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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's

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Speaker 2: Chuck and Jerry's here too, and this is stuff you

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Speaker 2: should know as always.

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Speaker 1: Thanks ever, Chuck.

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Speaker 2: I think we just broke our record for earliest edit

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Speaker 2: and that came quick.

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Speaker 1: You cleared your throat, and we for some reason are

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Speaker 1: cutting it out because it's not good stuff.

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Speaker 2: Well I want to hear that, do they?

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Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe weird and you're fifteen. We've established

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Speaker 1: our unprofessional qualities.

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Speaker 2: True, it is true. Speaking of unprofessional qualities, you know

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Speaker 2: who is terrible? Some of these emperors.

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Speaker 1: Very nice segue. Have you ever been to the coliseum?

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Speaker 1: You have right?

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's amazing.

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Speaker 1: Did you go into it?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

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Speaker 1: I didn't go into it. I walked around it. And

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Speaker 1: you know, this was my big European jaunt was when

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Speaker 1: I was broke and backpacking. So like my friend and

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Speaker 1: I did the best we could we but we did

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Speaker 1: walk outside of a lot of structures that many other

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Speaker 1: people pay to get into.

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Speaker 2: You didn't have money for a pottery shard.

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Speaker 1: No, we had no do to get in these places.

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Speaker 1: But it's just a wonder to walk around, and I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's what I love about Rome is just seeing Yeah,

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Speaker 1: seeing stuff that old is just really humbling and cool.

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Speaker 2: Rome is one of the very few cities that I've

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Speaker 2: visited and been like, I could totally live here.

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Speaker 1: Oh really.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a knee town for sure. And part of

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Speaker 2: it is because you just be walking along and all

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Speaker 2: of a sudden the wall is suddenly three thousand years old.

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Speaker 2: You know. It's just like that kind of place, like

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Speaker 2: everything's just kind of built up on top of everything else,

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Speaker 2: but stuff has been preserved or accidentally exposed. It's just

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Speaker 2: a really neat tone. I loved it for sure.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. And boy, just how good looking is everybody?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Those Italians they know what they're doing.

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Speaker 1: When they were oh man, I was like, ooh, I'm

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Speaker 1: in love with her and her and I might be

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Speaker 1: gay look at that guy they are.

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Speaker 2: They are a good looking bunch for sure.

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Speaker 1: All of them are just so attractive, Like the in

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Speaker 1: on a Friday night at the Spanish Steps. It's just like,

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Speaker 1: how many good looking, dark haired people can you get

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Speaker 1: together in one spot?

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Speaker 2: Chuck. I think like our our most dedicated listeners know

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Speaker 2: that you're just buttering up the Italians because you're going

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Speaker 2: to be busting out some Italian accents. You don't want

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Speaker 2: them to be mad at you, or I should say,

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Speaker 2: all oiling them up.

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Speaker 1: Very nice. That's a good one.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if that was nice or good, but

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Speaker 2: I appreciate the kudos.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but we're talking Colisseum and it's interesting to me

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Speaker 1: how like and you might have gotten all this stuff

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Speaker 1: from the tour, but I was just kind of knocked

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Speaker 1: out in this article Lvia put together of how how

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Speaker 1: sort of modern like modern stadium going experience.

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Speaker 2: It felt like, yeah, and actually there's there was one

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Speaker 2: fact that stood out to me. I was like, well,

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Speaker 2: they've got current stadiums beat oh boy, Supposedly the packed

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Speaker 2: cheek to jowl you could fit eighty seven thousand people

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Speaker 2: in there and the whole place could be emptied or

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Speaker 2: filled within fifteen minutes because the circulation was that beautifully engineered.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a slightly dubious claim.

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Speaker 2: But okay, I bet it's seventeen.

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Speaker 1: Well, I bet it was quick and like nothing like

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Speaker 1: it is today and.

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Speaker 2: Eighteen and I'm not going any higher than that.

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Speaker 1: Well, and back then, you would you know, you would

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Speaker 1: just walk back to your place or take a mule

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Speaker 1: or something like, you know, post traffic experiences near American

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Speaker 1: stadiums or the stuff of the legend.

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Speaker 2: It's awful, yes, for sure.

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Speaker 1: But parking decks the worst thing ever invented.

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Speaker 2: They're pretty bad. They're awful, Yes, it's true. And do

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Speaker 2: you know it's going to get a lot worse. They're

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Speaker 2: developing that whole area that like kind of no man's lane.

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Speaker 2: It's like old tring tracks and abandoned stuff in between

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Speaker 2: State Farm Arena and Mercedes Benz Stadium.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, the gulch.

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Speaker 2: Yes, they're they're they're developing that. So it's just gonna

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Speaker 2: get a million times worse down there. They should just

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Speaker 2: set up helicopter service and drop people in.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think what they're doing is trying to be like, hey,

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Speaker 1: don't jump in your car, just go hang out at

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Speaker 1: a bar restaurant, like there's gonna be stuff to do there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because there's not right now.

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Speaker 1: No, there's not much, not a whole lot.

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Speaker 2: There's some cool hotels down there, but they're kind of.

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Speaker 1: Time coming around a little bit.

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Speaker 2: Yeah for sure. So, but we're not talking about downtown

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Speaker 2: Lan and everybody who to your horses. We're talking about

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Speaker 2: the coliseum. Like you said, that was just kind of

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Speaker 2: one fact, and I'm calling it a back chuck your

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Speaker 2: your Yeah, I guess you're poop puing in a little bit,

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Speaker 2: which is fine. We can agree to disagree on that,

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Speaker 2: and I think you're probably right. But still it is.

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Speaker 2: It kind of underscores how everybody in history has looked

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Speaker 2: back at the call is just this marvel of engineering

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Speaker 2: and a design and architecture. It was built in like

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Speaker 2: eight years, astoundingly enough, and it's survived earthquakes and all

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Speaker 2: sorts of terrible catastrophes, and it's still standing in a

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Speaker 2: lot pretty good shape considering how old it is two

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Speaker 2: thousand years. But what I didn't know when I was there,

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Speaker 2: I knew, but it didn't really sink in. It is

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Speaker 2: one of the most despicable places ever built in the

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Speaker 2: history of Western civilization.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, we're going to get into the

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Speaker 1: stuff that went on there. It's you know, it wasn't

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Speaker 1: like the history of the Globe Theater or anything like that,

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Speaker 1: you know.

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Speaker 2: No, it was much bloodier. Because everyone knows well, yes,

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Speaker 2: the gladiators fought at the Colisseum I've seen that Russell

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Speaker 2: Crowe movie. True, but it was much much worse than

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Speaker 2: even that, and that was pretty bad. But like you said,

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Speaker 2: we'll get into it. Let's talk about the actual Colosseum

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Speaker 2: and where it came from first, how about that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, there's a long history of theaters

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Speaker 1: period in the world. The Colisseum certainly was not the first,

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Speaker 1: but it was one of the first, you know, built

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Speaker 1: in stone concrete amphitheaters. And if you're confused, like I was,

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Speaker 1: the term amphitheater these days can can just mean a

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Speaker 1: you know, a big concert venue. It doesn't necessarily mean

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Speaker 1: it is just a round thing, right, because most things

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Speaker 1: called an amphitheater day are the kind that were not

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Speaker 1: like they wouldn't have used that term back then because

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Speaker 1: they weren't fully encircled. It's like it's a theater like

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Speaker 1: the Hollywood Bowl or something. You've got a stage and

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Speaker 1: then the seats are sort of built in a big

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Speaker 1: hill in a semicircle like those are called amphitheaters now,

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Speaker 1: but technically amphi means around, and so it was these

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Speaker 1: were the first theaters to be built all the way

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Speaker 1: around whatever performance was going on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, totally and like today's amphitheaters are much more like

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Speaker 2: the old theaters, which are exactly what you described as.

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Speaker 2: Like if you go to amphitheater, you can understand what

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Speaker 2: a theater was in Greece and ancient Rome, and back

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Speaker 2: in the day, the Roman Senate decided that having these

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Speaker 2: venues permanent as permanent structures was decadent, so there was

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Speaker 2: a ban on building permanent theaters and amphitheaters. But that

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Speaker 2: doesn't mean that the ones that they built that were

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Speaker 2: temporary weren't incredibly elaborate. Sure, our good friend Pliny mentions

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Speaker 2: one wooden temporary theater in Rome. I believe that had

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Speaker 2: three stories of columns, three thousand bronze statues, and they

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Speaker 2: gave out free bobbleheads of nero when you came in.

