The Roman Colosseum — Ten Interesting Facts to Ignite Your Imagination

One of my first jobs was as an electronics sales-person at Sears. I had just graduated high-school, and I was excited to enter the working world. As I’m sure you can imagine, working there was one of the worst (though enlightening) experiences of my life.

While I worked there, the same movies would be looping on the TVs day in and day out. One of those movies was Gladiator, and I think that at this point you see where I’m going with this little story. That movie is forever ruined for me, but I’m still looking forward to visiting the Roman Colosseum next time I’m traveling through that neck of the woods. So for all of you planning to spend a bit of vacation time in Rome, here are some interesting little known facts about Rome’s most popular tourist destination.

In no particular order…

1. The original name of the Colosseum was actually Flavian Amphitheater, named after the emperors of the Flavian Dynasty.
2. The Colosseum was built by the founder of the Flavian dynasty – Emperor Vespasian – for his successor, Titus (Titus Flavius Vespasianus,) 10th emperor of the Roman Empire.
3. The Colosseum was constructed using an estimated 100,000 cubic meters of marble.
4. The Colosseum took only 10 years to construct – starting in 70 AD and ending in 80 AD. The builders accomplished this using 60,000 slaves.
5. The Colosseum has over 80 entrances and can accommodate approximately 50,000 spectators. For comparison, the median capacity of a modern football stadium is around 69,000 people.
6. It’s estimated that over 500,000 people, and over a million wild animals, lost their lives throughout the Colosseum’s history.
7. Always looking to add a dramatic flair, the Roman’s built 36 trap doors into the floor of the arena allowing for elaborate special effects and entrances.
8. Emperors were known to host festivals and games that lasted up to 100 days at a time! Just think about that for a moment…
9. The Colosseum was sometimes flooded to allow miniature naval battles and re-creations.
10. During the Colosseum’s inaugural games in 80 CE, Titus – the emperor at the time – had over 9,000 animals slaughtered.

Pretty interesting stuff, right? If you’re interested in visiting Rome for yourself, flights are often surprisingly affordable (I’ve been looking) and you can actually save money on lodging by skipping hotels and instead staying in rented apartments.

Lastly, if you have any additional unique or interesting facts about the Roman Colosseum, feel free to share them in the comments below. I may even add them to the original article.