The Coliseum exemplified Roman civilization and culture. By looking at the remains of the Coliseum, one can hear the echoes of the past. The elliptical shaped arena in the ancient world of Rome served the purpose of an amphitheater for entertainment as well as a guideline for future architecture. The Roman emperors built the Coliseum for entertaining their subjects and distracting their minds from the woes of the time. The Coliseum reveals many things about the Roman society, as well as our own, with respect to wealth, engineering skill, and sport. .
The Coliseum exhibits the wealth of the Romans. This arena was the largest amphitheater of its time, and took great wealth to build. The Romans achieved their wealth with the help of their powerful emperors and through the taxation and conquest of land. The Roman Empire was one of the largest political empires ever created. The size of the Roman Empire measured approximately 3,000 miles and had a population estimated around 50 million people. Because of this over populated city, the emperor thought it was necessary to build some type of entertainment arena in order to keep his citizens happy and content and to remain in his favor.
By looking at the architectural evidence one can infer that the Romans were highly skilled engineers. They built the Coliseum with the use of concrete and development of the arch. The concrete consisted of volcanic sand which made the structure stronger. The Romans were architectural geniuses; they realized the arch could benefit them in many ways. The arch was introduced in Roman art using wedge shaped stone blocks. The arches and doorways of the Coliseum enabled them to seat thousands of people in a matter of minutes. History says 50,000 people could enter or leave the Coliseum in less than three minutes. It is evident that the arches provided the strongest form of structural support because the Coliseum still stands even though it has suffered through many earthquakes and has lasted through 2,000 years of wear.
