Talk:Colosseum

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Contents

[edit] The Title

Why is this article called the Roman Colosseum? I cannot find any other well-known "Colossei", and even if there are, then this building still deserves to be on the Colosseum page, with references to these others. jheijmans

Have you seen The Coliseum? (Hint: it's in Nashville. Nashville is in Tennessee). ~~

I know those comments are kind of old, but I wanted to add this...it should probably just be "Colosseum," or even Flavian Amphitheatre, but I guess no one calls it that anymore. Also, I wasn't sure about the burning marble sentence, so I left it in. All I know about the marble is that they removed it to build other things in the middle ages. Adam Bishop 05:48 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I move that this article be moved to Colosseum. There is no other Colosseum (even if there is a copy of it in Tennessee), and the word Colosseum was coined in relation to this building. Even if it needs to be disambiguated from some other Colosseum, the correct form would be Coloesseum, Rome or Colosseum (Rome). Adam 08:22, 18 Apr 2004 (UTC)

[edit] flaws

i was reding this article and noticed one major flaw. the coliseum doesn't hold 45000 spectators, it hold 50000!! and yes, this is a true fact (it was in my social studies book-Ha!). so, u might want to consider changing it. :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.201.225.111 (talk) 21:05, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Burning marble for lime not limestone

I'm confused by this phrase " marble burned to make limestone". Burning marble does not make limestone. Marble is metamorphosed limestone; limestone that underwent tremendous pressure and heat in the earths crust. Burning it does not turn it back into limestone. Perhaps what is intended is "lime" for use in mortar? And anyway, the colosseum is made of travertine, not marble.

Marble was burned for lime not limestone. Powdered agricultural lime acts as a fertilizer. --Wetman 20:08, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Besides, romans had no need to make lime in this way, Vesuvius (spelling) the volcano gave them all of the ash and lime needed ... largely why romans were known for concrete, a case of geology giving them lemons. -- Dbroadwell 04:45, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Temple in Jerusalem

I heard something on a TV documentary somewhere about the construction of the Colosseum having been financed by the sacking in 70 CE of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The timeline seems to allow for this possibility, but is there a citable source that can corroborate this assertion? - Knoodelhed (Su. 9/7/03 14:30 PDT)

I agree. How could this be established with a citable source? Through Annual Reports? But what's the point here? Responsible economic history? Subtexts and agendas: so often a sign of pseudohistory. Wetman 12:26, 21 Nov 2003 (UTC)

From the documentary I saw, there is some carved stone. Before the new text, there were holes for bronze letters. Some epigraphist reconstructed the text as VESPASIANVS / AMPHITEATRU / EX MANIBVS, which allegedly means that Vespasian built the amphiteatre with the loot. -- Error 23:33, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
I watched a documentary that said the same thing about Solomon's Temple. It said that they had enough funds to pay for over 300,000 people to work on the Colosseum for an entire year. Ja860231 04:51, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Is the plural of "colosseum" collossea? Dysprosia 07:27, 15 Mar 2004 (UTC)

There is only one Colosseum...the Flavian Amphitheatre. It's not really correct to call those other ones colosseums. Anyway, "colosseum" is an adjective (describing the statue of Nero). If you wanted to use it as a noun in Latin (meaning "those things that are colossal" I guess) you could say "colossea," but I doubt it would ever have been used that way. The plural of amphitheatrum is "amphitheatra," if that helps. (If you want to use it as an English noun the plural is just "colosseums" :)) Adam Bishop 19:48, 15 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Death penalty

"In recent years, the local authorities of Rome have ordered the lighting of the Colosseum to be lit all-night-long whenever a condemned to death penalty gets its sentence commuted or indulted."

