Photo Essay: The Fascinating Underbelly of the Coliseum

Our lives have changed so dramatically in the last twenty years because of technology, but we forget that technology has also revealed mysteries of antiquity that we are privileged to see when so many generations were not so fortunate. Until the late twentieth century, much of the floor of the Coliseum remained covered by the sand that had accumulated over the centuries. Actually, most of ancient Rome has many layers of civilzation, one era being built atop another, with up to 25 to 40 feet change in ground level. However, the Coliseum remains at its level of antiquity. When you walk on the cobblestones outside the Coliseum, you are walking on the actual cobblestones where gladiators and emperors walked. You walk alongside apparitions of spectators who presented a tessera, or tablet, with their seat level and tier, in Roman numerals, of course.

Just recently, archeologists uncovered a secret tunnel that was used to allow unpopular Emperor Commodus (180-192) to escape unharmed if the spectators were displeased with him or the show. Even on the run, he was treated royally, and he was pleased to run hurriedly past carvings and mosaics suitable for a Roman Emperor. Apparently this was a separate tunnel for him, since it has been known that there were other tunnels provided for the Emperor of the day as well as for the Vestal Virgins so they did not need to press the flesh of the crowds.

The Coliseum was devastated by an inferno caused by lightning in 217, and it was repaired in stages over the next century. More restoration followed after an earthquake in 443. Most arena exhibitions ended by the sixth century, and the Coliseum went through many metamorphoses. It had a small church, it was a cemetery, persons rented housing or workshop areas in the spaces under the arcade, it was a quarry. The same Frangiapanni family who built a fortress around the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, probably saving it, also acquired the Coliseum in about 1200 AD and fortified it, presumably to be their castle. In 1349, a violent earthquake reduced one section to rubble, and much of the material was appropriated for other buildings in Rome. A religious order occupied the Coliseum for five centuries. This great structure has worn many hats. Even the assumption that many Christians were martyred here is not considered factus absolutum. There were many arenas in Rome in that time, and known references to martyrdom may say the 'arena,' but they do not specify the Coliseum itself.

The Hypogeum (a word which literally means 'underground') is the area which is secreted under the wooden floor, then covered by sand. There were two subterraneum levels, and there were 80 vertical accesses for the animals or props or scenery to be transported to the arena floor. If there were an elephant to be moved, there were even substantial floor-like structures that could be raised called hegmata. All these operations could not be accomplished without machinery being located in this underground tribute to Roman ingenuity, and with more man power than in today's world, scenery, animals, men and props were raised by pulleys and other simple tools of the day. It is believed they could flood the arena for sea battles by a hydraulic system connected to an aqueduct.

There would also be complex hunting scenes with archers and woods and wild animals released for the citizenry to watch the hunt from a safe vantage point. On another day, there were plays acted out for the entertainment of the populace. All entertainment was free because it was a huge public relations effort to persuade the citizens of the unparalleled achievement of their emperor.

The floor was made of wood with sections that could be removed according to the need of the day. There were lifts and trapdors in the floor to enable the release of the fearsome beasts who were set against gladiator and Christian alike. The podium was protected by a fence to assure that no emperor would be eaten by the wild animals he ordered released.

There were niches in service tunnels that could only be accessed from the fourth ring of the cavea that are still not understood. There are several theories, ranging from a location where archers could be poised in case the animals somehow roared into the crowds, a water channel that provided an additional barrier between the animals and the public, or perhaps a latrine area. The latrine seems like a great choice until you consider the possibility of being the lion's lunch.

To construct the arena, huge drains had to be built to keep the area on solid ground, and these are part of the undergroud structure. Great care was taken to support the incredible length and breath of this elliptical structure designed to hold 50, 000 or more spectators. There were 32 cells created on the inside wall of the underground area. Most experts believe the wild animals were secured in the cubicles around the interior walls of the underground.

I personally am thinking that 32 cells could hold a real motley crew of fierce beasts-- a veritable Noah's Ark but without the advantage of a guaranteed mate. Imagine the cacophony of roars and screeches and the bellowing of elephants. Imagine being a slave or a prisoner knowing that these beasts were hungry (it wouldn't make for a very good show if they were ready for an after meal nap, would it?) and were anxious and prowling for the opportunity to tear you limb from limb. Imagine taking your children to see such a spectacle. Imagine the disappointment if the prisoner somehow survived. It is said there were archers standing by to prevent escapes or to be persusasive with any gladiators who lately realized their chosen calling left a lot to be desired. Imagine the crowd roaring with excitement over the chase and the fight and the winners and losers and the deaths.

Four underground tunnels and four drains were created by casting concrete in boxing of unseasoned oak timbers. There have been fragments of these old timbers found that date back to 70 AD, the time when Vespasian began construction. Additional large underground rooms were created along the main axis of the area. The tunnels connected the underground to buildings outside the Coliseum where various tasks were centered. For example, one would lead to the building focused on costumes and stage preparations for scene sets. Last minute preparations would be accomplished in the area under the Coliseum, and the actors could rise from underneath in all their resplendent glory. Of the four tunnels, plus a fifth one created after the fact, much has not been excavated, so our grandchildren will have yet another layer of mysteries to be revealed to them. There is knowledge of frescoes, fine marble and mosaic work, but much is yet to be investigated.

Most of the supporting buildings outside the arena are long gone, but a tunnel would lead to a stable with horses, to a gladiator training center and barracks, to a school where men were trained to combat the animals, to a hospital for gladiators they were motivated to save, or a morgue for those who died and where their armor was stripped to be passed on to their lucky successors.

When you stand at the Coliseum and consider the microcosm of the Roman social structure before you, where men die for another's entertainment, where classes are seated carefully separated, and where gravediggers or actors are not allowed to attend, where this colossal structure was completed in only a decade, imagine yourself at that time in history. Who would you have been in this other time and place? Would you have had the imagination or skills to build this engineering marvel, knowing about what you did in sixth grade science class? Would you have cheered or cringed when the lions and their intended meal were raised by elevators through trap doors in the hypogeum? Would you have even given a second thought to the separation of the classes and the exclusion of the lowly gravedigger? Who would you have been?