The Colosseum

My first priority for my trip to Rome was to see the Colosseum—of course! And it did not disappoint.

To say it was... colossal... is pretty redundant. It was so big, I kept having to back up to get it all in my viewfinder. And the truth is, this is only part of the Colosseum; it was actually much taller.

A plaque inside the Colosseum says that it was built by Titus and was funded by the spoils of war (which were the spoils from the war with the Jews) in the first century. The arch of Titus outside clearly shows images of Titus bringing back the spoils from Israel, including the Temple. (Edit on Feb 2020): see Amir Tsfarti's teaching from Behold Israel here for more reference)

this is my friend, Julius

The inside was just as impressive. From the second tier, you could see all the way around and across of the amphitheater, as well as down into the area below the partially reconstructed arena floor (the areas where the gladiators and the animals stayed). As my tour guide talked about the different types of "shows" that were here and described the customs of the day—from how the games were sponsored to some of the rituals, it was incredible to imagine what it had been like.

It was also very sobering. These games were games of death. Those fighting for their lives were prisoners fighting for their freedom (if it was possible at all). And for those who weren't fighting, who were being crucified or eaten by animals or some other horrible thing, endured the worst of nightmares in front of a yelling, taunting crowd.

I specifically asked my tour guide if he knew if Christians were martyred here, since I know they were in other arenas throughout the empire... and also the Nero liked to light his garden parties with their burning corpses. He said that to his knowledge, none were ever killed here, but I honestly am not sure I believed it.

We'll talk about this more in another post, but the Colosseum is just steps away from the Roman Forum (the center for commerce and governing of the day, as well as prisons) and Palatine Hill. It's too convenient for me, when we know that Christians were martyred here—and Peter and Paul were imprisoned here in the city—to think that this didn't happen.