Who can explain this to me? (It's the last sentence of the article.) Does this make sense? <KF> 03:57, 1 Aug 2004 (UTC)

"In recent years, the officials of Rome have ordered that the lights of the Colosseum should burn continuously throughout the night each time the death sentence of a condemned prisoner is commuted." That's what it's trying to mean: no idea if it's true. - Nunh-huh 04:03, 1 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Is there capital punishment in Italy? <KF> 05:10, 1 Aug 2004 (UTC)
I think not, and suspect that the officials of Rome are simply having their say about the rest of the world. - Nunh-huh 05:47, 1 Aug 2004 (UTC)
A recent example was the liberation of the two Simonas kidnapped in Iraq. -- Error 23:33, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
There has never been capital punishment in Italy, since the creation of the Kingdom in 1861. Tuscany was the first state in the world to abolish it, back in 1763! --Gspinoza 22:37, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Who was the architect?

This is one of the most spectacular buildings built before the 20th century. Any information on who and how it was designed?

In the 20th century, can some architect office give an estimate of the number of engineers required to design something of this scale, with good old pen & paper? What about the construction? in 8 years?


-I haven't read anything in particular on this issue, but I know that Romans very rarely (or not actually) write down the architect on an inscription, but merely the one who donated the funds or the one who ordered it to be built. For the Romans a mathematician was in much higher regard than a regular architect, or so I have been told. So I think it'll be hard to find out who designed it. Probably there will have been a team of architects with each one having their own specialty, and one supervisor. - EB


[edit] My Opinion of the Colosseum

I think the Roman times should make this a not torture thing because this is a harsh thing to do to someone in particular. Many people din't think what I thought but this is to me a legal action which I object to the torturing in the Roman times. It such a hassle when you could just put the man or women in jail or froce the gulitly out of the country. But duy to the respect many people never objected before about this back in those days. I wish I could just be there at the time of this thing started and stop it for the non torture of the Romans. -- Previously unsigned comment by 66.108.138.252, at 03:44, 14 December 2004

I think that you would have no chance to stop the games by yourself. I guarentee you that you would have been in one of those seats cheering on your favorite gladiator to kill the opponent. It is just that lifestyle has changed and now you think that killing is a horible thing. That is just what our culture now believes. -- Previously unsigned comment by 68.184.240.98, at 02:36, 10 November 2005
This is a very old thread but I must respond. Most gladiatorial combat didn't actually involve death. If it did they would quickly run out of skilled fighters. We know this as there are records showing gladiators' wins and losses. It really wasn't as bloody and brutish as modern societies romantic notions. (pun intended)—WAvegetarian (talk) 17:16, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling: "Coliseum"

Is this a legitimate alternate spelling? or should it be a silent redirect to Colosseum? or what? --Wetman 20:08, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I think that's a medieval Latin spelling, and Lord Byron used it ([1]), so I don't know. It should certainly be a redirect, at the least. Adam Bishop 06:20, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
It gets two and a half million Google hits. It is worth mentioning as an alternative name. — Gulliver ✉ 19:31, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I disagree. I just listened to a lecture from Modern Scholar and it was emphasized several times that it should be spelled 'Colosseum' because of the colossus statue of Nero. Spelling it other ways removes that bit of historical importance. --Patik 17:42, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)

hi im a senior and i added some info to this article

[edit] The Roman Colosseum

I was inside this ancient Stadium in August 1970.

Legends say it was where Gladiators fought and died and animals sacrificed and Christians were Martyrd.

I was told by the tourguides that it was called such because it had many tall statues inside of the outer arches.

Legends said it was built on a lake bed and that there was an Artesian Spring nearby.

Nero built his palace over the lake and after it burned down the Stadia was built there.

Nero built the very first true Planetarium on this site, complete with a rotating dome!

I was told the Coliseum was converted into a Citadel after Rome was abandoned after 476 AD.

I was also told the marble and travertine stone was quarried to make quicklime for mortar to build much of Roma.

Some of the stone was used to make St Peters Cathedral and much of Vatican City.

There are many other Stadia in the Roman Empire.