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Speaker 1: What's up with planning all over the place the past

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Speaker 1: few years?

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Speaker 2: Like, if you're a historian took especially of that era,

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Speaker 2: you are so happy that that man lived because he

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Speaker 2: sat down and said, you know what, I'm gonna write

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Speaker 2: all this down for I'm sure people who come later

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Speaker 2: are going to want to know what we were doing

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Speaker 2: at this time. And sure, no because of planting.

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Speaker 1: I guess we've just done more topics. I just feel

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Speaker 1: like we went I mean, he's the new fighter flight

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Speaker 1: for us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he really is totally So, like.

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Speaker 1: We said, there were stone amphitheaters. The first one ever,

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Speaker 1: I believe was in Pompeii, the very awesome and famous

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Speaker 1: Pink Floyd Liva Pompei concert was full near so kind

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Speaker 1: of nobody, which is a very cool, strange thing to do.

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Speaker 1: And then finally get we get Nero as emperor, and

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Speaker 1: he was around during the Great Fire of sixty four

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Speaker 1: where a lot of the wooden stuff obviously went away,

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Speaker 1: including wooden amphitheaters in Rome, and Nero was able to say, like,

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Speaker 1: all right, you know, I'm going to rebuild a lot

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Speaker 1: of stuff and put my stamp on Rome, but I'm

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Speaker 1: not He didn't get around to building an amphitheater before

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Speaker 1: he went.

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Speaker 2: Away, No he didn't. And it was a big deal

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Speaker 2: that the amphitheater in Rome, the temporary one, was burned

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Speaker 2: down because already gladiator battles had been firmly established in

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Speaker 2: the popular culture. So all of a sudden you had

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Speaker 2: like people who couldn't go to like, you know, the

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Speaker 2: local blood sport event, and like vent all of their

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Speaker 2: frustrations and not you know, stage an uprising against you

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Speaker 2: as the emperor. So it's something you would want to have.

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Speaker 2: But because of that fire, a lot of people still

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Speaker 2: to this day blamed Nero for starting the fire because

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Speaker 2: he rebuilt such opulent monuments to himself on the rubble

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Speaker 2: of Rome. Anyway, he eventually was toppled by a coup.

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Speaker 2: He died by suicide, and that left open a power

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Speaker 2: vacuum that was filled within one year. I think Rome

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Speaker 2: had something like three different no, four different emperors because

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Speaker 2: a little civil war started, and the guy who emerged

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Speaker 2: successfully was the first emperor of the Flavian dynasty, Vespasian.

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Speaker 1: Vespasian very nice, yeah, he and you know, he took

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Speaker 1: a look around. He had a couple of kids, a

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Speaker 1: couple of sons, notably Titus and I guess Domaitian I think,

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Speaker 1: so okay, and he got them established as successor. So

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Speaker 1: he was pretty firmly rooted at this point. And he

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Speaker 1: was like, you know, Nero came in and tried to, well,

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Speaker 1: not try to very successfully, built a lot of monuments

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Speaker 1: to himself, kind of put his own stamp on Rome.

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Speaker 1: Like Chuck will mention earlier, in the podcast many years

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Speaker 1: from now, and I want to put my stamp on

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Speaker 1: this thing, and so I'm going to build my own

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Speaker 1: sort of huge colossus theater. He didn't say that because

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Speaker 1: we'll talk about where the name came from in a second.

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Speaker 1: But his son had been out, you know, active as

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Speaker 1: a military leader. I believe it was Titus. Yeah, for

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Speaker 1: the siege of Jerusalem. Came back with a lot of

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Speaker 1: war spoils, and so basically, you know, I've got all

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Speaker 1: this money now besides raising taxes and claiming public land

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Speaker 1: and doing you know, basically whatever Vespasian wanted as far

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Speaker 1: as building infrastructure and probably monuments to himself. Sure, he said,

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Speaker 1: now I've got these war spoils, so I can build

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Speaker 1: like a proper concrete, permanent stone amphitheater.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the first one in Rome. And Vespasian was already

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Speaker 2: pretty beloved. He was a really popular general, successful general.

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Speaker 2: He was popular with the Senate. So when he became emperor,

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Speaker 2: everybody was like, okay, this is cool. But he really

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Speaker 2: won everybody over because Nero had been taking all of

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Speaker 2: Rome's money and spending it on monuments to himself and

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Speaker 2: like this enormous multi acre I think like one hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifty acre house called the Golden House, and Vespasian

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Speaker 2: did the opposite. Yeah, he built some monuments to himself,

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Speaker 2: but he also built a lot of public monuments. And

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Speaker 2: that's what the Colosseum was. It was a gift to

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Speaker 2: the citizens of Rome. Like remember that kreuddy wooden temporary theater.

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Speaker 2: Remember how the Senate banned temporary theaters. Here is your

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Speaker 2: first state of the art, permanent amphitheater that you are

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Speaker 2: going to watch so many people murdered and it's going

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Speaker 2: to just knock your socks.

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Speaker 1: Off, that's right. Had a very crass joke that I'm

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Speaker 1: going to keep to myself, okay, because this is a

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Speaker 1: family show, but tell me later. I'll tell you later,

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Speaker 1: all right. And he was so sort of take this

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Speaker 1: anarro that he built the Colosseum on the site where

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Speaker 1: that estate was where Nero lived domus Aria.

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Speaker 2: That's the Golden House, that's right.

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Speaker 1: That was the land on which the Golden House sat,

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Speaker 1: and the lake that was built there. There was this

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Speaker 1: artificial pond, so like I'm going to fill that up

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Speaker 1: even and really just sort of eraise in Neuro's legacy

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Speaker 1: as much as possible and can you tell him where

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Speaker 1: the name Colosseum may have come from.

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Speaker 2: Apparently there was like a hundred something foot tall nude

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Speaker 2: statue of Nero and rather than it was bronze, and

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Speaker 2: rather than melted down and reuse it, they put it

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Speaker 2: up and they propped it up in front of the Colosseum.

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Speaker 2: So that was the Amphitheater that had the colossus of

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Speaker 2: Nero or the Colosseum. It's like museum but with coloss.

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Speaker 1: Right, But they didn't pronounce it colossium.

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Speaker 2: No, they called it like the Amphitheater.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no one said colisseum until later. No one's ever

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Speaker 1: said colossum except for me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you have never really threw me off before we

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Speaker 2: started recording.

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Speaker 1: All right, I say we take a break, okay, and

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Speaker 1: then we come back and talk about the building itself.

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Speaker 1: All right, we're back. We're talking coliseum, big theater, stadium,

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Speaker 1: outdoor arena, whatever you want to call it. Amphitheater in

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Speaker 1: ancient Rome. If you're talking about the building itself, it

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Speaker 1: is six one hundred and twenty by five hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirteen feet one hundred and fifty seven feet tall, which

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Speaker 1: about fifteen stories. Obviously, we mentioned it was made of

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Speaker 1: mostly concrete, but that's, you know, sort of the structure.

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Speaker 1: There was also about three and a half a million

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Speaker 1: cubic feet of stuff like wood, of course, travertine, marble, stone.

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Speaker 1: And the reason why you mentioned the coliseum is still

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Speaker 1: largely standing through earthquakes and such two thousand plus years

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Speaker 1: later is because this thing was built on wetlands. So

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Speaker 1: they had to go very very deep with this concrete

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Speaker 1: with their foundation, and that's what you get two thousand

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Speaker 1: years later, it's still going.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. There's a historian of ancient Rome named Garrett Ryan

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Speaker 2: has got a blog called Told in Stone, and he

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Speaker 2: said that they built facing walls ten feet thick on

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Speaker 2: each side that supported a ring of concrete foundation that

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Speaker 2: they poured one hundred feet wide and forty feet deep.

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Speaker 2: That's what the Colisseum is built on them.

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Speaker 1: I wonder what the ancient recipe for concrete was.

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Speaker 2: Funny enough, I kind of looked that up because Roman

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Speaker 2: concrete is very famous because it's still standing in modern

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Speaker 2: concrete can crumble in a matter of decades, right, So

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Speaker 2: the Romans kind of had us beat. And they figured

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Speaker 2: out that it was because they mixed quicklimb in at

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Speaker 2: really high temperatures, and it created this chemical reaction that

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Speaker 2: was still kind of buzzing after the stuff was poured,

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Speaker 2: so that it would cure much more quickly and solidly.

