The Flavian Amphitheater

This building was the famous Colosseum. Colosseum had the nickname “Flavian Amphitheater/ Amphitheatrum Flavium”. Flavian/Flavium came from the word Flavius. Flavius was the family name of both 2 Roman emperors that first built Colosseum, Vespasian and Titus. Colosseum was built in 70 AD and was finished in 80 AD. Vespasian started the construction, Titus completed the building, and Domitian made some changes in between 81 AD until 96 AD. The functions Colosseum at first were to held Gladiators, public spectacors, animal hunts, executions, plays, and battle scenes. Sometimes, it was filled with water to fought The Mock Sea Battle. It had seating for 50,000 spectacors. The Romans could go into the Colosseum without paying/FREE! There were at least 500,000 people and over 1,000,000 animals died in Colosseum games. Later in the Middle Ages, Colosseum was no longer used for performances. It was then used as housing, workshops, a Christian shrine, and as a supply of building stones.  At the end of the 500's, a small church had been built into a part of the building. The arena was used as a cemetery. The Colosseum was broken because of earthquakes and people taking away the stones for souvevirs. In the 16th and 17th century, the church officials were looking for ideas to change the Colosseum into something good. Pope Sixtus the 5th wanted to change the building into wool factory, but the idea was never manifest because of his death. The Cardinal Artieri wanted to make the building into Bullfights arena. People were upset and the idea quickly dropped. On Good Fridays, the pope lead the Way of The Cross around the building.It was Pope Benedict the 15th who made it. In 1800s, the building was repaired for preventing the building from falling down. Now, the Colosseum was shown in the 5 cents Italian Euro coins.  It was a popular tourists attraction in Rome. It was listed in the World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980. This building was also the New7Wonders of The World in 2007.