One was unEarthed in Pompeii and another in Herculanium.

The Rock Band Pink Floyd gave a concert there about 30 years ago.

There used to be a convention center in New York City called the Coliseum where they had annual Auto Shows and Flower Shows.

It was torn down and the Time Warner Building is now there.

The New York Coliseum was replaced by the Javits Convention Center.

The New York Coliseum was not a Stadium, just a convention hall.

I only spell Coliseum with one "l" and one "s"

Supercool Dude 20:56, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Supercool Dude there are a lots of mistakes in your memories of the Colosseum: The Colosseum is an amphitheatre and not a stadium

By historical sources (not legends) we know that: a) yes gladiators fought in the arena, b)animals were killed by a staged hunt, and not sacificed, c)Christians were not martyred as such in the Colosseum[citation needed] (in other places yes, they were)

There is no evidence of statues having been placed in the arches, probably the name derived from a nearby colossal statue of the Sun God, later reworked with the faces of some emperors

It was built on a lakebed that had been drained in republican times and then refilled with water to make a lake for the residence of Nero. I have no knowledge of artesian spring nearby

Nero's palace wasn't built over the lake and it didn't burn down, but it was demolished by the Flavian emperors after Nero's death

We know that one chamber in Nero's palace was probably rotating and that it had pictures of the constellations on the roof, but that doesn't sum up to be a Planetarium.

The Colosseum was used as a fortress by Roman baronal families in the Middle Ages. In those years Rome had very few inhabitants but the city was never abandoned

The limestone was used to make mortar,to build many buildings in Rome after the Middel Ages (not most of Rome!)

St Peter is a Basilica and not a Cathedral (Rome's Cathedral church is San Giovanni). There is no evidence of the stones being used for the Vatican City

There are many other amphithatres in the Roman Empire. Stadia are different buildings.

Pink Floyd performed in the Pompeii amphitheatre (record: Live in Pompeii)

(By Andrea Pepe, Aug 2006)

[edit] Travel Guide and Holiday snaps

Is it just me or is this article starting to feel like someones photo album. I think we need to decide which images add to the article and which are travel snaps. The travel tips , although useful, are not appropriate to an encyclopedia and I think should be moved to Wikitravel. Lumos3 20:11, 16 August 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Illumination??

In recent years, the local authorities of Rome have illuminated the Colosseum all night long whenever someone condemned to the death penalty gets commuted or released

Where did you get this information?? I live in Rome and, as far as I know, the Colosseum is always illuminated at night... Anyway, this sentence needs to be changed, too: it sounds like we have the death penaly in Italy, while we obviously don't Alessio Damato 11:20, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

See this CNN report [2] Lumos3 12:38, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
ah, yes, it happened when I was at the high school... 5 years ago! the information is true, but I don't think it is valid anymore. I'll change the article according to that. Alessio Damato 15:12, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

The Colosseum is still illuminated "every time something moves against the death penalty" (words of Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni, see http://www.repubblica.it/2005/l/dirette/sezioni/esteri/penamortwill/penamortwill/ of Dec 12, 2005). Moreover, I live near the Colosseum and I can testify that it is true; the illumination changes and the monument becomes greenish. (Andrea Pepe, Jan 5th, 2006)

[edit] Independence Day movie

Is the Colosseum actually destroyed in that movie? I don't remember that happening, and I know I removed it from the article once already. I thought all the destruction was of buildings in the US. Adam Bishop 03:04, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

Not sure if it was that movie or another, but I do recall a modern hollywood movie having it attacked. The stone glowed red (as if absorbing the energy), then exploded all at once. Liu Bei 16:51, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
That's "The Core", I think. Adam Bishop 17:22, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
I think something similar also happened in Armageddon Jds10912 00:44, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the clarification. I beleive you are correct. Liu Bei 05:55, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pictures

.

Is there a reason why the pictures were removed?