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Speaker 2: That's what they think it was.

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Speaker 1: So just the heat they heated up that quick crete.

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Speaker 2: The heat, my god, the heat.

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Speaker 1: If you love columns, you would be delighted with the

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Speaker 1: Colisseum because there's a lot of columns and they go

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Speaker 1: in order from lowly to I guess the most revered,

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Speaker 1: as they start with a Doric style at the bottom,

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Speaker 1: move on up to the ionic on the second level,

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Speaker 1: and then finally, of course you get to the very

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Speaker 1: fancy Corinthian columns on the top. And they even had

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Speaker 1: a little, not a little, a pretty sizable retractable awningeah

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Speaker 1: that went all the way around it. And if you've

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Speaker 1: ever been to the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, it

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Speaker 1: sort of is like that, where there's a circle in

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Speaker 1: the ceiling in Atlanta, of course that opens in huts

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Speaker 1: like a camera shutter wood or I guess an old

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Speaker 1: film camera shutter wood. So in Atlanta it has a

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Speaker 1: circle around above like to where the field could possibly

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Speaker 1: get rained on. Of course, they don't open it when

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Speaker 1: it's going to rain, sure, but all the humans are covered.

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Speaker 1: And that was the same deal as there was a

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Speaker 1: circle in the center that always stayed open because you know,

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Speaker 1: they didn't have retractable roofs, but they did have a

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Speaker 1: retractable partial awning to keep everyone else dry.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and then the so the building was huge. The

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Speaker 2: actual like floor, the ground that the action took place

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Speaker 2: on the arena floor, it was an oval shape of

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Speaker 2: two hundred and seventy two by one hundred and fifty seven.

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Speaker 1: Feet the sandbox.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was covered insand because they would soak up

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Speaker 2: like blood and they needed it because a lot of

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Speaker 2: blood was spilled there. And like I said, it took

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Speaker 2: eight years to build, and apparently it was finally dedicated

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Speaker 2: under Emperor Titus Vespasian son under his watch, and he

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Speaker 2: was actually a pretty short lived emperor, although much beloved.

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Speaker 2: And his little brother Domitian. Yeah, when he became emperor,

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Speaker 2: he excavated that arena floor about ten twenty feet down. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: built the hypogium, which means basement or below ground. And

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Speaker 2: it was here where suddenly this thing became like this

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Speaker 2: magical marvel of special effects and technical wizardry.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, totally. This is where like you could really kick

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Speaker 1: it up a notch when you could have six hundred

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Speaker 1: dudes and a lot of you know, most of these

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Speaker 1: were slaves obviously, but they're down there all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden with pulleys and ramps and trap doors and fully

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Speaker 1: operated elevators, and you could do all kinds of crazy

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Speaker 1: magical things down there. At the least, you've got a

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Speaker 1: holding area for animals and gladiators and people, and you know,

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Speaker 1: it was sort of like you would think of any

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Speaker 1: sort of backstage area of like a circus or something,

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Speaker 1: except it was underground.

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Speaker 2: I think that they portrayed it in Gladiator, if I'm

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Speaker 2: not mistaken, but they would have. Like there's a production

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Speaker 2: company that build a replica of this for a PBS

342
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Speaker 2: documentary a few years back and actually donated it to Italy,

343
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Speaker 2: so it's on display it in the coliseum. But they

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Speaker 2: showed how like you would put an animal in a cage,

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Speaker 2: used some police to bring it up, and as it

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Speaker 2: was coming up toward the floor of the arena, a

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Speaker 2: trap door would open, and then all of a sudden,

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Speaker 2: there's just a lion sitting there that wasn't there before,

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Speaker 2: So I mean imagine watching like a man fight a

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Speaker 2: lion to begin with. Before it was like here comes

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Speaker 2: the lion walk in, and here comes the man walking in. Pohum.

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Speaker 2: Now it's like a lion magically appears and starts fighting

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Speaker 2: with the guy. This was like the kind of stuff

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Speaker 2: that they were throwing at the citizens of Rome at

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Speaker 2: the time, and from what I can tell, almost all

356
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Speaker 2: of the citizens of Rome were eating it up. There

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Speaker 2: were some people who are like, this is an awful

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Speaker 2: barbaric place at the time, but most citizens of Rome

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Speaker 2: were super into it.

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Speaker 1: You know when I saw bon Jobi in concert, well,

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Speaker 1: I saw them a couple of times, both by accident.

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Speaker 1: They opened up for thirty eight Special when I was

363
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Speaker 1: like in the eighth grade, when they were a very

364
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Speaker 1: small band.

365
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Speaker 2: Wake up like after having been drugged in like a

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Speaker 2: bon Jovi concert.

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Speaker 1: No. The second time was my senior year in high school.

368
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Speaker 1: Sort of a long story, but there was somebody at

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Speaker 1: our school that couldn't find anyone to go with them,

370
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Speaker 1: so I went with them. But bon Jovi in that

371
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Speaker 1: second one, you know, when they were the headliner at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the show, there's like, you know, the

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Speaker 1: band is kind of coming out and they start off

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Speaker 1: their song and I'm like, where's John, Where's John? And

375
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Speaker 1: boom smoke. A smoke blast happens on stage and the

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Speaker 1: smoke clears and bon Jovi is just standing there.

377
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Speaker 2: So being bon Jovi exactly.

378
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Speaker 1: He had a horizontal trap door that would instead of

379
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Speaker 1: falling through it, it would shoot him up Nate in an instant,

380
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Speaker 1: and I was, even though it's not like I was

381
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Speaker 1: dying to go to that show, I was. I was

382
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Speaker 1: pretty knocked out.

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Speaker 2: I gotta say, for sure, buddy, you better stand exactly

384
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Speaker 2: where they tell you to stand on that kind of

385
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Speaker 2: trapdoor play.

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Speaker 1: I think, so you don't want to. It went up

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Speaker 1: with some I think I saw behind this of it

388
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Speaker 1: one time. Even it went up with some speed.

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Speaker 2: I'll thought that was fun.

390
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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So one of the things, oh, we didn't mention that

392
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Speaker 2: the like, there were plenty of people who were in

393
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Speaker 2: that ring, including animals, that would have liked to have

394
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Speaker 2: gotten out of that ring. So they prevented this by

395
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Speaker 2: separating the seating area from the arena floor a rather

396
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:26,480
Speaker 2: large stone barrier, twelve foot stone barrier with a bronze

397
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Speaker 2: fence on top of that and then on top of

398
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Speaker 2: that they lined it with elephant tusks, so it do it, yeah,

399
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 2: to get over. But that seating area was like a

400
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Speaker 2: snapshot of social hierarchy in Rome because they had it

401
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,600
Speaker 2: very much divided up socially.

402
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and this, Like reading this, I was kind of like,

403
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Speaker 1: it's sort of exactly how it is today. You've got

404
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:54,400
Speaker 1: your very very special people are sitting courtside. Yeah, down

405
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Speaker 1: there on the hardwood floor, but they can yell at

406
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Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler or Lebron or whoever. Sure, senators families obviously,

407
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Speaker 1: and their guests. They could bring their own folding chairs,

408
00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:07,280
Speaker 1: which is pretty special at the time, I think, sure.

409
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Speaker 1: But they also had their box seats, you know a

410
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Speaker 1: little higher up what would we would call like a

411
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,080
Speaker 1: luxury box today. And this is where you know, usually

412
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Speaker 1: see the emperor and emperor's guests, just just like you

413
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Speaker 1: would today any rich or famous person who has a

414
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Speaker 1: luxury box and their hangers on.

415
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Speaker 2: Right, kit you imagine those senators to just like assert

416
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Speaker 2: their individualism, like bedazzled some of their seats right that

417
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Speaker 2: they brought. Sure, So after that I had not heard

418
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Speaker 2: of this group. There there was a social stratus stratum yeah,

419
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:46,600
Speaker 2: in Rome called it equestrians. Yeah, the equestriane order were

420
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:50,840
Speaker 2: people who had originally served in the cavalry and then

421
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Speaker 2: went on to become extraordinarily prosperous and wealthy business people.

