Colosseum

With four massive tiers of seating, this gladiatorial arena was the grandest the world had ever seen, allowing 80,000 to watch the games. The building dominated the city. Lavishly decorated with marble, the Colosseum allowed Romans to see everything and everyone they had conquered. Built by Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus, this huge symbol of Rome’s might and riches took less than a decade to build. The ruins of today are only the concrete core, stripped of marble over the centuries. Forty-two Emperors saw an estimated 700,000 deaths in the Colosseum, watching everything from Christians to mass battles to elaborate executions. And all this was done in the name of entertainment! Clever staging allowed adventurous showmanship: sea battles were re-enacted by flooding the arena; exotic beasts such as giraffes, crocodiles and tigers were regularly hunted; and some 36 trapdoors meant a huge variety of surprises for the gladiators battling on the sand.