Never mind, there back now! tpower 17:03, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

I uploaded a pic of the shoring at the edges here. Just in case anyone thinks it might have a place in the article. --DanielCD 17:25, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Colosseum Comparisons

How can you compare the Colosseum to some familiar items?

for example: 
            How many average bedrooms could fit on one floor of the Colosseum?
            How many average swimming pools full of water would fill the Colosseum?
            How many people could stand side-by-side around the perimeter of the Colosseum?
            How many football fields would be able to fit inside the floor of the Colosseum?
            How many soccer fields would be able to fit inside the floor of the Colosseum?
            How many baseball fields would be able to fit inside the floor of the Colosseum?
            How many basketball courts would be able to fit inside the floor of the Colosseum?

Spectacgurl215 14:42, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Editors here are willing to help you, but we won't do your homework for you. The article gives the dimensions of the building. The articles on other sporting arenas will also give you sizes. As for the averages, you will have to take a guess. The article on swimming pools should give you some idea of the different types and sizes depending on usage. After doing that research it is just a matter of doing the math.—WAvegetarian (talk) 17:09, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Who said what about the Colosseum?

Do we actually know what people thought about the Colosseum who were around in that time?

[edit] Removed sentence

Spectators at the amphitheater were not segregated by sex. The poet Ovid suggests that this makes it an excellent place for his male readers to meet women.

Ovid died in 17 CE, when the Colosseum didn't yet exist. (Thanks to the anonymous User:136.165.208.169.) - Mike Rosoft 15:12, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WWII

It would be interesting to note if the Colosseum was damaged at all during WWII, and what that damage was. It would also be fascinating to note current / future preservation / restoration activities. Anybody know anything about this? --69.157.109.57 22:53, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cats

Is it worth mentioning that the Colosseum is inhabited by hundreds of cats, or is that irrelevant? Thiseye 00:45, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I was looking here for that. I say worth noting. Chris 08:01, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Flora

  • Caneva G, Cutini M, Pacini A, Vinci M (2002). "Analysis of the Colosseum's floristic changes during the last four centuries". Plant Biosystems 136 (3): 291-311. doi:10.1080/11263500212331351199. 
  • Caneva G, Pacini A, Cutini M, Merante A (2005). "The Colosseum floras as bio-indicators of the climatic changes in Rome". Climatic Change 70 (3): 431-443. doi:10.1007/s10584-005-5355-z. 

aditional refs for the flora of the colloseum!--Stone 10:36, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Panther

If you read the WP pages around panther, you'll see that properly there's no such animal. In ancient Rome, the animals they called panthers were probably leopards (with longer tails). I don't care if you want to list it twice, but linking to panther is only going to cause confusion because that's a disambig page. -Jcbarr 21:50, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, as I type, I am holding the guide book:
"... such as lions, panthers, leopards and hippopotamuses"
Make of that what you will. I'm logging out now - too tired. --Thelb4 21:59, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image

Outstanding new main image from User:Diliff. Thank you! --Wetman 21:25, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mock Sea Battles

In the second paragraph, it says the Colosseum hosted mock sea battles. That's something that can be disputed because the Colosseum is not water tight and the Romans would have needed to have some deep water for ships to be able to fit inside. I do know that there is a theory where the flow of the water in the drainage system away from the Colosseum was reversed in order to fill the place with water from the Tigris River, but that's impossible given that the drainage tunnels were built at a slope of 2 1/2 degrees away from the Colosseum.