422
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Speaker 2: So there were merchants, tradesmen, bureaucrats, sometimes artisans. And the

423
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 2: reason that they were ticking up the slack for the

424
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,439
Speaker 2: business world in Rome, it is because the Senate was

425
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,479
Speaker 2: forbidden from engaging in business, so didn't want the senators tainted.

426
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Speaker 2: So all of that fell to these equestrians who made

427
00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 2: up that I guess wealthy class, but not senators or

428
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Speaker 2: the emperor.

429
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so they're like in the what you would call

430
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Speaker 1: the one hundred level seats, you move up to the

431
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 1: two hundred level as far as modern arenas go, and

432
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Speaker 1: then you've got your middle class. But within that middle

433
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Speaker 1: class in the coliseum it was subdivided more than three

434
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 1: hundred times for very specific areas, for very specific social groups,

435
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 1: like you know, ambassadors are in this section. If you're

436
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 1: a soldier on leave, you're over here. If you were

437
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:51,359
Speaker 1: a member of some sort of guild, in middle class guild,

438
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 1: then you're sitting over here. And then of course you've

439
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: got your three hundred level those bleeds. It's always been

440
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:00,720
Speaker 1: that way. It'll alway these be this way. You have

441
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:06,240
Speaker 1: the cheap seats, and it's I don't think it's confirmed,

442
00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,240
Speaker 1: but most of these were standing room only at the coliseum.

443
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're just basing that on the fact that they

444
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 2: are so steep and the seats so shallow. It's like

445
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,520
Speaker 2: this has to be standing room only. Yeah. And there

446
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,760
Speaker 2: there were times where, especially during events that the emperor

447
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:26,199
Speaker 2: put on at the coliseum, where you couldn't leave. So

448
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 2: if you're uncomfortable ts you had to stay there and

449
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,480
Speaker 2: watch because the Emperor was putting this on for your benefit.

450
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 1: Who did they ban entirely though? I thought's done this interesting?

451
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, they banned grave diggers actors and former gladiators. And

452
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 2: I'm just high or low for you know what that

453
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,200
Speaker 2: what the reason was. And grave diggers is pretty obvious

454
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,679
Speaker 2: that you know, plenty of societies around the world in

455
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 2: different times have looked upon grave diggers is basically untouchable,

456
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 2: like societies unwanted but incredibly necessary rights. The way you

457
00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:02,119
Speaker 2: treat incredibly necessary people, that's how grave dig have been treated. Actors.

458
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,840
Speaker 2: I saw a stack exchange explanation that said that they

459
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 2: were viewed as like lowly and untrustworthy and dangerous even

460
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,520
Speaker 2: maybe and the former gladiators, I saw that they were

461
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:18,440
Speaker 2: worried that they might attack other people out of revenge

462
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,159
Speaker 2: or something. But the person who gave that answer doubted

463
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,480
Speaker 2: it well after worth with a grain of salt.

464
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, the actress in tracks, just because it's been well

465
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,719
Speaker 1: established that acting as a profession was not something that

466
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 1: was looked kindly upon or to aspire to for most

467
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:35,679
Speaker 1: of its history.

468
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:40,680
Speaker 2: Right, but they were considered lowlier than slaves then because

469
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:42,879
Speaker 2: the slaves were allowed to go sit in the cheap seats,

470
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 2: the actors couldn't even come in. Yeah, it's strange. And

471
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:49,760
Speaker 2: I know that Rome had a much different view of

472
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:54,120
Speaker 2: their slaves than the West African slave trade that started

473
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 2: by the Portuguese in theeenth seventeenth century. That was I know,

474
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 2: it's it's still a lot different, but that's still pretty surprising, right,

475
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,119
Speaker 2: of course, I'm with you, So, Chuck, I mentioned that

476
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:07,960
Speaker 2: you didn't have enough mind to get a pottery shart.

477
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,760
Speaker 2: That wasn't some random weird thing I was saying earlier.

478
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 2: That's actually what the tickets were. They had a gate,

479
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 2: a section, and a seat number inscribed on a little

480
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:16,760
Speaker 2: shard of pottery.

481
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 1: Can you believe that they're I mean, surely you turn

482
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,560
Speaker 1: these things back in, right, I guess.

483
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 2: But I didn't see any examples of any that had survived.

484
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 2: But surely there must be a couple left. As many

485
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 2: events as were held there.

486
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,680
Speaker 1: I can't imagine they carved, you know, fifty plus thousand

487
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 1: of these for every single event that they had, But

488
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: you know, maybe so who knows. It was free to

489
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:40,920
Speaker 1: get in. That's kind of cool. You didn't have to

490
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,640
Speaker 1: pay any money. But they were not just anyone could

491
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,720
Speaker 1: get the tickets. They were very much distributed in this

492
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 1: sort of the same way the seating was very structured

493
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 1: in a hierarchical way. The tickets were distributed thusly as well.

494
00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:58,920
Speaker 1: And you know that's how you got in. You got

495
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 1: in with your little ticket. Your little ticket said what

496
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 1: gate to go in, just like today, to get you

497
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 1: in as quickly as possible. And like you said, they've

498
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,080
Speaker 1: got people out of there, it seems like pretty quickly.

499
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:11,719
Speaker 1: The only reason I said was dubious because anytime they

500
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,320
Speaker 1: say something like very specific like fifteen minutes, and it

501
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 1: was two thousand years ago. I'm always like, who was

502
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:18,479
Speaker 1: timing this back then?

503
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 2: Right, That's why I was going up to eighteen minutes.

504
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I bet it was super speedy.

505
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 2: Though, so one of the other things about it that

506
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 2: comes into play later. It was equipped with water fountains

507
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 2: and flushing toilets, so there was running water that could

508
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 2: reach the coliseum. Yeah, but then your hat for later, okay.

509
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that also means that during the games there

510
00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:47,119
Speaker 1: were drunk dudes at urinals barking out their sports opinions.

511
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:51,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Essentially, some thing's never change, something's never changed.

512
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,280
Speaker 2: So I guess it's finally time we talk about what

513
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 2: exactly went on there, right.

514
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:02,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean when it first opened, Titus, do you

515
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 1: know if if Dad was still around to see it

516
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:05,919
Speaker 1: open at least, or was he dead or was he

517
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:06,760
Speaker 1: just out of power.

518
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,399
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't think they really curious, like

519
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,159
Speaker 2: stepped out of power much before they died, those guys,

520
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 2: the emperors.

521
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:19,200
Speaker 1: But they said, all right, big grand opening. Let's get

522
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: one hundred straight days of action going every single day

523
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,399
Speaker 1: for one hundred days. We're gonna have a big show

524
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,080
Speaker 1: and a show at the coliseum. Was kind of an

525
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:33,240
Speaker 1: all day thing. You know. After that first hundred days,

526
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,000
Speaker 1: it looks like they basically had stuff during the winter

527
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: and then like special events like to celebrate the emperor

528
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: or for big you know, the birthdays and not you know,

529
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 1: just anyan's birthday, but you can rent it out like.

530
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 2: A Jackie Donald or at the coliseum.

531
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 1: That's funny. But the very first thing that would happen

532
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:56,920
Speaker 1: was a procession. It was known as a solemn procession,

533
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 1: had music, sort of religious themes, and then they started

534
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 1: killing animals.

535
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw that they kind of they kind of

536
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 2: I guess justified or you know, put some sort of

537
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 2: veneer of sanctity on this. By this whole thing basically

538
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 2: having religious themes throughout, good for them. So, yes, you're

539
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:20,440
Speaker 2: gonna make me talk about the animals.

540
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 1: Huh, Well, I mean I said they killed animals.

541
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll go into somewhat greater detail. So what they

542
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,320
Speaker 2: would do is they would go procure animals from all

543
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 2: corners of the Roman Empire, some Saharan Africa, Asia. They

544
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 2: would bring in tigers, lions, bear seriously, if they would

545
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 2: bring in elephants, they brought in alligators Rhinocera just anything

546
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 2: you can think of, any massive exotic animal that's deadly.

547
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 2: They went and got a bunch of them and brought

548
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 2: them back for these events, which we should say took

549
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 2: months of planning and a lot of people working on

550
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:06,479
Speaker 2: every single one. They were like, you know, half assed

551
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:10,959
Speaker 2: one off, you know, to like a band in the

552
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,320
Speaker 2: park kind of thing, like this is a this is

553
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 2: like a really huge event, right, Yeah, So I'm really.

