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This amphitheatre is in the middle of Rome and was one of the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It has not gone without its damage over the centuries, resulting from earthquakes, stone robbers and general wear on the building.
When the building was completed in 80ad this is where
all the excitement started in this magnificent structure, used to stage
dramatic, bloody gladiatorial fights and games, public executions at one
point, a cemetery. The gladiators waited to fight in the pits below, and
prisoners waited to die, it was a place of death and despair in this era.
An historian at this time wrote, there nearly 9000 thousand animals killed
there in the first games held there. Even on occasion glory-seeking
individuals volunteered to fight. Often they overrated their skills and
suffered the consequences. The emperors often threw people into the
coliseum if they didn’t like a person or had a rift with them. Therefore,
the number of people to have been slaughtered here would be of a
remarkable number well into the thousands.
As the lights dim and all the tourists depart then the
coliseum comes to life, with guards stationed around the monument. They
have claimed to hear the re-enactments of the battles that once made this
place famous. This includes the clashing of swords, horses snorting and
the crunching of sand as the chariots continue to race across the ground.
Other reports, are cold spots reported by visitors and staff, weeping in
the remote areas of the structure. In addition, to being touched, pushed
and hearing words of Latin whispered in the ear. The eeriest sounds are
those of the animals, with roars of lions and elephants heard within the
walls in the stillness of the night. Also ghostly citizens sitting within
the seats as it they are watching the battles again as they did in their
day. With the sightings of Roman soldiers silhouetted in the night light
it seems that this long ago empire if still very much alive.
With such a history of bloodshed, it is no wonder the
spirits remain restless
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