Well, getting water from the Tigris river would be hard, seeing as the only river in Rome is the Tiber. Ja860231 04:42, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Architectural A

Given that this article has already been given a A as an architectural article, I really think that it requires a very accurate (or maybe just accurate) description of the architecture. Specifically. So, if no one minds, I'll do just that. --Amandajm 12:19, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cross-section graphic

In the interior seating section of the article, there was a graphic of a cross section of the Colosseum that had the sections labelled in Latin. I'm replacing it with one that's in English, eh? Samois98 00:59, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Restoration

I've always wondered why the Colosseum hasn't been restored for modern use -- concerts and sports events and the like. (I'm not suggesting the return of gladiator games.) Does anyone know the reason? Prohibitive costs, historical conservation, weakened structure? Minaker 11:51, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fix grammar in summary

As I'm not a registered user and this is a semi-protected article, I hope one of you can change this: the last paragraph of the summary it says "It is one of modern Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope leading a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession to the amphitheatre each Good Friday." That grammar is awkward. It could say something like "...Roman Catholic Church - the Pope leads a ..." or "...Roman Catholic Church: the Pope leads..."

Does this sound better?

Today it is one of modern Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession to the amphitheatre. Otisbum 20:41, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

I'd opt for a dash or colon over the "as each" option. What about this? "It is one of modern Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church; each Good Friday, the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession to the amphitheatre." • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 01:30, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm terrible with colon-use, but that looks fine to me. Otisbum 20:46, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Christian Martyrdom

This article claims that Christians were not martyred at the Colosseum, but sources are not sited. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.21.77.230 (talk) 18:47, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

It does now mention the "Mirabilia Urbis Romae" which is widely regarded as lacking in factual basis for much of its matter. From current article:

the Colosseum was clearly not regarded as a sacred site. Its use as a fortress and then a quarry demonstrates how little spiritual importance was attached to it

This bears weight if other sites were venerated as sacred sites of martyrdoms, elsewise it's irrelevant, if the location of the martyrdoms was unknown to the people then of course they would not hold the location [for they don't know where it is] as sacred. There are suggestions that the name came as late as 1000AD and for example that when The Venerable Bede refers to stat Colisaeus he's referring to a large statue of Nero, after which the stadium later becomes known - of course if this is the case then it's no wonder that earlier writers don't refer to martyrdoms in "the Colosseum". Chronographia bears nothing relevant. The Catholic Encyclopaedia however has some worthwhile information, from which the chunk here appears to have been extracted. This passage, ibid is useful:

It is, of course, probable enough that some of the Christians condemned ad bestias suffered in the Coliseum, but there is just as rnuch reason to suppose that they met their death in one of the other places dedicated to the cruel amusements of imperial Rome; for instance, in the Circus Flaminius, the Gaianum, the Circus of Hadrian, the Amphitheatrum Castrense, and the Stadium of Domitian. Even as regards St. Ignatius of Antioch, the evidence that he was martyred in the Coliseum is far from decisive, the terms employed by St. John Chrysostom and Evagrius in reference to this matter convey no precise meaning (Delehaye, op. cit. 43). The same is true of the term used by Theodoret in reference to the death of St. Telemachus, who sacrificed his life to put an end to the bloody spectacles which, as late as the early fifth century, took place in Rome. There is no reason to doubt the fact of the heroic death of St. Telemachus, but there is, on the other hand, no clear proof that its scene was the Coliseum. Theodoret, the only writer who records the incident, says that it happened eis to stadio (in the stadium), a different place from the Coliseum.

Cat.Enc. also notes that the place of interrment of the bodies of martyrs were venerated and so the likelihood of losing track of places of martyrdom is high. Pbhj (talk) 00:47, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Name

