The Colosseum was Imperial Rome`s monument to warfare. Like a cathedral of death it towered over the city & invited its citizens, 50, 000 at a time, to watch murderous gladiatorial games. It is now visited by two million visitors a year (Hitler was among them). Award winning classicist, Mary Beard with Keith Hopkins, tell the story of Rome`s greatest arena: how it was built; the gladiatorial & other games that were held there; the training of the gladiators; the audiences who revelled in the games, the emperors who staged them & the critics. & the strange after story
- the Colosseum has been fort, store, church, & glue factory.