Colloseum

Upon entering the Colosseum, visitors climbed sloping ramps to their seats, wich was decided according to gender and social class. Women and the poor stood or sat on wooden benches in the fourth row. Depending on the weather, an enormous, colored canopy (velarium) could be stretched overhead to protect spectators from the hot sun.

A wooden flooring was used to cover the bottomless chambers where the gladiators as well as the animals were kept prior to their performance. During the first ten years of its existence, the stadium was filled with water and used for mock naval battles. However, over time the Romans found it was damaging to the foundation as well as to the flooring.

Most shows in the Colosseum lasted all day beginning with comedic contests and exotic animal shows in the morning and moving on to

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professional gladiator events in the afternoon. In most tournaments and games, death played a important role. Professional gladiators, primarily condemned criminals, prisoners or war, and slaves, fought either animals or each other, generally until death. Some of their weapons may include nets, swords, tridents, spears, or firebrands. Occasionally, free Romans and women would enter the fight for a few brief moments of glory. Although many people may believe, there is no documentation to back up the story of Christians being fed to the lions.

The exhibits range in size from a huge stone relief showing gladiatorial combat to the tiny bone discharge ticket which gave a gladiator his freedom. In between are bronze models of chariots, gladiators' tombstones, bronze and pottery figurines of gladiators and wrestlers, stone busts and statues of boxers, theatre masks of pottery and stone, a floor mosaic with a pair of gladiators, frescoes and stone reliefs showing scenes from plays and a plate with a portrait of an actor.

said to be from Pompeii, The shedding of blood beside a dead man's grave is an ancient

Campania, Italy Height: 46. The shedding of blood beside a dead man's grave is an ancient

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