Why was it called the Flavian amphitheatre(was Flavius a person, place??) Fat Red 10:16, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Because the family name of Vespasian and Titus was Flavius (in fact they had the same full name, Titus Flavius Vespasianus). Flavius was a regular word meaning "yellow" but by that time it had also become a name. Adam Bishop 14:13, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
If we can find a citation for this information, it'd be a useful addition to the article. :) • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 14:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Is it really necessary to cite something like that? Adam Bishop 14:37, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Ideally. It seems like common sense that the Colosseum would have been named after Vespasian or Titus, but it could have been named after anyone from that family. We can also go ahead and add it and mark it {{fact}}, but it should really have a citation before being added. In my experience, a reference isn't very likely to be added later, even with {{fact}}, unless the article is under GA or FA review. It's better to go ahead and add a reference now if one can be found. • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 18:42, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I added a paragraph on the subject. I found a source, but it isn't the greatest (a personal webpage, well-written but a personal webpage all the same). If you can track down a better source, please add it! • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 18:58, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Ancient Romans did not call the Colosseum "Flavian amphitheatre". They called it "amphitheatrum caesareum" or "hunting theatre" (Historian Dio Cassius 78, 25 - this last name, however is a translation from greek language, as Dio wrote in that language) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.18.136.71 (talk) 13:03, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

I was able to find several sources that agree with this. I wasn't able to find an online copy of the Dio Cassius source you referenced to include it. I'd encourage you to add a citation for it to the article. I've added a comment about that name and cited two sources currently, but a primary source like Cassius would be useful in this case. Thank you for the note! • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 17:59, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
Dio is online at Lacus Curtius but it may be incomplete because book 78 has no chapter 25 there. I see "amphitheatrum caesareum" in various places online, but it doesn't mean "hunting theatre", it means "Caesarian Amphitheatre", the amphitheatre built by the Caesars, which is essentially the same as "amphitheatrum flavium" (only narrowing it down to the specific imperial dynasty). Adam Bishop (talk) 19:49, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
Agreed, the Latin doesn't say anything about hunting. I didn't note that in the article solely due to WP:OR. Perhaps we should strike "hunting theater" from the body of the article? • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 23:51, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
Also, Googling "amphitheatrum caesareum" + "Dio Cassius" (or Cassius Dio) gets no results. I realize this is probably because I should be searching in Greek, but nevertheless, I did get this result from Google books, which says the term is found in Martial but is only a poetic name, and not an "official" name. Adam Bishop (talk) 12:14, 27 January 2008 (UTC)
I did the same thing when looking for sources. That Google Books result is actually one of the citations I added to the article. I called it the "unofficial name" to try to reflect that footnote. I'll note that the name may have been strictly poetic. • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 20:40, 27 January 2008 (UTC)
Cassius Dio : Flexing my google-muscle I found a project gutenberg translation in which Sidenote:--25-- appears to be the relevant passage:

Nor was Macrinus destined to survive for long,--a fact of which he doubtless had previous indications. A mule bore a mule in Rome and a sow had a little pig with four ears and two tongues and eight feet. A great earthquake occurred, blood flowed from a pipe, and bees formed honeycombs in the Forum Boarium. The hunting-theatre was smitten with thunderbolts on the very day of the Vulcanalia [Footnote: August twenty-third.] and such a blaze ensued that all its upper circumference and the whole circuit of construction and the ground-level were burned and thereupon the rest of it caught fire and fell in ruins. No human aid availed against the conflagration, though every possible stream of water was directed upon the blaze, nor could the downpour from the sky, which came in great amount and violence, accomplish anything. The force of both kinds of water was exhausted by the power of the thunderbolts, and to a certain extent, at least, the building only received additional injury; [Footnote: Reading [Greek: prosesineto](Bekker).] wherefore the gladiatorial spectacle was held in the stadium for many years.

from "Dio's Rome, Volume 6 by Cassius Dio". Pbhj (talk) 01:06, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Name conflict with Pozzuoli amphitheater

As I was doing some minor edits on the Pozzuoli (Puteoli) entry I was surprised when I attempted to wiki link to Flavian Amphitheater to be redirected to the entry on the Colloseum. I have always known the Pozzuoli edifice as the Amphitheatrum Flavium and find no problem finding sources (Google Amphitheatrum Flavium and Pozzuoli). I guess this means if I ever get around to writing the entry on the Pozzuoli arena the redirect should be changed to a disambiguate page (or should that be done now?). -- Quartermaster (talk) 03:51, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