554
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,960
Speaker 1: Say one hundred days is just like crazy impressive.

555
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 2: Yes, there really is. So they would take these animals

556
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 2: and then they would they would convert the arena floor

557
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,640
Speaker 2: into something like a jungle with potted plants or shrubs

558
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 2: or something like that, and then they would bring in

559
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 2: either animal handlers or hunters venatois or bistiari who would

560
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,960
Speaker 2: hunt the animals in front of everybody. And it wasn't

561
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 2: like any kind of equal stuff, but the animals did

562
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 2: sometimes kill some of the humans, and apparently the the

563
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 2: spectators just love that kind of thing.

564
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:54,280
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, I mean they brought them in from all

565
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 1: over the world as sort of like a big show

566
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: of hey, look at where we've been, look at how

567
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 1: vast we are. We're not just bringing in local The

568
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:08,640
Speaker 1: cats of Rome. You know, there's kinds of feral cats

569
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: in Rome, unsatisfying. Could you imagine someone getting killed by

570
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 1: one hundred feral cats attacking them though? That'd be pretty fun.

571
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can I can see it now.

572
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,280
Speaker 1: And then sometimes they would have the animals fight one another.

573
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 1: They would match up, you know, a cheetah versus a

574
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,800
Speaker 1: tiger or something like that, sure, or an elephant versus

575
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 1: a rhinoceros.

576
00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 2: I saw a bear versus python. Really yeah, dude, they

577
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 2: got really weird and disgusting.

578
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 1: I wouldn't think that would even work. You can't go

579
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 1: to python into fighting, can you?

580
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 2: I saw it written down on the internet chuck. Yeah,

581
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 2: I can't remember where I saw it, but I think

582
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 2: it was a legit source.

583
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I'm not saying it didn't happen. But did

584
00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:54,960
Speaker 1: you see the Yell review of the performance. No, Python

585
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 1: didn't do much, Bear was disinterested. One star.

586
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 2: Yeah. I wonder like how many of these animals just

587
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 2: didn't fight each other.

588
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 1: Well, and I'm sure they forced them to do whatever,

589
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,440
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure they prodded and goaded them and

590
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 1: you know, injured them and did whatever they had to do. Yeah,

591
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,640
Speaker 1: but they would also just have animal tricks and stuff

592
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,720
Speaker 1: like that, a little more circus like atmosphere at times

593
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: when they weren't killing them or making them kill each other.

594
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 1: So after this is done, enslave people come out and

595
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 1: they clean up hundreds and hundreds of dead animals, and

596
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,000
Speaker 1: I guess rake the sand around to mix the blood

597
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 1: in and sure the guts and make sure everything was

598
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:39,560
Speaker 1: nice and tidy. Sometimes they would butcher the animals and

599
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,000
Speaker 1: give out the meat right there, so you could be

600
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: out there for a show in the early afternoon and

601
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 1: get a lion's thigh to keep there in the arena

602
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:51,120
Speaker 1: for the rest of the day until you can take

603
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 1: it home and die of food poisoning.

604
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,760
Speaker 2: Right, I thought about that too. That is not a

605
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:56,320
Speaker 2: great plan.

606
00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 1: But they sometimes they would feed them real lunch. They

607
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,560
Speaker 1: did have vending places, like what do you call them

608
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 1: concession stands where you could buy stuff, and it was

609
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 1: it was like a modern state em in a lot

610
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 1: of ways.

611
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 2: Again, Yeah, I mean like it's it's so much so

612
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,040
Speaker 2: that I was like, oh, okay, is football and all

613
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:20,120
Speaker 2: like professional sports just all descended from the coliseum And.

614
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 1: How did you sneak in your weed?

615
00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 2: I don't think they had to sneak it in back then.

616
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably so.

617
00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:30,080
Speaker 2: So after that, after they got all the animals cleaned

618
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,360
Speaker 2: up in the sand raked and all that stuff, it

619
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:36,600
Speaker 2: was about noon, and noon was the time for public executions,

620
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 2: because hoy, they would most people think that gladiator battles

621
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 2: were to the death. That was actually infrequent as far

622
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,480
Speaker 2: as gladiator battles, as we'll see, but they gave them

623
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 2: plenty of death of humans with these public executions, and

624
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 2: they would really go to town creating these elaborate deaths

625
00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 2: like this is a person's death, but they would dress

626
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,280
Speaker 2: them up like Icarus and pretend they were flying close

627
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,520
Speaker 2: to the sun and set them on fighter like that

628
00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:04,360
Speaker 2: kind of stuff.

629
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, crucifixions hack you to death with a sword. These

630
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 1: reenact reenactments are just like I had never heard of

631
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:16,560
Speaker 1: that before in my life. I mean, it's bad enough

632
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,000
Speaker 1: to have a public execution, but yeah, then to make

633
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,920
Speaker 1: someone reenact some big famous like story from history where

634
00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 1: the hero dies or whatever, it's just like, it's pretty

635
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 1: unbelievable as far as Christians being fed to the lions go.

636
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:35,680
Speaker 1: That's something that you've heard over and over throughout history.

637
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:40,960
Speaker 1: That surely happened but it wasn't like every single time

638
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 1: the Colosseum had a show they would just throw, you know,

639
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,240
Speaker 1: fifteen Christians out in the middle of a bunch of lions.

640
00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:51,879
Speaker 1: Persecution of Christians in Rome was happened over the course

641
00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 1: of a long time in a lot of places here

642
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:57,400
Speaker 1: and there. But it wasn't like that was what was

643
00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:59,480
Speaker 1: always happening at the coliseum.

644
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:04,400
Speaker 2: Right, But yes they were. They were persecuted and executed

645
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 2: for their for their beliefs, like it did happen. One

646
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 2: that was documented was saying Ignatious of Antioch, and he

647
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:17,000
Speaker 2: was martyred in UH one ten and he was mauled

648
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 2: by animals, like he was torn to pieces by half

649
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,120
Speaker 2: starved wild animals that were released on him. And he

650
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 2: apparently had asked friends in high places not to intercede

651
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 2: on his behalf. And he didn't fight back, by all accounts,

652
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,920
Speaker 2: he just stood there and took it and died. And

653
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 2: that happened a lot like there was a There was

654
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 2: a lot of Christian and Jewish persecution in Rome because

655
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:45,799
Speaker 2: they didn't conform to the Roman mythological beliefs, right right,

656
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:49,600
Speaker 2: They're pantheon of gods and so they and they were

657
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:51,880
Speaker 2: also in the minority, and people on the margins have

658
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 2: always been persecuted. Maybe not fed to the lions, but

659
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,880
Speaker 2: persecuted at least, and Rome was no different.

660
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,240
Speaker 1: Yeah. When I worked in New Jersey at the restaurant

661
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:04,600
Speaker 1: many years ago that I worked at, there was a

662
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,719
Speaker 1: bar tender named Pete. And if a football game was

663
00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 1: on in the bar and you walked by and around, like, hey,

664
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,040
Speaker 1: what's up with the game, he would say, line's ten,

665
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,440
Speaker 1: Christian's nothing. That was like his go to line for

666
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 1: anybody that asked the score.

667
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,840
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I guess two thousand years later, it's not

668
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:21,840
Speaker 2: too soon, right Bright.

669
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 1: He always got to chuckle out of most people, Yeah,

670
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,879
Speaker 1: but probably offended some people. Sure, looking back, I thought

671
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:29,520
Speaker 1: Pete was so old. It's funny. I was twenty five

672
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:31,080
Speaker 1: that that Pete was thirty two.

673
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 2: It is, though, it's so old. When you're in your twenties.

674
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:36,200
Speaker 2: Everybody's still old.

675
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:37,280
Speaker 1: Everybody's so old.

676
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:41,200
Speaker 2: Oh have you seen that that new naporghatsy special.

677
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:42,879
Speaker 1: Uh.

678
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:46,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's talking about being like forty two, and he

679
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,560
Speaker 2: thinks he's still young hanging out with the twenties. Something.

680
00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:51,120
Speaker 2: Some forty five year ol comes over. He's like beat it,

681
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 2: old man. There's a couple of young guys hanging out

682
00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:56,399
Speaker 2: over here. It is good, very good.

683
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 1: He's but then the punchline of that, you're not gonna

684
00:36:59,000 --> 00:36:59,640
Speaker 1: do the punchline?

