WEBVTT - The Colosseum 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:10.440 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.600 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.079 Chuck and Jerry's here too, and this is stuff you 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:17.600 should know as always. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:19.959 Thanks ever, Chuck. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.439 I think we just broke our record for earliest edit 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:25.440 and that came quick. 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:28.560 You cleared your throat, and we for some reason are 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.040 cutting it out because it's not good stuff. 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:32.639 Well I want to hear that, do they? 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.560 I don't know. Maybe weird and you're fifteen. We've established 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:38.199 our unprofessional qualities. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:43.479 True, it is true. Speaking of unprofessional qualities, you know 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.480 who is terrible? Some of these emperors. 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.120 Very nice segue. Have you ever been to the coliseum? 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:51.760 You have right? 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:53.040 Yes, it's amazing. 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:55.120 Did you go into it? 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:55.840 Yes? 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:00.440 I didn't go into it. I walked around it. And 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.639 you know, this was my big European jaunt was when 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:07.640 I was broke and backpacking. So like my friend and 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:09.480 I did the best we could we but we did 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.479 walk outside of a lot of structures that many other 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:13.479 people pay to get into. 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.319 You didn't have money for a pottery shard. 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:18.360 No, we had no do to get in these places. 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.560 But it's just a wonder to walk around, and I mean, 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:23.759 that's what I love about Rome is just seeing Yeah, 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.480 seeing stuff that old is just really humbling and cool. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.520 Rome is one of the very few cities that I've 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:30.720 visited and been like, I could totally live here. 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:31.840 Oh really. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:33.760 Yeah. It's a knee town for sure. And part of 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:35.920 it is because you just be walking along and all 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.360 of a sudden the wall is suddenly three thousand years old. 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:42.959 You know. It's just like that kind of place, like 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.440 everything's just kind of built up on top of everything else, 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.240 but stuff has been preserved or accidentally exposed. It's just 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.400 a really neat tone. I loved it for sure. 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.960 Yeah. And boy, just how good looking is everybody? 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.480 Yeah? Those Italians they know what they're doing. 0:01:57.600 --> 0:01:59.960 When they were oh man, I was like, ooh, I'm 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.320 in love with her and her and I might be 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.640 gay look at that guy they are. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:06.320 They are a good looking bunch for sure. 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.799 All of them are just so attractive, Like the in 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.520 on a Friday night at the Spanish Steps. It's just like, 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.480 how many good looking, dark haired people can you get 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:16.400 together in one spot? 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:21.960 Chuck. I think like our our most dedicated listeners know 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.400 that you're just buttering up the Italians because you're going 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.079 to be busting out some Italian accents. You don't want 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:28.760 them to be mad at you, or I should say, 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:30.000 all oiling them up. 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:33.960 Very nice. That's a good one. 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:35.680 I don't know if that was nice or good, but 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:37.320 I appreciate the kudos. 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.840 Yeah, but we're talking Colisseum and it's interesting to me 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.160 how like and you might have gotten all this stuff 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.200 from the tour, but I was just kind of knocked 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:51.000 out in this article Lvia put together of how how 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.239 sort of modern like modern stadium going experience. 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:58.480 It felt like, yeah, and actually there's there was one 0:02:58.480 --> 0:02:59.919 fact that stood out to me. I was like, well, 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:06.600 they've got current stadiums beat oh boy, Supposedly the packed 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.760 cheek to jowl you could fit eighty seven thousand people 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.880 in there and the whole place could be emptied or 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:19.519 filled within fifteen minutes because the circulation was that beautifully engineered. 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.040 Yeah, I think that's a slightly dubious claim. 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:24.720 But okay, I bet it's seventeen. 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.240 Well, I bet it was quick and like nothing like 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:29.120 it is today and. 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.360 Eighteen and I'm not going any higher than that. 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.080 Well, and back then, you would you know, you would 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.160 just walk back to your place or take a mule 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:42.320 or something like, you know, post traffic experiences near American 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.400 stadiums or the stuff of the legend. 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.520 It's awful, yes, for sure. 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.200 But parking decks the worst thing ever invented. 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.840 They're pretty bad. They're awful, Yes, it's true. And do 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:54.480 you know it's going to get a lot worse. They're 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:59.480 developing that whole area that like kind of no man's lane. 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.440 It's like old tring tracks and abandoned stuff in between 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.920 State Farm Arena and Mercedes Benz Stadium. 