I've always heard the Colosseum referred to as the Amphitheatrum Flavium. When I search for the term, Pozzuoli does come up, but it's buried under a few dozen references to the Colosseum in Rome. The Google test is by no means authoritative on correctness of a term, of course. ;) I'd like to hear others weigh in, but I think the Colosseum is more or less regarded as "the" Flavian Amphitheater. In recognition of this, we might consider "Flavian Amphitheater redirects here. For the amphitheater in Pozzuoli, see Flavian Amphitheater (Pozzuoli)" at the top of the article instead. I think most people who link to Flavian Amphitheater probably want the Colosseum in Rome. • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 16:12, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
"Flavian Amphitheater (Pozzuoli)" is the best way - there is a similar problem with Hagia Sophia. Adam Bishop (talk) 21:20, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
Fascinating discussion! I'm waiting to receive a book entitled Studi e ricerche sull'Anfiteatro Flavio Puteolano by Amedeo Maiuri (1955) to try and get clarification (assuming my Italian is up to the task). My wife raised a question as to whether "Flavian" is more of a generic adjective rather than part of a proper noun. Are there more "Flavian" amphitheaters and/or is the Colosseum THE Flavian Amphitheater (again, I don't know). In any case, I understand that contemporary and recent historic use is to refer to the Colloseum as THE Flavian Amphitheater and prefer Warpflyght's suggestion. Now I've got to write the bloody entry on the Pozzuoli amphitheater (and if you ever get a chance to explore it, do so - the interiors below the stadium are pretty much still intact). For the non-Italian speaking/reading, the title of the Maiuri work above translates as Studies and research regarding Pozzuoli's Flavian Amphitheater. -- Quartermaster (talk) 17:32, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
I went ahead and created the intitial Flavian Amphitheater (Pozzuoli) wikipedia entry. I mention that the title Flavian Amphitheater is primarily associated with the Roman Colosseum and included a clarification at the top:
For the Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, see Colosseum.
I'll leave it to those of you who actively maintain this entry to place a mention at the top of this entry if you see fit. -- Quartermaster (talk) 16:03, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
I experimented with different arrangements of {{redirect}} and couldn't find something that was both aesthetically pleasing and non-distracting. With {{otheruses}} already in use at the top of the article, it gets cluttered. For now I've added a sentence in the name section, but I don't really like that solution either. I'm sure other articles have run into this problem – does anyone know what the convention is for multiple "see also" lines at the top of an article is? • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 04:43, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Depiction in the film Gladiator

The article says that the version of the Colosseum shown in the film is generally accurate. However I have been there and it is in fact a lot smaller that the immense structure shown in the film. I don't want to change it though without a citable source. Does anyone know of a source which gives the dimensions of the building or of the arena floor? Richard75 (talk) 23:29, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean the dimensions shown in the film or those of the real-life Colosseum? If the latter, they're given at Colosseum#Exterior. -- ChrisO (talk) 00:09, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
Good question! I suppose I should have asked for both. Thanks for the link, I had only skimmed the article and missed that bit. Richard75 (talk) 23:31, 29 January 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Mistake

¿Its construction started between 70 and 72 AD, under the emperor Vespasian, and was completed in 80 AD under Titus? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.59.200.136 (talk) 16:38, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't see any problems with the 70/72 and 80 figures. Vespasian ruled from 69 until 79, and his son Titus ruled for a year or two after his death into 81. What makes this seem like an error? • WarpFlyght (talk • contribs) 17:08, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Name derived from Colossus statue

It says in the article: "The name Colosseum has long been believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby." This makes it seem like it was believed but is not actually true. But it is true, right? [Okay, forget this, because I didn't know the meaning of the word coined, sorry :)] 24.132.252.225 (talk) 17:59, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] who wrote this?

who wrote this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.134.231.151 (talk) 04:14, 25 May 2008 (UTC)