What Being a Spectator at the Rome Colosseum Was Like

At a Roman Colosseum, audiences could munch on chickpeas while watching a midday execution, or check out the lions. No, not those. And other exotic animals released through the arena's hidden trap doors from their cramped seats, or even observe Roman elites harvesting actual sweat from gladiators to make themselves sexier. Events held at the Colosseum were so varied and elaborate that the audience never knew what to expect. Today, we're looking at what it was like to be a spectator Before we get into it, make sure you subscribe, hit that bell for notifications, and let us know what history you'd like to experience. Now, we go to the Colosseum. Admission into the Colosseum was free, one of the many perks of being a Roman citizen. But attendees still had assigned seating. The podium and first few rows made up the first and best tier, where the emperor, Vestal Virgins, and about 2,000 other Roman elites who watched the blood sport. Merchants, government toadies, and other well-heeled patricians got to sit in the second tier. Higher up, the third tier was reserved for ordinary Joes. That's where most of the real fans would end up. Going to the games was kind of like going to Disneyland, you know, if Donald and Goofy fought to the death for the edification of Emperor Mickey. On festival days, the Colosseum attracted 50,000 spectators, a goldmine for vendors. Outside the Colosseum, traders and street sellers hawked food and souvenirs to visitors. They may have even sold programs with stats on the gladiator, sort of like Topps baseball cards of the day, that could presumably immediately spike in value thanks to all the sudden athlete death. Let's hope that Mickey's Mantle Maximus card is in mint condition. As for street food, the Romans enjoyed sausages, chickpeas, and pastries. Inside the Colosseum, they could grab sweets, wine, and snacks. Got any nuts? I haven't got any nuts, sorry. I've got wrens livers, badger spleens. No, no, no. And of course, there was merchandise, a wooden ball with a special token inside. The tokens could be cashed in for special prizes, from food or cash to their own spot on an island, which, exciting as that sounds, is just what the Romans called their multi-story apartment buildings. Once visitors made it inside, they faced the challenge of finding their seats in a stadium big enough to hold 50,000. Depending on a status, a man might settle right into a nice spot at the lowest level, climb 12 to 15 stories to the top to sit with the women folk and the poor, who probably have the toughest time climbing 15 freaking stories of stairs. Both the entrances and the staircases were kept separate by iron and marble dividers. And like the seating areas, the passageways were divided by class. Covering about six acres of land and rising 12 to 15 modern stories tall, the Colosseum was and remains the largest amphitheater in the world. But although the building itself was grand, the majority of the audience was as cramped as flying coach on American airlines. Everyone not in the ancient Roman version of the first class got a 15-inch wide seat with 27.5 inches of legroom. Now subtract air conditioning, add 15 levels of stairs, and you'd be ready to watch some bloody gladiators fight too. Because of the immense size of the structure, spectators in the nosebleed section probably couldn't see or hear much of the action. The highest part of the 15-story stadium sat upon a wall which extended 16 feet above the other spectators. The crowds at the top, made up of mostly women and the impoverished, strained to see the fights below. And while the roar of the crowd could make it to the top, the spectators in the highest seats probably couldn't hear much else from the fighting ring. This mirrors the living situation in the city. The islands we talked about earlier were about six stories tall, with rent mostly determined by the number of decaying stairs a tenant had to climb to get to his apartment. We can imagine what it was like to try and convince your friends to help you move a sofa. A hideaway bed? These haven't even been invented yet. As you'd expect, the emperor got the best seat in the house, the imperial box. Gladiators fought before him and appealed to him for mercy, often successfully. The emperor could order a gladiator's end at any time with only his thumb. And spectators waited and watched for his reactions. Contrary to the movie cliche, forgiveness was the rule, not the exception. And the gladiators were more likely to die from deep wounds than they were from an inverted royal thumb. While the Roman elites might sit close to the emperor, the August ruler was, you guessed it, separated from the other spectators. He even had dedicated doors to enter and exit the Colosseum, so he never ran into the rabble or slipped on lion droppings and discarded sausage. There's more sense than ego to this. Nothing inflames mob mentality like violence. And Rome was beginning to decay before the Colosseum was even built. The Mediterranean sun can be a real bastard during the summer months, but the Colosseum provided a place of respite thanks to the velarium, which is a fancy word for a really big curtain. The velarium was the building system of adjustable awnings, similar to a ship's mast and sails. A ship crew stationed near Rome maneuvered the rig. Using ropes and pulleys, the crew could pull a large piece of fabric or smaller separated strips across the top of the structure and block the sun. Ironically, that meant that while they couldn't see or hear much from their seats, the lowest class could enjoy