685
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:01,839
Speaker 2: Remember the punch line. I think I was laughing too

686
00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:02,880
Speaker 2: ardor must not have heard it.

687
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:05,680
Speaker 1: The punch line. He's like, yeah, you and young guys

688
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 1: just hanging out over and then he goes something like uh,

689
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 1: and also maybe let's sit down.

690
00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 2: That's right. That was a good punchline. He's good.

691
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: If you're a Nate Barghetti fan. He was on an

692
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 1: episode of Movie Crush. We talked about the movie Scream.

693
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 2: Oh that's a good, good pick, so go check it out.

694
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 2: You're not a Nate Barghesi fan, goes some of that

695
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:24,799
Speaker 2: and go watch his specials.

696
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, he has blowed up since that Movie Crush appearance.

697
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:29,400
Speaker 2: That's awesome.

698
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:33,760
Speaker 1: He's doing arenas now what Yes, dude, he's doing Phillips

699
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:35,080
Speaker 1: Arena or State Barn Arena.

700
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:35,680
Speaker 2: Wow.

701
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:37,879
Speaker 1: On his next show, it's crazy and it's great.

702
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's going to half a new better guy.

703
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:45,239
Speaker 1: Agreed. Speaking of better guys, maybe we should take a

704
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:47,799
Speaker 1: break work on ourselves a little bit.

705
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 2: Work on our segs and then come back better guys.

706
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 2: All right, Chuck, it's time to talk about gladiators, gladiators, gladiators.

707
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:26,759
Speaker 1: Let's do it.

708
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:28,920
Speaker 2: There's a lot of misconceptions, and we talked about this

709
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,600
Speaker 2: in the Spartakuss episode. We talked about chariot racing and

710
00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:36,200
Speaker 2: gladiator gladiators and stuff like that, and that's that's definitely

711
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 2: worth going to listen to. If this is if you're like, wow,

712
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 2: ancient Rome is fascinating, you want to learn more about it,

713
00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:45,200
Speaker 2: go listen to our Spartakuss episode. But there's a lot

714
00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:48,319
Speaker 2: of misconceptions still, one of which, like I mentioned, is

715
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,400
Speaker 2: that most gladiator battles were fight fights to the death,

716
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,640
Speaker 2: and that's just not how it was, in part because

717
00:38:54,640 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 2: of how gladiators were brought into existence. They were usually criminals,

718
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 2: prisoners of war, not look not not looked highly upon.

719
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 2: That's another big misconception too, that they were like today's

720
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 2: modern mma fighters with all these fans that are like

721
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:16,440
Speaker 2: crazy for them. Not really accurate. But that's not to

722
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,760
Speaker 2: say that some of them didn't make like household names

723
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,719
Speaker 2: of themselves and probably did have some fans, but it's

724
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,920
Speaker 2: just not a really apt analogy. But as I was saying,

725
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,080
Speaker 2: the the reason why you didn't want to fight to

726
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 2: the death is because it took a lot of time

727
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:35,200
Speaker 2: and effort and investment to train a prisoner of war

728
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:38,960
Speaker 2: or a criminal who had been condemned to fight like

729
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:43,840
Speaker 2: well and be a gladiator that successful. So those gladiator

730
00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 2: schools were like, we're gonna regular gladiers. Do not let

731
00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:50,319
Speaker 2: them fight to the death, We want them back rewind

732
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:51,080
Speaker 2: first too.

733
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:58,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, uh yeah, they're they're trying to put a good

734
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 1: product out there because they're charging well they weren't charging money,

735
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:07,320
Speaker 1: I guess, but it was entertainment. And when they're all dying,

736
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 1: then you're just you know, what's going to happen is

737
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:11,160
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it's you know, the B team,

738
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:13,799
Speaker 1: then the C team is out there, right, And so yeah,

739
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,240
Speaker 1: they had a lot of time invested in these guys.

740
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,839
Speaker 1: Uh and I say guys because it was one men,

741
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:24,600
Speaker 1: except for when they occasionally had like, hey, let's bring

742
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:26,600
Speaker 1: some women out here to fight as sort of a

743
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:30,160
Speaker 1: novelty act kind of thing. But the Colosseum opened in

744
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 1: ady A, d and they organized this like everything else

745
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,960
Speaker 1: was organized to the team. You know, Colosseum. Wise, these

746
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:42,440
Speaker 1: these gladiator battles were organized because they also didn't want

747
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:47,440
Speaker 1: to throw in you know, Russell Crowe with you know,

748
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:51,120
Speaker 1: with me, because I would get pummeled and die so

749
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 1: quickly it wouldn't be any fun for anybody. So yeah,

750
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:58,080
Speaker 1: they organized them by experience level, by their skill, maybe

751
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,040
Speaker 1: by how they fought, Like, you don't want a grappler

752
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,720
Speaker 1: in there with a swordsman, although that could be interesting,

753
00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 1: who knows, but they wanted a swordsman against the swordsman.

754
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:10,880
Speaker 1: And then they had they had four different groups, right, yeah.

755
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:15,640
Speaker 2: They had well five. They have Murmillos, which were heavily armored.

756
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 2: They had a full helmet, they had a big old shield,

757
00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:21,600
Speaker 2: they had the gladiator sword that you think of, and

758
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:26,120
Speaker 2: then kind of like Murmillo two point zero or Thraxis,

759
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,120
Speaker 2: where they had a smaller shield and a Thracian sword,

760
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,240
Speaker 2: the curved sword, but were very similar to Murmillo's.

761
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 1: That's right. Then you had the and you were going

762
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:41,319
Speaker 1: to leave this to me Reddiarius nice I guess they

763
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:45,880
Speaker 1: had lighter armor. These guys had a net and a trident,

764
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:47,919
Speaker 1: so there was some sort of a nautical theme going

765
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:50,520
Speaker 1: on so they could like throw a net over someone

766
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 1: and tried it in them in the chest. Then you

767
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:58,560
Speaker 1: had the chariot battlers, the chariot fighters, they were the Esidarius,

768
00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:02,839
Speaker 1: and then finally, what do we have the Hoppolo Maccus.

769
00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:03,680
Speaker 1: Nice job.

770
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:05,799
Speaker 2: I think these are the ones that you think of

771
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,160
Speaker 2: when you when you think of a gladiator. They had

772
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 2: a helmet that had a plume on it. They had

773
00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:12,319
Speaker 2: a spear, they had a short sword, they had a

774
00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:16,480
Speaker 2: small round shield. I think they had like the shoulder armor. Okay,

775
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,160
Speaker 2: pretty sure that's what Russell Crow would have been a gladiator.

776
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:21,400
Speaker 1: I haven't seen I saw that once back then. I

777
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:22,319
Speaker 1: haven't seen it since then.

778
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:24,880
Speaker 2: I think I've seen it twice, but it's been a

779
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:27,080
Speaker 2: while for sure. Yeah. I think it was on TNT

780
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:28,720
Speaker 2: once when I was watching TNT.

781
00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:30,640
Speaker 1: I think I thought it was pretty good back then.

782
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:32,959
Speaker 2: But they would so like you said, they would, they

783
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,759
Speaker 2: sometimes they would they'd put a Hoppolo Maccus against a

784
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,120
Speaker 2: Ruddiarius or something like that, just to see what happened

785
00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:40,880
Speaker 2: with one guy with a net and another guy with

786
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:44,600
Speaker 2: a spear, you know, So they would have them fight

787
00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:46,799
Speaker 2: like that. But like you were saying, they they did

788
00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,919
Speaker 2: line them up according to skill level. And one thing

789
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:56,200
Speaker 2: that bears mentioning so that the events of the coliseum

790
00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:59,840
Speaker 2: were free, but the gladiator school still charged whoever was

791
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:04,120
Speaker 2: on the event or sponsoring the event for renting the gladiators.

792
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, how did the money work if they weren't making

793
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,399
Speaker 1: any money? Did the state just fund it all?

794
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:14,439
Speaker 2: Yes? Either so, holding an event at the coliseum free

795
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:17,480
Speaker 2: to everybody who could get a ticket fifty thousand people

796
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,399
Speaker 2: was a really good way of showing everybody how incredibly

797
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:22,040
Speaker 2: wealthy you.

798
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:25,520
Speaker 1: Were, right or because he collected so many taxes.

