subscriptions increase!

[@davidpitchford6510]

@@AncientRomeLive Unfortunately that status goes to ding dong girls putting on makeup looking in the mirror and blabbing about nothing. Juvenal would have had a field day.

[@Mr.56Goldtop]

I was there 3 years ago. I wish that there was more of it remaining, it's nothing more than an empty oblong field. But I could see where the track had once been, I guess from years of many thousands of people walking around the Spina.

[@H.J.U.49]

Thank you for a very enlightening piece of information about ancient Roman methods of execution and gladiatorial games. Highly civilized in terms of art and architecture, but also warlike, cruel, bloodthirsty and in every way disgusting in the eyes of today. One can only be happy that this civilization met its demise at a time when the upper class was most depraved and therefore weakest!

[@AncientRomeLive]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@BorselinoThadchack]

good stuff sir

[@AncientRomeLive]

Thank you.

[@CHAS1422]

I imagine the lower arcades sold food wine or souvenirs. There were stalls for bookies for people to bet on matches. Did they find bathrooms?

[@AncientRomeLive]

Concession stands on multiple levels, we think... water fountains are documented. We can expect bathrooms- but none documented...

[@RP-mm9ie]

best vids for rome

[@AncientRomeLive]

Thank you. We are lucky to be in ROME each day. Expect a lot more! Suggest a new topic!

[@mademoiselledusfonctionell1609]

I have a question. There was a time when gladiatorial games were not put on in such numbers and in big amphitheatres like the ones we think of in relation to gladiator fights. There was even a time before the amphitheatres. It says on Wikipedia (which is what I have access to) that " Livy places the first Roman gladiator games (264 BC) in the early stage of Rome's First Punic War [...] against Carthage, when Decimus Junius Brutus Scaeva had three gladiator pairs fight to the death in Rome's "cattle market" forum (Forum Boarium) to honor his dead father, Brutus Pera". How and where were people executed before amphitheatres and other arenas were built where they could be (forgive me for using this word) safely be torn to pieces by beasts? (If you had let lions loose in the Forum Boarium, the "wrong" people might have been eaten.)

[@AncientRomeLive]

for early games- temporary venues, bleacher seats, etc. The Republican era venue that was standardized was the forum itself- as those funerary games were infrequent. Then, the first stone amphitheater in Rome was by Statilius Taurus in the Circus Flaminius area...

[@mademoiselledusfonctionell1609]

@@AncientRomeLive Thanks for replying. But executions, were they also carried out in those venues? The elaborateness of the executions, wasn't that also a later thing? How and where were people executed before executions became the horrid spectacles that were put on display in big arenas?

[@iamsergius299]

Re your comment at 10:30 circa, Christian tradition does refer to the execution of St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was 'thrown to the beasts' in Rome in early second century.

[@AncientRomeLive]

Yes, but there is not tradition that ties a martyrdom to inside the Colosseum.

[@TerryB751]

The guy in red with the banner leading the pack at 16:32 is thinking "So my life has come to this."

[@seandyer93]

Did emperor maximian fight in the arena?

[@AncientRomeLive]

No.

[@KonradAdenauerJr]

Quite a few gladiators managed to achieve fame, just like many sports stars today.

[@michaelbelisle8930]

I learned more about the colosseum in this video than any I have watched before. One question dose the senate house where Caesar was assassinated still exist. I am finishing a book about the assassination would like to know

[@AncientRomeLive]

Thank you! We put some effort into that one! The Curia you see the forum was rebuilt after a late 3C CE fire. The Curia where Caesar was killed is located in the Campus Martius. It once butted up against Temple B in the Republican sanctuary in Largo Argentina. Few visible remains but the temple still stands.

[@iainsanders4775]

This part of Rome, I do not mourn.

[@ImmaculateConstipation]

The gory that was Rome!

[@prettysky01]

4:37 the so-called “noxie” It sounds close to nazi 😮

[@unknown81360]

Absolutely brutal

[@AncientRomeLive]

Horrific. The mosaics and literary sources reveal the story!