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:08.240 Yeah, oh yeah, the gulch. 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.280 Yes, they're they're they're developing that. So it's just gonna 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.000 get a million times worse down there. They should just 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.279 set up helicopter service and drop people in. 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.240 Well, I think what they're doing is trying to be like, hey, 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:21.320 don't jump in your car, just go hang out at 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.920 a bar restaurant, like there's gonna be stuff to do there. 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:27.920 Yeah, because there's not right now. 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:29.960 No, there's not much, not a whole lot. 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:32.920 There's some cool hotels down there, but they're kind of. 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:34.000 Time coming around a little bit. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.680 Yeah for sure. So, but we're not talking about downtown 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.080 Lan and everybody who to your horses. We're talking about 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.599 the coliseum. Like you said, that was just kind of 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.559 one fact, and I'm calling it a back chuck your 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.240 your Yeah, I guess you're poop puing in a little bit, 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:52.520 which is fine. We can agree to disagree on that, 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.680 and I think you're probably right. But still it is. 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:59.360 It kind of underscores how everybody in history has looked 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.880 back at the call is just this marvel of engineering 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.599 and a design and architecture. It was built in like 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:11.600 eight years, astoundingly enough, and it's survived earthquakes and all 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.280 sorts of terrible catastrophes, and it's still standing in a 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.760 lot pretty good shape considering how old it is two 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:23.080 thousand years. But what I didn't know when I was there, 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.479 I knew, but it didn't really sink in. It is 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.080 one of the most despicable places ever built in the 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:31.920 history of Western civilization. 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:34.400 Yeah, yeah, I mean, we're going to get into the 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.479 stuff that went on there. It's you know, it wasn't 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:39.800 like the history of the Globe Theater or anything like that, 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:40.440 you know. 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.039 No, it was much bloodier. Because everyone knows well, yes, 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.719 the gladiators fought at the Colisseum I've seen that Russell 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:50.440 Crowe movie. True, but it was much much worse than 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.640 even that, and that was pretty bad. But like you said, 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:55.320 we'll get into it. Let's talk about the actual Colosseum 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:56.880 and where it came from first, how about that. 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.560 Yeah, so you know, there's a long history of theaters 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:04.360 period in the world. The Colisseum certainly was not the first, 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:08.320 but it was one of the first, you know, built 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:15.520 in stone concrete amphitheaters. And if you're confused, like I was, 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:20.120 the term amphitheater these days can can just mean a 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.640 you know, a big concert venue. It doesn't necessarily mean 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:28.440 it is just a round thing, right, because most things 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.719 called an amphitheater day are the kind that were not 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:34.919 like they wouldn't have used that term back then because 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.479 they weren't fully encircled. It's like it's a theater like 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.039 the Hollywood Bowl or something. You've got a stage and 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:42.600 then the seats are sort of built in a big 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.920 hill in a semicircle like those are called amphitheaters now, 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:51.279 but technically amphi means around, and so it was these 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.640 were the first theaters to be built all the way 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.960 around whatever performance was going on. 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:00.840 Yeah, totally and like today's amphitheaters are much more like 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:04.720 the old theaters, which are exactly what you described as. 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:06.760 Like if you go to amphitheater, you can understand what 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:10.120 a theater was in Greece and ancient Rome, and back 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:14.920 in the day, the Roman Senate decided that having these 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.720 venues permanent as permanent structures was decadent, so there was 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:24.360 a ban on building permanent theaters and amphitheaters. But that 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.640 doesn't mean that the ones that they built that were 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:31.560 temporary weren't incredibly elaborate. Sure, our good friend Pliny mentions 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:36.800 one wooden temporary theater in Rome. I believe that had 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:42.120 three stories of columns, three thousand bronze statues, and they 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.200 gave out free bobbleheads of nero when you came in. 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:48.760 What's up with planning all over the place the past 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:49.360 few years? 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.080 Like, if you're a historian took especially of that era, 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.160 you are so happy that that man lived because he 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.160 sat down and said, you know what, I'm gonna write 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.240 all this down for I'm sure people who come later 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.200 are going to want to know what we were doing 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.160 at this time. And sure, no because of planting. 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.080 I guess we've just done more topics. I just feel 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.480 like we went I mean, he's the new fighter flight 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:12.080 for us. 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.760 Yeah, he really is totally So, like. 