799
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:28,960
Speaker 2: Pretty much, or if you were the emperor himself. It

800
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 2: was a way of it was like a gift to

801
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:33,400
Speaker 2: the citizen. Why it's a way to keep them like

802
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:36,319
Speaker 2: kind of sedated in line like TV today. It's the

803
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 2: exact same premise from the emperor's perspective, but it was

804
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:44,560
Speaker 2: also a way to like generate belovedness and adoration from

805
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 2: the populace by putting on a really good event at

806
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:48,440
Speaker 2: the coliseum.

807
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:52,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd be curious about and we probably will never

808
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:54,880
Speaker 1: know these specifics, but coming from a world of like

809
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:57,680
Speaker 1: TV and film production, I would love to know how

810
00:43:57,680 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 1: it literally worked. As a production, like a big production

811
00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:04,440
Speaker 1: like this, with budgets and production managers essentially whatever they

812
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,080
Speaker 1: called them. Yeah, I mean they had to have people

813
00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 1: doing all that, and I'm sure there were fights over

814
00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:11,839
Speaker 1: you know, what they could afford and what they couldn't. Yeah,

815
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:14,800
Speaker 1: like how much money did that got to have that elephant?

816
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:15,520
Speaker 2: Exactly?

817
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:17,759
Speaker 1: So he tried it out. Alligators three days in a row.

818
00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:20,080
Speaker 1: I can't get another alligator in there.

819
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:22,120
Speaker 2: We have ninety seven more days to go.

820
00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:23,720
Speaker 1: Wow, amazing.

821
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:28,479
Speaker 2: So I said that the gladiator battles have been around

822
00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:30,279
Speaker 2: for a while by the time the Colosseum has built,

823
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:32,320
Speaker 2: been around for at least three hundred years. They started

824
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:34,879
Speaker 2: out as part of funeral games, and everybody was like, well,

825
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:37,359
Speaker 2: we like this, so it kind of became like a

826
00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:40,880
Speaker 2: thing that wasn't just part of funerals, right, Yeah, and

827
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:47,200
Speaker 2: some I said, some gladiators were like well known, And

828
00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 2: there was one who might have been the most well

829
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:52,720
Speaker 2: known of all time. His name was Flamma the Flame,

830
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,960
Speaker 2: and apparently he was a captured Syrian soldier.

831
00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:00,359
Speaker 1: Did they call him play my jama don't?

832
00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:05,440
Speaker 2: Surely somebody did. Okay, we are from now on. Yeah,

833
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,640
Speaker 2: So he turned down his freedom three different times they

834
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:11,360
Speaker 2: would offer you your freedom by giving you a rudies,

835
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:15,000
Speaker 2: a wooden sword that was symbolic of your transition back

836
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 2: into normal society. Three times he turned it down and

837
00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 2: finally died in a battle at age thirty five. And

838
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,600
Speaker 2: it's blong been considered that he was, you know, just

839
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:27,359
Speaker 2: in it for the money or the glory or the fame.

840
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 2: But somebody I read suggested that he was doing it

841
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:37,280
Speaker 2: because he was trying to stand for his culture, because

842
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:41,640
Speaker 2: the Romans viewed Syrians very lowly, very cowardly, and Flamma,

843
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:45,879
Speaker 2: the Syrian soldier, is like the greatest gladiator in all

844
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:49,040
Speaker 2: of Rome. So they suggested that that might be why

845
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:49,880
Speaker 2: he kept fighting.

846
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:53,640
Speaker 1: So flamm and Jamma was like, I'm not taking that wooden.

847
00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:57,319
Speaker 2: Sword exactly, he can, that's right.

848
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:01,520
Speaker 1: There was also an emperor who got involved a gladiator

849
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:06,280
Speaker 1: style Kommodis, who was a real piece of doo doo.

850
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,799
Speaker 1: He rained from one eighty to one ninety two, and

851
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:14,080
Speaker 1: you know it was he didn't really fight people. He

852
00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 1: would go out there, you know, to boost his own ego,

853
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,759
Speaker 1: apparently hundreds and hundreds of times as a quote unquote gladiator.

854
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:24,399
Speaker 1: But you know, they would submit to him immediately, or

855
00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:27,439
Speaker 1: they would submit to them and he would just murder them.

856
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:32,480
Speaker 1: He had like people with disabilities out there dressed up

857
00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:36,680
Speaker 1: as monsters with sponges painted like rocks, you know that,

858
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:40,600
Speaker 1: supposedly throwing at him, and he would hunt them with arrows.

859
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,840
Speaker 1: He would come out in public with their blood smeared

860
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:50,040
Speaker 1: on him. He would kill animals. He was just a

861
00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:54,640
Speaker 1: real awful human being. There's one story where he supposedly

862
00:46:54,680 --> 00:47:00,439
Speaker 1: shot one hundred bears in one morning. Yeah, and he

863
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 1: was terrible.

864
00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:04,920
Speaker 2: Yeah. To make it even worse, he would charge the

865
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:08,759
Speaker 2: Roman treasury twenty five thousand pieces of silver per appearance

866
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:12,399
Speaker 2: that he said, I'm going to appear, and so give

867
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:15,480
Speaker 2: me twenty five thousand pieces of silver. And then there's

868
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:17,640
Speaker 2: one other thing that I want to mention, because the

869
00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 2: Colosseum eventually started to crumble, as we'll talk about in

870
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,759
Speaker 2: a second, but during its heyday and possibly toward the

871
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:28,640
Speaker 2: beginning of it, the air contemporary accounts of filling the

872
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:32,760
Speaker 2: Colisseum with water five or six feet deep, putting ships

873
00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:35,839
Speaker 2: in there, and staging mock naval battles. I'm pretty sure

874
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,040
Speaker 2: we talked about that in the Spartacus episode. Or some

875
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:42,520
Speaker 2: other episode because it's really familiar. Ye may have happened.

876
00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:46,160
Speaker 2: It definitely happened in an artificial lake meat outside of

877
00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:49,680
Speaker 2: the Colisseum. But these some of these contemporary accounts are like, no, no,

878
00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:51,680
Speaker 2: we're talking about the Colisseum itself.

879
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what my bet is is that they

880
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:58,680
Speaker 1: did it at least once in the Colisseum. And we're like,

881
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:04,200
Speaker 1: this is what do they call them? Nomachias? Nomachias? Yeah,

882
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:07,080
Speaker 1: that they would that. They were like, we should build

883
00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,040
Speaker 1: our own place to do this, and they built one

884
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:12,960
Speaker 1: near the Tiber River that was exclusively for these mocker

885
00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:16,040
Speaker 1: naval battles because I think the Colisseum was probably problematic.

886
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:16,880
Speaker 1: That would be my guess.

887
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:20,640
Speaker 2: I think you're a historian now, but you can stop

888
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:23,480
Speaker 2: holding on to that fact that there was running water

889
00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:26,319
Speaker 2: that could make it to the Colosseum. Everybody, that's right,

890
00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:29,080
Speaker 2: So I said, the Colosseum started to crumble.

891
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:33,719
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I mean quite literally and metaphorically. You know,

892
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:36,840
Speaker 1: when the rise of the Christian Church in Rome, obviously

893
00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:39,040
Speaker 1: they would come along and say this kind of brutality

894
00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:43,960
Speaker 1: can't stand. The decline of the Roman Empire period and

895
00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:45,920
Speaker 1: you know, people weren't as into this stuff it was.

896
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:48,120
Speaker 1: It was a moment in time that it was super

897
00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:52,040
Speaker 1: popular and like anything, yeah four hundred, your moment in time.

898
00:48:52,520 --> 00:48:56,920
Speaker 1: But that would wane, and the first earthquake hit in

899
00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:00,560
Speaker 1: four forty three, which damaged it, but it still being

900
00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:03,879
Speaker 1: used like as an amphitheater I think, you know, into

901
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:08,800
Speaker 1: the sixth century, and then the medieval period comes along

902
00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:12,439
Speaker 1: and for about five hundred years they made it into

903
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:16,320
Speaker 1: sort of like a like a live work play space.

