CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 35

— IN THE COLISEUM, DIFFERENT shows were performed — spoke the enthusiastic tour guide at the head of the group while pointing to the venues — with the various games held in the city. Fights between gladiators, called munera. Gladiators, slaves, were not paid, but the winners received a laurel, monetary prize and donations from the audience.

The man who accompanied the tour watched the group from afar, unfortunately he was with the damned Gregory Evans who always seemed to foresee any action around him, but everything was prepared for them not to pass this day and everything would have to be as soon as possible, he signaled his companion who went down into the ditch and followed from a distance, until he took advantage of an instant of the detective's inattention and pushed him.

You were lucky, because nineteen hundred years ago there would have been lions waiting for you in that moat...

— Another type of show was the hunting of animals, or venatio, where wild animals imported from Africa were used. The most used animals were big cats such as lions, leopards and panthers, but animals such as rhinos, hippos, elephants, giraffes, crocodiles and ostriches were also used. The hunts, as well as the representations of famous battles, were carried out in elaborate settings with trees and removable buildings. The latter were sometimes depicted on a giant scale. Trajan celebrated his victory at Dacia in the year 107 with contests involving eleven thousand animals and ten thousand gladiators over the course of one hundred and twenty-three days.

AS SOON AS GREG AND NICOLE fell, he saw his companion stabbing him with a dagger and then leaving the place...

Hope this is enough...

— The arena was like a large stage, made of wood, and it was called that, which in Italian means sand, because sand was thrown under the wooden structure to hide imperfections. The animals could be inserted in the duels at any moment by a scheme of elevators that appeared in some points of the arena; the movie — Gladiator— portrays the operation of the elevators. Scholars have recently discovered a network of flooded pipelines beneath the Colosseum arena. It is believed that the Coliseum was built where the lake of the — Golden Palace of Nero— once was; Emperor Vespasian chose the building site so that the evil caused by Nero would be forgotten by a glorious construction.

— It really is something incredible — said a Brazilian woman.

— Don't have any doubts, Senhora Silva... speaking of which...

He stopped the group again and said:

— Sylvae, or recreations of natural scenes were also held in the Colosseum. Painters, technicians and architects would build simulated forests with real trees and bushes planted on the arena floor. Animals were then introduced to bring the simulation to life. These scenarios served only to please the public or as a backdrop to hunts or dramas representing episodes of Roman mythology, as authentic as possible, to the point where condemned people played the role of heroes where they were killed in horrible, but mythologically authentic ways, like mutilated by animals or burned alive. Although the Colosseum operated until the 6th century, games with human deaths have been prohibited since 404, with only animals such as elephants, panthers or lions being massacred.

— Because of the rise of Christianity.

The guide nodded.

— Roman accounts refer to Christians being martyred in places in Rome described in little detail in the amphitheater, in the arena… when Rome had numerous stages. Although the Coliseum was most likely not used for martyrdoms, Pope Benedict XIV consecrated it in the 17th century to the Passion of Christ and declared it a sacred place. Consolidation work and partial restoration of the monument, which had long been in ruins, were carried out mainly by the pontiffs Gregory XVI and Pius IX, in the 19th century.

The group started walking again.

— The monument remained the main venue for shows in the Roman city until the time of Emperor Honorius in the 5th century. Damaged by an earthquake at the beginning of the same century, it underwent extensive restoration under Valentinian III. In the mid-13th century, the Frangipani family turned it into a fortress and, throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, it was plundered several times, losing most of the noble materials with which it had been built.

HIS COMPANION CAME CLOSE to him and they realized that no one had missed him.

— It worked out?

— I can't tell, it all happened so fast.

— Never mind, let's get out of here before they come after the group.

— Don't worry... he's a policeman in America, here he's a mere tourist, he doesn't have any legal power, and he doesn't even have proof of anything, he doesn't know who pushed him.

— THE COLISEUM WAS NOT INSERTED in a hillside area, buried, as is usually the case with most Roman theaters and amphitheaters. Instead, it had an artificial ring of rock around it, to guarantee support and, at the same time, this substructure serves as an ornament to the building and as a conditioner for the entrance of the spectators. As previously mentioned, it had three floors, and another was added later.

— Mister Giovaninni, what material did you make the Colosseum out of?

— The building is constructed of marble, travertine stone, tile and tuff. Its elliptical plan measures two axes that extend approximately one hundred and ninety meters by one hundred and fifty five meters. The façade is made up of arcades decorated with Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns. According to the floor they were on. This subdivision is due to the fact that it is an essentially vertical construction, thus creating a diversification of space. The arena, measuring eighty meters by fifty-five meters, had a wooden floor, usually covered with sand to absorb the blood of combat. Some details of this construction, such as the removable cover that protected the spectators from the sun, are quite interesting, and show the refinement reached by the Roman builders. Formed by five concentric rings of vaulted arches, the Colosseum well represents the advance introduced by the Romans in structural engineering. These arches are made of natural cement covered with masonry. In fact, the masonry was built simultaneously and was already serving as a form for concreting.

Giovaninni Puzzi pointed to the stands next to them.

— The seats were in marble and the cavea, staircase or grandstand, was divided into three parts...

A tourist interrupted her:

— Corresponding to different social classes...

— Exactly... the podium, for the upper classes; the Maeniana, a sector for the middle class; and the portici, or porticoes, built in wood, for the plebs and women. The pulvinar, the imperial tribune, was located on the podium and was marked by the seats reserved for senators and magistrates.

The guide pointed behind them:

— Ramps inside the building facilitated access to the various areas from which it was possible to view the show, being protected by a barrier and by a series of archers positioned on a wooden walkway, in case of any accident. The corbels that supported the velarium are still visible above the walls, an enormous canvas covering designed to protect spectators from the sun, and, underground, were the cages for the animals, as well as all the cells and galleries necessary for the amphitheater's services.

THE BOTH DIDN'T SEE Greg and Nicole anywhere and I could only imagine that the plan would have worked.

— And the girl?

— She's not important to us, let's see how long she realizes she's trapped in a mousetrap without knowing it.

— WHEN IT WAS OPENED, it had an underground complex with a labyrinth of tunnels where wild animals were caged. It is currently unfloored and the labyrinth of secret tunnels, or "hypogeum", has been on view for over a century. In 2021, the Italian government has promised to create a new retractable floor that will restore the amphitheater to its gladiatorial glory. The Italian authorities hope to complete the project by 2023. With the new floor, cultural events such as theater productions and concerts will be able to be held in the Colosseum.

They left the huge venue.

— The Coliseum was above all an enormous instrument of propaganda and diffusion of the philosophy of an entire civilization, and as it was already prophesied by the English monk and historian Bede in his seventh century work "De temporibus liber": "As long as the Coliseum remains standing, Rome will stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome will fall, and when Rome falls, the world will fall" — The Coliseum is known as the greatest symbol of the city of Rome, and one of the best examples of Roman engineering and architecture.

When they got on the bus, no one noticed their absence.