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:19.400 We said, there were stone amphitheaters. The first one ever, 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.440 I believe was in Pompeii, the very awesome and famous 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.280 Pink Floyd Liva Pompei concert was full near so kind 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.600 of nobody, which is a very cool, strange thing to do. 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:36.360 And then finally get we get Nero as emperor, and 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.760 he was around during the Great Fire of sixty four 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.800 where a lot of the wooden stuff obviously went away, 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:47.880 including wooden amphitheaters in Rome, and Nero was able to say, like, 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.160 all right, you know, I'm going to rebuild a lot 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.960 of stuff and put my stamp on Rome, but I'm 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:58.120 not He didn't get around to building an amphitheater before 0:08:58.640 --> 0:08:59.319 he went. 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.720 Away, No he didn't. And it was a big deal 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.120 that the amphitheater in Rome, the temporary one, was burned 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:12.800 down because already gladiator battles had been firmly established in 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.960 the popular culture. So all of a sudden you had 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.920 like people who couldn't go to like, you know, the 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:24.160 local blood sport event, and like vent all of their 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.880 frustrations and not you know, stage an uprising against you 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.240 as the emperor. So it's something you would want to have. 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:34.760 But because of that fire, a lot of people still 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.199 to this day blamed Nero for starting the fire because 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.440 he rebuilt such opulent monuments to himself on the rubble 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:46.040 of Rome. Anyway, he eventually was toppled by a coup. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.720 He died by suicide, and that left open a power 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:55.200 vacuum that was filled within one year. I think Rome 0:09:55.280 --> 0:10:00.240 had something like three different no, four different emperors because 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.040 a little civil war started, and the guy who emerged 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:08.840 successfully was the first emperor of the Flavian dynasty, Vespasian. 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:14.600 Vespasian very nice, yeah, he and you know, he took 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:16.480 a look around. He had a couple of kids, a 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:22.560 couple of sons, notably Titus and I guess Domaitian I think, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:26.840 so okay, and he got them established as successor. So 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.440 he was pretty firmly rooted at this point. And he 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.319 was like, you know, Nero came in and tried to, well, 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.800 not try to very successfully, built a lot of monuments 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.360 to himself, kind of put his own stamp on Rome. 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.679 Like Chuck will mention earlier, in the podcast many years 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:45.680 from now, and I want to put my stamp on 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.120 this thing, and so I'm going to build my own 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:54.160 sort of huge colossus theater. He didn't say that because 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.080 we'll talk about where the name came from in a second. 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:00.720 But his son had been out, you know, active as 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.120 a military leader. I believe it was Titus. Yeah, for 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.480 the siege of Jerusalem. Came back with a lot of 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:11.120 war spoils, and so basically, you know, I've got all 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.920 this money now besides raising taxes and claiming public land 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:19.079 and doing you know, basically whatever Vespasian wanted as far 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.680 as building infrastructure and probably monuments to himself. Sure, he said, 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.079 now I've got these war spoils, so I can build 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.360 like a proper concrete, permanent stone amphitheater. 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.800 Yeah, the first one in Rome. And Vespasian was already 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.880 pretty beloved. He was a really popular general, successful general. 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.840 He was popular with the Senate. So when he became emperor, 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.199 everybody was like, okay, this is cool. But he really 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.559 won everybody over because Nero had been taking all of 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.400 Rome's money and spending it on monuments to himself and 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.199 like this enormous multi acre I think like one hundred 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:58.960 and fifty acre house called the Golden House, and Vespasian 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.520 did the opposite. Yeah, he built some monuments to himself, 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:03.640 but he also built a lot of public monuments. And 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.280 that's what the Colosseum was. It was a gift to 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:10.080 the citizens of Rome. Like remember that kreuddy wooden temporary theater. 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.480 Remember how the Senate banned temporary theaters. Here is your 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:18.120 first state of the art, permanent amphitheater that you are 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.480 going to watch so many people murdered and it's going 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:21.920 to just knock your socks. 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.760 Off, that's right. Had a very crass joke that I'm 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.560 going to keep to myself, okay, because this is a 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.040 family show, but tell me later. I'll tell you later, 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.080 all right. And he was so sort of take this 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.640 anarro that he built the Colosseum on the site where 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:40.559 that estate was where Nero lived domus Aria. 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:42.959 That's the Golden House, that's right. 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.559 That was the land on which the Golden House sat, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.120 and the lake that was built there. There was this 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.800 artificial pond, so like I'm going to fill that up 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.360 even and really just sort of eraise in Neuro's legacy 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.800 as much as possible and can you tell him where 0:12:57.840 --> 0:12:59.920 the name Colosseum may have come from. 