904
00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:21,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, with shops, warehouses, the common area, the arena

905
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:24,399
Speaker 2: floor became a common area and then it got hit

906
00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:29,960
Speaker 2: by an earthquake again in thirteen forty nine and the

907
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:34,360
Speaker 2: structure collapsed partially and it ended up becoming like a

908
00:49:34,560 --> 00:49:38,160
Speaker 2: stripped for parts. A lot of people scavenge stone from

909
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:40,840
Speaker 2: it and other kind of works, including our works. But

910
00:49:40,920 --> 00:49:43,799
Speaker 2: also they used it for like building materials too, and

911
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:46,319
Speaker 2: they used some of this at the direction of the

912
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:49,160
Speaker 2: various popes over the years because they would take in

913
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:53,360
Speaker 2: and build Christian churches and cathedrals with this. So because

914
00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:57,000
Speaker 2: so much of the Colisseum have been used to build churches,

915
00:49:57,440 --> 00:50:01,200
Speaker 2: and because so many Christians have been killed there, the

916
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:06,319
Speaker 2: coliseum itself became kind of a Catholic holy place and

917
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:08,920
Speaker 2: became an official holy place in seventeen forty nine when

918
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:12,600
Speaker 2: Pope Benedict the fourteenth blessed it. He said, this is

919
00:50:12,680 --> 00:50:16,759
Speaker 2: now a Christian holy site, and that protected it from

920
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:20,000
Speaker 2: any more pillaging or destruction and actually led to some

921
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:21,920
Speaker 2: early restoration projects.

922
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:24,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they started to get to work on it

923
00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:27,239
Speaker 1: to protect it a little more. After the unification of

924
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:30,920
Speaker 1: Italy in eighteen seventy it became you know, a legit

925
00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:36,040
Speaker 1: national monument. They you know, of course, Mussolini comes along

926
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:41,320
Speaker 1: and fully uncovers the how'd you pronounce that hypogeum?

927
00:50:41,560 --> 00:50:42,319
Speaker 2: That's where I'm going.

928
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:48,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, further rebuilt it, further stabilized it,

929
00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:50,200
Speaker 1: brought out some of the you know, restored some of

930
00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:52,799
Speaker 1: the history for sure, and then you know, I think

931
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:56,080
Speaker 1: it wasn't until like the late twentieth century that it,

932
00:50:56,600 --> 00:51:00,200
Speaker 1: you know, modern restoration, like really nice techniques came along

933
00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:03,680
Speaker 1: to make sure that it was not only safe for tourists,

934
00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:08,240
Speaker 1: but like a robust place to you know, keep making

935
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:10,600
Speaker 1: money off of or not keep But I guess, you know,

936
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:12,400
Speaker 1: for some of the first times making money.

937
00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:15,880
Speaker 2: Off Yes, some people consider it the greatest tourist traction

938
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:19,680
Speaker 2: of Rome. Apparently it brings in six million visitors a year,

939
00:51:19,760 --> 00:51:22,000
Speaker 2: and I think there were six million people there when you,

940
00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:22,719
Speaker 2: me and I went.

941
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:24,960
Speaker 1: That's a lot of people.

942
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:26,280
Speaker 2: It is a lot.

943
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:28,200
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why I didn't go in.

944
00:51:28,880 --> 00:51:31,319
Speaker 2: It's it's very neat. Though we didn't make it down

945
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:33,520
Speaker 2: to the Hypogium. I don't know if it was open

946
00:51:33,640 --> 00:51:36,160
Speaker 2: yet for visitors. Yeah, no, twenty twenty one. No, we

947
00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:38,680
Speaker 2: definitely weren't able to. I would like to go back

948
00:51:38,719 --> 00:51:39,479
Speaker 2: and go down there.

949
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:42,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got to pay to go in this time.

950
00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:44,960
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll cover your admission. How about that?

951
00:51:45,960 --> 00:51:46,279
Speaker 1: Thank you?

952
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:49,399
Speaker 2: Well, since Chuck thanked me everybody, that means it's time

953
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:50,280
Speaker 2: for listener mail.

954
00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:56,640
Speaker 1: This is a good one. This is about skydiving. It's like, hey, guys,

955
00:51:56,680 --> 00:51:59,440
Speaker 1: got a good story. I took my boyfriend now husband

956
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:03,160
Speaker 1: and skydiving for his thirty second birthday about ten years

957
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:06,480
Speaker 1: ago in New England and had gone once before, so

958
00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:08,600
Speaker 1: the nerves were gone. But I was just full of

959
00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:11,920
Speaker 1: pure excitement and adrenaline. I was in the middle of

960
00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:15,960
Speaker 1: having my front tooth replaced. Do you see where this

961
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:16,919
Speaker 1: is going yet? No?

962
00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:17,319
Speaker 2: No, yet?

963
00:52:17,560 --> 00:52:19,879
Speaker 1: And I had a flipper retainer. Do you see where

964
00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:20,560
Speaker 1: this is going yet?

965
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:21,680
Speaker 2: No? No yet?

966
00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:24,880
Speaker 1: Okay, Chuck, I think you went through this experience. Of course.

967
00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:27,680
Speaker 1: I remember the flipper retainer. I asked the staff if

968
00:52:27,719 --> 00:52:29,360
Speaker 1: I should remove it, but they said, no, it's pretty

969
00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:31,959
Speaker 1: snug in there. You'll be fine. I was feeling vain

970
00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:36,200
Speaker 1: and didn't want my toothless face in the video. And

971
00:52:36,239 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 1: guess what happened during the free fall. I was a

972
00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:41,400
Speaker 1: little frustrated by needing to interact and entertain to the camera,

973
00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 1: and I really wanted to just enjoy the moment, so

974
00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:46,319
Speaker 1: half jokingly, I blew a kiss and flipped a bird

975
00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:49,400
Speaker 1: at the cameraman. As instant karma would have it, my

976
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:53,000
Speaker 1: faith tooth flew out. Had panicked and motioned to the

977
00:52:53,040 --> 00:52:55,560
Speaker 1: gap in my mouth to the cameraman, and he just

978
00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:58,960
Speaker 1: gave the thumbs up. All good, And I remember thinking, no,

979
00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:02,880
Speaker 1: not all good. This just got so much more expensive

980
00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:05,160
Speaker 1: and I have no tooth. And you can even see

981
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:07,600
Speaker 1: me sort of looking around for it in midfall.

982
00:53:07,239 --> 00:53:08,800
Speaker 2: Which I did not see that coming.

983
00:53:10,280 --> 00:53:12,840
Speaker 1: I hope it would be magically floating next to me

984
00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:17,400
Speaker 1: because I plumbled to the earth. I just say plummeled.

985
00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:19,719
Speaker 1: I think that's pummeled and plummeted at the same time.

986
00:53:20,080 --> 00:53:22,160
Speaker 2: I think that's a great new word. Jesus made.

987
00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:26,000
Speaker 1: Not my smartest moment, but desperation took over. And this

988
00:53:26,040 --> 00:53:29,720
Speaker 1: is from Aaron Bogan, and Aaron sent the video which

989
00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:33,040
Speaker 1: is on YouTube, and it's very funny.

990
00:53:32,719 --> 00:53:33,799
Speaker 2: To watch airs.

991
00:53:34,280 --> 00:53:36,000
Speaker 1: You can't see the tooth fly out, but you see

992
00:53:36,040 --> 00:53:41,479
Speaker 1: immediately Aaron grab her mouth and motion around and sort

993
00:53:41,480 --> 00:53:44,400
Speaker 1: of looking around, and it's just very funny. So let

994
00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:47,520
Speaker 1: me see if I can even find how you would skydive.

995
00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:53,799
Speaker 1: New England presents colon Aaron's skydive from nine years ago

996
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:56,120
Speaker 1: and it's got five hundred and seventy three views, two

997
00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:59,279
Speaker 1: of which were mine, So maybe we could make Aeron

998
00:53:59,280 --> 00:53:59,960
Speaker 1: a little more famous.

999
00:54:00,239 --> 00:54:02,880
Speaker 2: Take care, thanks a lot, Aaron. That was a indeed

1000
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:05,360
Speaker 2: Chuck like Chuck said a good email. Thank you for that.

1001
00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:08,439
Speaker 2: Sorry that happened, but at least you got a great

1002
00:54:08,480 --> 00:54:10,279
Speaker 2: story out of it. And if you want to be

1003
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:12,480
Speaker 2: like Aaron and tell us one of your great stories,

1004
00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:14,319
Speaker 2: we want to hear it. You can send it to

1005
00:54:14,400 --> 00:54:20,160
Speaker 2: us via email at Stuff podcast at iHeartRadio dot com.

1006
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:23,920
Speaker 1: Stuff you should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For

1007
00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:28,200
Speaker 1: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

1008
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:30,160
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.