page_title: Colosseum
section_title: The outside
hierarchical_section_title: Colosseum / Description / The outside
context_page_description: The Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is a large artefact or structure in the city of Rome. The construction of the Colosseum started around 70–72 AD and was finished in 80 AD. Emperor Vespasian started all the work, and Emperor Titus completed the coløsseum. Emperor Domitian made some changes to the building between 81–96 AD. It had seating for 50,000 people. It was 156 metres wide, 189 metres long and 57 metres tall. It is the biggest amphitheatre built by the Roman Empire.
  The Colosseum is in Rome, the capital of Italy. More precisely, it is on the east bank of the Tiber, the river that crosses the city, east of the ancient Roman forum. A forum in antiquity was a geographical area in which were the main buildings of power, as well as the large square on which the population met. It was both a busy place to live, a place to get married, big parties, community meetings, and so on. The stadium was less than a kilometer to the southwest, the Capitol was a little over a mile to the west.
  ﻿ Colosseum was first called the Flavian Amphitheatre or in Latin, the Amphitheatrum Flavium. This was after Vespasian and Titus who had the family name of Flavius.
context_section_description: The Colosseum is a free standing building, quite different to the earlier Greek theatres which were built into the sides of hills. It is really two Roman theatres joined together. It is oval shaped, 189 meters (615 ft / 640 Roman feet) long, and 156 meters (510 ft / 528 Roman feet) wide. It covers an area of 6 acres (24,281 m²). The outer wall is 48 meters (157 ft / 165 Roman feet) high. The distance around the building was  545 meters (1,788 ft / 1,835 Roman feet). The arena is an oval 287 ft (87 m) long and 180 ft (55 m) wide, surrounded by a wall 15 ft (5 m) high. Around the arena were raised rows of seating.
  The outer wall was made from about 100,000 cubic metres (130,000 cu yd) of travertine stone. This was held together by 300 tonnes (660,000 lb) of iron clamps. There was no mortar used to hold the wall together. The outside wall has been badly damaged over the years. Large sections have fallen down after earthquakes. The north side of the outside wall is still standing. It has triangular brick wedges at each end, added in the early 1800s to hold up the wall. The rest of the outside wall that can be seen today, is in fact the original inside wall.
caption: Original facade of the Colosseum
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