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:04.760 Apparently there was like a hundred something foot tall nude 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.960 statue of Nero and rather than it was bronze, and 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.960 rather than melted down and reuse it, they put it 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.240 up and they propped it up in front of the Colosseum. 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.640 So that was the Amphitheater that had the colossus of 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:22.040 Nero or the Colosseum. It's like museum but with coloss. 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:23.959 Right, But they didn't pronounce it colossium. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:25.679 No, they called it like the Amphitheater. 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.520 Yeah, no one said colisseum until later. No one's ever 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:29.760 said colossum except for me. 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:31.680 Yeah, you have never really threw me off before we 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:32.720 started recording. 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:35.880 All right, I say we take a break, okay, and 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.560 then we come back and talk about the building itself. 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:14.359 All right, we're back. We're talking coliseum, big theater, stadium, 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.200 outdoor arena, whatever you want to call it. Amphitheater in 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:20.960 ancient Rome. If you're talking about the building itself, it 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.120 is six one hundred and twenty by five hundred and 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.280 thirteen feet one hundred and fifty seven feet tall, which 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:31.480 about fifteen stories. Obviously, we mentioned it was made of 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.800 mostly concrete, but that's, you know, sort of the structure. 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.280 There was also about three and a half a million 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:42.479 cubic feet of stuff like wood, of course, travertine, marble, stone. 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.880 And the reason why you mentioned the coliseum is still 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:50.080 largely standing through earthquakes and such two thousand plus years 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:53.600 later is because this thing was built on wetlands. So 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:57.120 they had to go very very deep with this concrete 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.760 with their foundation, and that's what you get two thousand 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:01.800 years later, it's still going. 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.800 Yeah. There's a historian of ancient Rome named Garrett Ryan 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.080 has got a blog called Told in Stone, and he 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.520 said that they built facing walls ten feet thick on 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.320 each side that supported a ring of concrete foundation that 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.480 they poured one hundred feet wide and forty feet deep. 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:21.560 That's what the Colisseum is built on them. 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.680 I wonder what the ancient recipe for concrete was. 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.120 Funny enough, I kind of looked that up because Roman 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:32.200 concrete is very famous because it's still standing in modern 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.800 concrete can crumble in a matter of decades, right, So 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.680 the Romans kind of had us beat. And they figured 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:41.120 out that it was because they mixed quicklimb in at 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:46.080 really high temperatures, and it created this chemical reaction that 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.240 was still kind of buzzing after the stuff was poured, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.160 so that it would cure much more quickly and solidly. 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:53.680 That's what they think it was. 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.200 So just the heat they heated up that quick crete. 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:58.880 The heat, my god, the heat. 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:02.960 If you love columns, you would be delighted with the 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:06.160 Colisseum because there's a lot of columns and they go 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:11.160 in order from lowly to I guess the most revered, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:13.920 as they start with a Doric style at the bottom, 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.200 move on up to the ionic on the second level, 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.360 and then finally, of course you get to the very 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:24.600 fancy Corinthian columns on the top. And they even had 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:29.000 a little, not a little, a pretty sizable retractable awningeah 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.600 that went all the way around it. And if you've 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:36.160 ever been to the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, it 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.080 sort of is like that, where there's a circle in 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.400 the ceiling in Atlanta, of course that opens in huts 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.600 like a camera shutter wood or I guess an old 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.480 film camera shutter wood. So in Atlanta it has a 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.960 circle around above like to where the field could possibly 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:56.520 get rained on. Of course, they don't open it when 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.600 it's going to rain, sure, but all the humans are covered. 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:01.440 And that was the same deal as there was a 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.480 circle in the center that always stayed open because you know, 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:06.679 they didn't have retractable roofs, but they did have a 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.120 retractable partial awning to keep everyone else dry. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:13.520 Yeah, and then the so the building was huge. The 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.600 actual like floor, the ground that the action took place 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.760 on the arena floor, it was an oval shape of 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.480 two hundred and seventy two by one hundred and fifty seven. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:24.679 Feet the sandbox. 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.360 Yeah, it was covered insand because they would soak up 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.320 like blood and they needed it because a lot of 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.040 blood was spilled there. And like I said, it took 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:38.760 eight years to build, and apparently it was finally dedicated 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:44.840 under Emperor Titus Vespasian son under his watch, and he 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.600 was actually a pretty short lived emperor, although much beloved. 