Colosseum and the Palatine Hills

Colosseum

We visited the Colosseum which was a wonderful structure that lived up to our expectations and more!!! It is one of the greatest roman structures ever built and is the largest  elliptical amphitheatre that was ever built.It's a massive "olden days' stadium that the Romans used for for public spectacles and gladiator contests....






I could only wonder about the cruelty of the people back then where gladiator is a sport, with men fighting men or men fighting wild animals. Gladiators were either slaves or recruits that could retire or set free after fighting a few fights in the Colosseum (if they're still alive then, of course). Many gladiators die while fighting. When they are not in a game, the gladiators train....That's their life I guess, train, fight, train, fight, train, fight...

A story I remember is that to celebrate a war victory, 10,000 men and 11,000 beasts were set to fight at one time i the colosseum!! What a mess that must have been. Another story is that once, there was a whale that got washed up onto the shores of Italy...that gave the powers to be some ideas....they created a big sculpture of a whale which was brought to the Colosseum, and when the mouth of the whale opened, 50 bears came out ...to fight.

Palatine Hills




The Palatine Hills is situation right next to the Colosseum, where the Roman Forum is. The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the ancient city of Rome. Seeing the sprawling ruin of architectural fragments gave us an idea of how beautiful and grand Rome was in its glory, with its awesome big pillars and columns. There is also an ancient bank there, a rounded top building where all the treasures that were looted were brought and kept there.

The "Bank"