Most people who visit Rome make a beeline to its most famous archaeological site: the Colosseum. This elliptical amphitheater — a historic Giants Stadium, as it were — was the largest ever built by the Roman Empire, able to hold some 50,000 spectators at a time. It is 615 feet long by 510 feet wide. If you saw the movie Gladiator, then you know the kinds of bloody exhibitions that went on here in addition to plays, battle re-enactments, and other forms of entertainment.

Today, the Colosseum appears battered in many places, mostly because of earthquake damage and outright theft of stone. But you can take a tour inside, one led by an archaeologist if you like, and learn not just the history of what happened inside the building's walls, but also the fascinating way in which they were constructed.

Construction and Usage

There were no backhoes or cement mixers when construction of the Colosseum began in 70 A.D. It was completed a decade later, making extensive use of arches to support the heavy slabs of limestone, brick, and marble that were lifted by rope, pulley, and brute strength — and then bound together with iron clamps in many places — to create the structure's multiple levels.

The Colosseum's location was the former site of a private lake fancied by the emperor Nero, whose ruling style was characterized by tyranny and extravagance (he's the man they say “fiddled while Rome burned”). The emperor Vespasian began the Colosseum's construction and his son, Titus, finished it, arguably returning the center of the city to the use of the people from the times when Nero had kept the land for himself.

Gladiators fought inside the Colosseum until about 435, and animal hunts were popular forms of entertainment there until about 523. People entered the arena much as they would a modern one, looking for their seat section and row. However, they had shards of pottery rather than paper tickets. There were eighty entrances at ground level, each numbered. If there had been a parking lot outside, you can bet it would have been designed as an early example of color coding. (“Where is the chariot, dear? Blue 23?”)

During Medieval times, the Colosseum was used for housing and workshops until a great earthquake in 1349 that destroyed the south-side wall. Much of that original stone was used to rebuild hospitals and other buildings in Rome, and a religious order eventually moved in to the remains of the Colosseum, where they lived until the early 1800s. It was not until the rule of Benito Mussolini, in the 1930s, that the arena substructure was fully excavated and exposed.

Touring Today

Some 40 billion Italian lira were spent during the 1990s to help restore what's left of the Colosseum for tourism purposes. Romans understand that it is an iconic symbol of their city, one that draws millions of visitors and tourist dollars each year, and thus are highly motivated to prevent further deterioration inside the arena. The insides are too dilapidated to use for events anymore, but big-name performers such as Paul McCartney and Elton John have “played the Colosseum” in recent years, using the exterior as a backdrop.

The official guided tours are sold through a ticket stand inside the building. They are quite good, typically led by archaeologists, and often include a broad discussion of Roman history as well as an introduction to the Colosseum itself. You need no appointment; just walk in as you would to a museum and wait for the next tour to begin. English-language tours are regularly scheduled, especially during the prime summer months.

Many online travel agencies sell advance-purchase tickets for Colosseum entry, but they often come with built-in fees that can be as much as the on-site tickets themselves. Usually, the wait to enter is no more than an hour, and you get a view of the Colosseum's exterior the entire time, so weigh that option against the fees when you decide whether to buy in advance.