Our visit to the Colosseum was very cool. It was amazing to take a couple turns out of our hotel and see the Colosseum just sitting there. The crowds around it are equally amazing and we were so glad to grab a tour and skip the line and get a tour to learn some of the incredible history. Looking at it you see it is made up of a series of 80 arches per floor and that is not just for looks. They way the weight is distributed allows it to hold more weight and at the same time use less material with the empty space below.
The ingenuity did not stop with the design of the exterior, the arena floor itself was amazing. The had a wooden floor like what you see in the far end of the picture across the entire arena covered in a special sand mixture that was good for cleaning blood. Underneath the floor was kind of like the "backstage" area where the gladiators, animals and anyone else prepared for the show. There were 32 elevators located under the stage floor as well for bringing up people and animals.
The said that seating at the Colosseum mirrored the Roman society in that the more powerful you were the lower down closer to the action you were. I was surprised to find out that women and slaves sat together in the top level. I was surprised that slaves were allowed to watch at all and also that women could not be with their families.
