Financing the Colosseum


Could not have been more excited to finally get into Rome, one of the most famous cities in Italy! Also the city I have been looking forward to the most, because of it's rich history and amazing architect. I was completely satisfied with the beautiful views in Rome, from seeing my personal favorite the Colosseum, to walking through the Vatican as well as seeing the Sistine Chapel, getting to experience the largest catholic church, St. Peters Basilica, to climbing a hill filled with large broken pots called amphora to have a great view of the entire city. It was so hard not to be completely starstruck by Rome. We were able to learn so much history about the buildings that we were able to see as well as a lot of the economic statistics behind them!
As I said before, the Colosseum was my personal favorite, not only because of it being so well known, but because of the history and economics that go into it. Only seeing the Colosseum from pictures and movies it really made me humble when approaching it for the first time. It was such a large architectural design for the time which in itself is amazing to hear about. Then we dove into the economics about the Colosseum, learning how it was affordable during such early times (72-80 A.D). I had no idea how they could afford to build such a large stone amphitheater after all the things Rome had gone through, one being the massive fire, two having the hated leader Nero, and the civil war. Soon after Rome had an emperor Vespasian, he was a great leader, and his son Titus who followed after his lead also was a great leader. Through there amazing battle tactics and overpowering forces they were able to raid villages, and take over many cities to gain control of what was stated in the article as "booty". The largest gain that Titus had received was from the siege of Jerusalem, where he had destroyed and ravaged the city, while taking all the gold and silver in his path. Although this was never actually stated as the true reasoning behind the financing of the Colosseum this gave historians a good reason to believe this was how they were able to fund for it. Overall being in Rome was the best experience I have ever encountered and from what I learned while being there has made it that much more enjoyable!