Nero Lucius Domitius (Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus) (Antium, 37AD – Roma, June 9, 68).Son of Domitius Enobarbus and of Agrippina Minor, who, after having married Claudius, managed to have the young Nero adopted by him, ensuring his succession as emperor (54). Finely educated, in the first years of his reign Nero was closely controlled by his mother, by …
A license to pose – a nuisance for visitors – An endless story September, 2002Some people in Rome make a living by posing as “Roman soldiers” around the Colosseum, asking tourist for money if they want their picture taken with them.Many years years ago I started taking notice of these guys dressed up as roman soldiers, …
PREHISTORYBefore man made his appearance in the site of Rome, the valley where now stands the Colosseum collected the waters from the hills, thus creating a small lake. In these maps you can see the geography of the city before human settlement. The Tiber river would flood the area of the Circus Maximus, and part of …
Timeline of the Valley of the Colosseum PREHISTORY Before men inhabit the site of Rome, the valley where now is the Colosseum collected the waters from the hills, that created a pond. 508-44 BC – REPUBLICAN ROMEThe Romans drain the valley in early republican times and build houses, public buildings and temples. The area of the ancestral …
Famous Authors’ Reflections on the Colosseum Hans Christian Andersen“…like a vast mass of rock.” Venerable Bede“While the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, the world shall fall.” [Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) quoting a prophecy of Anglo-Saxon pilgrims. Lord Byron“… when the rising moon begins to climb/ …
In the XVIII centuryit became fashionable for the rich to collect models of buildings, ruins and famous monuments, made of wood or cork. This craft, that originated in Naples in the XVI century with the scenarios of the cribs, developed to the benefit of wealthy collectors and travelers who only then had started to consider …
More and more people come to see the Colosseum! After the 2018 all time record (7.650.519 visitors) in 2019 there was a little decrease. In 2020 there was the COVID closure but in 2021 museum were reopened.The following table is from the official statistics of the Italian government. Actually, the most visited Roman monument (more …
So Dio Cassius wrote:[In the year 217] the hunting theatre was struck by thunderbolts on the very day of the Vulcanalia, and such a blaze followed that its entire upper circuit and everything in the arena was consumed, and thereupon the rest of the structure was ravaged by the flames and reduced to ruins. Neither …