the shadiest part of the Colosseum while the nobles sweated in the sun. It's basically like going to the movies just to sit in the air conditioning. Fights at the Colosseum often had their own soundtrack. Spectators thrilled to the sounds of trumpets, horns, and water organs, while gladiators tilted at exotic animals and, of course, each other. Music continued even when the emperor was deciding whether a hapless gladiator had shown enough grit to fight another day. The music was more than just entertainment for the audience, though. It also served as a cue for the stagehands. The music might tell them when to release a wild animal into the arena or when the next fight was about to start, sort of like how Stone Cold Steve Austin knew it was time to run into the ring. The Colosseum had a wide array of spectacles. Though many depictions of the arena show seats surrounding a sand pit, the floor had a complex layout of walls and chambers underneath a wooden platform. Different pieces of scenery could be elevated through the Colosseum floor, providing new and distinct scenarios for every show, like the Pokemon Stadium in Smash Bros. Among the intricate caverns under the Colosseum, there were even runoff canals to drain the arena after a naval performance called a Namekia was performed. The wooden platform and its supports were removed from the Colosseum floor. Water was then diverted from aqueducts into the center, creating an artificial lake of up to five feet deep. Scaled-down ships were brought into the stadium to reenact famous naval battles from history. A lot of people, especially if they've seen the movie Gladiator, assume gladiators were all slaves or criminals convicted to die in the arena for Rome's entertainment. But that wasn't always the case. Some Romans actually signed up at gladiator schools to become professionals. For those who did, the benefits of being a victorious gladiator outweighed the inherent risks of the work. Gladiators were treated like celebrities in Rome, like modern athletes. Roman children could even buy clay action figures representing famous fighters. Victors sometimes had affairs with aristocratic women. Graffiti from Pompeii even bragged about their supposed prowess. Gladiator sweat was considered an aphrodisiac, so Romans sometimes mixed it into their face creams. Given this information, it is our duty to assume that LeBron James put some of his sweat into every bottle of his official Sprite flavor. One of the many shows held within the Colosseum was the animal hunt. The bestiary, gladiators trained to battle wild animals, squared off against lions, tigers, bears, oh my, along with hippopotamuses, elephants, deer, giraffe, and allegedly even whales. The bestiary fought a combination of both harmless and potentially dangerous animals, but the fighters were rarely at risk. Of the thousands of animals slain in a single day, many were taken out from afar with spears or bows. Presumably, that's how most of the whales were dealt with, because we can't imagine Russell Crowe wrestling with a whale and winning. Actually, maybe we can. Even though it's been highly propagated as fact, and though it is possible, there is no evidence to suggest that Christians were killed and fed to lions at the Colosseum. The association between the Colosseum and Christian suffering was first stated in the fourth century, but then largely forgotten until the 17th century. During the fourth century CE, Christian and Latin scholar Lactantius and Bishop Caesarea Eusebius wrote of emperors intentionally slaying Christians. Such actions were never imperial policy, but scattered events which occurred around the empire. The Colosseum did regularly feature punishments referred to as the midday games, where lawbreakers and POWs, called the damnati, were condemned through a multitude of different and horrible methods. Sometimes the damnati were thrown defenseless into the arena to be torn apart by wild animals, while others were forced to fight one another to the death. Roman Colosseum battles were like the original battle royale. After the disastrous reign of Emperor Nero and three other rulers, all within a single year, Emperor Vespasian rose to power and distanced himself from the distasteful image of personal luxury and opulence associated with his predecessors. Through propaganda and great projects around the empire, Vespasian established his vision as a leader who worked for the Roman people, not his own desires. One such project was the Colosseum. Vespasian personally commissioned it as an entertainment venue for the people of Rome. Over the next 10 years, Vespasian demolished Nero's private lake, and in its place, built the enormous Colosseum. At the time, however, no one called it that. It was instead known as the Flavian Amphitheater, after the emperor's family. So why do we call it the Colosseum? The title itself only dates back as far as the 11th century, and most historians believe it is named after the Colossus Neronus, a large bronze statue commissioned by Nero, which was once located near where the Colosseum was built. So essentially, one vanity project was replaced by another, except people actually liked the Colosseum. Used for four centuries to exhibit the heart and soul of an empire, the Colosseum has become the de facto icon of Rome. Its construction alone heralded the beginning of a new political environment. So what do you think of the Colosseum? Would you rather see an event then or now and pay $20 for a beer? Let us know in our comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these other weird videos from our Weird History.