[@unknown81360]

@@AncientRomeLive They really do. I've recently been to the Colosseum and I've heard many stories, for example about the battleships they brought into the arena to even reenact sea battles. Your video gave me so much new information, it really shows your team does the best research

[@AncientRomeLive]

@@unknown81360 Thank you. Yes, the ship battles (naumachia) were typically in standalone structures by the Tiber - created by Caesar, Augustus, and Trajan. The novelty was to host them on a smaller scale in the Flavian amphitheater, for a one- off event. Initially the structural supports of the floor were wooden, so they were easily removed for the area to be temporarily flooded. The conduits and channels are, in part, preserved. Domitian replaced the wooden supports with stone walls, preventing any further water games.

[@AncientRomeLive]

@@unknown81360 Thanks- we do know our business! Archaeologists and historians working in Rome!

[@michaelvisconti869]

Were the dead animals eaten? And if so, how was it distributed ?

[@AncientRomeLive]

Some animal remains have been found in the drains of the Colosseum and are on display inside. A giraffe bone was found in a drain in Herculaneum -so at least there the idea is that it was consumed in the city.

[@Withnail1969]

I think the professional beast fighters and the condemned criminals or prisoners thrown to the beasts were not the same thing. The narrator seems to be getting them confused.

[@AncientRomeLive]

Just watch the video: it's pretty clear on who did what: The Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater) hosted exotic animal hunts (morning), the execution of criminals (noon), and the main event in the afternoon: gladiator fights. What history! 0:00 Introduction 0:50 Munus and the Roman Forum 1:24 Hunts in the Circus Maximus 1:50 Public procession 2:22 The hunts and Bestiarii in the amphitheater 4:05 Hypogeum 4:27 Noontime: Executions standard and mythological 10:47 Gladiators: ludi, owners, music, referees 12:41 Gladiator types 14:19 Gladiator oath, hand signs, the crowd

[@jakegarvin7634]

14:20 lol at the iaculator...pretty sure if that word had survived to present it would start with a J, and I promise you that I'm THEE Jaculator

[@snotnosewilly99]

Justice or injustice enacted??? No doubt, if the show managers ran short of criminals...they would just grab some poor slaves to chop up in the arena. Rome had over 200,000 slaves at that time, so they were easy to find and no one would complain.

[@AncientRomeLive]

Good point. Yes, the idea was that those executed were deserving of the crime, condemned in a court of law - or were "the enemy" captured in war...

[@Fat12219]

That is so messed up big time 😢

[@johnmchale6667]

Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Fat12219]

If walls 🧱 can talk 😢😮

[@jonescrusher1]

It's chilling to think that such an advanced civilisation was still so morally void.

[@Arkansas1989]

Yes it would have been awesome

[@MrCarGuy]

It's a pretty entertaining way to destroy worthless criminals instead of keeping them in a prison system at the expense of the people

[@janiverster6162]

The words "impressive" and "justice" does not belong to anything connected with this barbarism.

[@marthaarya167]

Great

[@krono5el]

What a completely sane stock of humans : P

[@Asdfhjkl998]

God forbid to watch this , horrible 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢 they ask what the relegation this to us true relegation teach to us to be a manner …………

[@Arkansas1989]

We need to bring back criminal punishments like they had for pedos and rapists and murderers

[@Apocalypse_Meow...]

I'd definitely join the strangle-fest & skip the sponge💩👀🤣🤣🤣

[@missopowers]

This is a great channel, and I'm no prude, but some of those illustrations and commentary I felt crossed the line into torture porn. It got unpleasant quickly.

[@AncientRomeLive]

Yes, a lot of violence depicted in S. Stefano Rotondo and the Roman-era mosaics.

[@MrCarGuy]

Reality isn't always pleasant

[@denizalgazi]

Barbarians.

[@fredflintstoner596]

MORE CHRISTIANS THE LIONS ARE HUNGRY !

[@Pooneil1984]

Too much time spent on the parade of horribles and not enough on allyl the other activities. Like what they might have cooked.

[@erebus79]

Some of those cosplaying gladiators need to spend a little time in the gym.