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:53.520 And his little brother Domitian. Yeah, when he became emperor, 0:17:53.960 --> 0:18:00.320 he excavated that arena floor about ten twenty feet down. Yeah, 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.640 built the hypogium, which means basement or below ground. And 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.960 it was here where suddenly this thing became like this 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.680 magical marvel of special effects and technical wizardry. 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.880 Yeah, totally. This is where like you could really kick 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:17.879 it up a notch when you could have six hundred 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.040 dudes and a lot of you know, most of these 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:25.520 were slaves obviously, but they're down there all of a 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:30.919 sudden with pulleys and ramps and trap doors and fully 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.200 operated elevators, and you could do all kinds of crazy 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.280 magical things down there. At the least, you've got a 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:42.520 holding area for animals and gladiators and people, and you know, 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.120 it was sort of like you would think of any 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.760 sort of backstage area of like a circus or something, 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:50.560 except it was underground. 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:53.760 I think that they portrayed it in Gladiator, if I'm 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.760 not mistaken, but they would have. Like there's a production 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.520 company that build a replica of this for a PBS 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.200 documentary a few years back and actually donated it to Italy, 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.480 so it's on display it in the coliseum. But they 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:09.000 showed how like you would put an animal in a cage, 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:10.879 used some police to bring it up, and as it 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:12.919 was coming up toward the floor of the arena, a 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:14.840 trap door would open, and then all of a sudden, 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:17.479 there's just a lion sitting there that wasn't there before, 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.919 So I mean imagine watching like a man fight a 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.240 lion to begin with. Before it was like here comes 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.280 the lion walk in, and here comes the man walking in. Pohum. 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.159 Now it's like a lion magically appears and starts fighting 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.080 with the guy. This was like the kind of stuff 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.280 that they were throwing at the citizens of Rome at 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.520 the time, and from what I can tell, almost all 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:40.600 of the citizens of Rome were eating it up. There 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:42.399 were some people who are like, this is an awful 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:46.200 barbaric place at the time, but most citizens of Rome 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:47.280 were super into it. 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:52.000 You know when I saw bon Jobi in concert, well, 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:54.160 I saw them a couple of times, both by accident. 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:57.159 They opened up for thirty eight Special when I was 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:59.040 like in the eighth grade, when they were a very 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:00.399 small band. 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:02.439 Wake up like after having been drugged in like a 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:03.640 bon Jovi concert. 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.320 No. The second time was my senior year in high school. 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.600 Sort of a long story, but there was somebody at 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:11.239 our school that couldn't find anyone to go with them, 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:14.600 so I went with them. But bon Jovi in that 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:16.960 second one, you know, when they were the headliner at 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.080 the beginning of the show, there's like, you know, the 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.160 band is kind of coming out and they start off 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:24.320 their song and I'm like, where's John, Where's John? And 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:31.080 boom smoke. A smoke blast happens on stage and the 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:33.280 smoke clears and bon Jovi is just standing there. 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:37.080 So being bon Jovi exactly. 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:41.720 He had a horizontal trap door that would instead of 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.920 falling through it, it would shoot him up Nate in an instant, 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:47.080 and I was, even though it's not like I was 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.119 dying to go to that show, I was. I was 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:49.800 pretty knocked out. 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.920 I gotta say, for sure, buddy, you better stand exactly 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:54.679 where they tell you to stand on that kind of 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:55.400 trapdoor play. 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.159 I think, so you don't want to. It went up 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.399 with some I think I saw behind this of it 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:02.200 one time. Even it went up with some speed. 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:03.240 I'll thought that was fun. 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.360 Yeah. 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.600 So one of the things, oh, we didn't mention that 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:11.239 the like, there were plenty of people who were in 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:14.000 that ring, including animals, that would have liked to have 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.640 gotten out of that ring. So they prevented this by 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:21.600 separating the seating area from the arena floor a rather 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:26.480 large stone barrier, twelve foot stone barrier with a bronze 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:28.399 fence on top of that and then on top of 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.920 that they lined it with elephant tusks, so it do it, yeah, 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:36.480 to get over. But that seating area was like a 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:40.639 snapshot of social hierarchy in Rome because they had it 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:42.600