15 Colosseum Facts You Probably Didn't Know

The Colosseum in Rome, originally named the Flavian Amphitheater because it was built by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, opened in 80 C.E. and still holds the Guinness World Record for the largest amphitheater on earth.

The Colosseum is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with the number of yearly visitors reaching more than 7 million in 2019.

From 2013 through 2021, the ancient amphitheater underwent a somewhat controversial $30 million renovation funded largely by the Italian luxury goods brand Tod's. The structure now sparkles under the sun after almost 2,000 years' worth of grime was blasted off the facade.

Here are a few lesser-known Colosseum facts that you can use to impress your friends and family.

The walls used to be painted in bright colors.

The hallways of the Colosseum were painted in vivid hues, including red, light blue, green, and black. Some archaeologists say the outside wall of the stadium was painted, too. Some of the original colorful frescoes can be viewed today thanks to the restoration of the Colosseum's only intact internal passageway.

Graffiti was tradition.

Paintings weren’t the only decoration inside the Colosseum. The cleanup revealed that Gladiators and their fans scribbled graffiti on the walls.

Stone from the Colosseum was repurposed for other Roman buildings.

The Roman Catholic Church used the abandoned Colosseum as a quarry, taking stone from the ancient arena to build the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. John Lateran and the Palazzo Venezia.

There were parties. Big parties.

When the Colosseum opened in 80 C.E., Emperor Titus threw a giant party, with games that ran for 100 days straight. That wasn’t even the amphitheater's longest celebration — Emperor Trajan held a 123-day festival in 107 C.E. that featured more than 9,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals.

The Colosseum was once filled with water.

During the opening party in 80 C.E., Titus staged a sea battle inside the Colosseum, flooding the floor of the arena with a few feet of water so ships could engage in mock combat.

Not every battle ended in death.

While movies make it seem like every battle resulted in the death of a gladiator, those depictions aren't accurate. Sometimes gladiators refused to kill their opponents. Other times fan favorites were granted a pardon. Estimates suggest only 20 percent of contests ended in someone's death during the first two centuries of the Colosseum's existence. By the third century, that figure rose to 50 percent.

One man ran the show.

The person hosting the event was called the munerarius (or the editor) and was occasionally the emperor himself. He would sit in the centrally located imperial box and monitor the activity and decide whether the loser should live or die.

Working at the games, and even attending, could be risky.

When technical difficulties interrupted a show, Emperor Claudius would send the stagehands to fight and Emperor Caligula would order a group of spectators to be thrown into the arena.

Thousands of animals died.

It wasn’t just humans who suffered cruel fates within the Colosseum walls. The Romans held staged hunts and had wild beasts fight humans and each other. The gruesome battles led to the deaths of thousands of animals, including lions, leopards, bears, and elephants. As reported in a History.com article, some 9,000 were killed during the Colosseum’s opening ceremonies.

There's a story behind that floor.

Modern-day visitors to the Colosseum can’t help but notice that the amphitheater's floor is missing. Instead of a smooth wooden surface, there’s a stunning maze of masonry laid out in lines and rings. It looks like something that should have a minotaur in the middle of it. This is the hypogeum, from the Greek word for “underground.” It was comprised of a labyrinthine series of arches, tunnels, passageways, and 36 trap doors that allowed the animals and gladiators to make dramatic entrances.

Tickets were free.

Most of the events held at the Colosseum were free. They were pretty much public relations moves for the emperors, who would entertain the populace with gladiator matches and food. The tickets were small disks made of clay, called tessera in Latin, which were stamped with seating details and distributed to Roman citizens through institutions, companies, and other organizations.

Not everyone who attended was treated equally.

Spectators would enter the Colosseum through numbered arches, many of which can still be seen today. The entrances were numbered I through LXXVI (that’s one to 76) and had marble-and-iron dividers to separate attendees by class.

There was protection from the sun.

As any summertime visitor to Rome can attest, the city can be blistering hot. To protect some of the spectators from the sun, the Colosseum was outfitted with a velarium — a retractable awning. Occasionally, a cooling herb-infused mist was sprayed over the crowd.

The events had three parts.

As cited in "The Roman Games" by Alison Futrell (Blackwell Publishing), the daylong spectacles were typically divided into three parts — the venatio, or animal hunts; the ludi meridiani, or midday games, during which criminals and other so-called damnati, were executed; followed by the main event: the gladiatorial games.

There were promotional giveaways.

To keep people interested, it's thought that free snacks were thrown to the crowds — the Daily Mail reported that archeologists found centuries-old fruit pits and nutshells beneath the site. "The Roman Games" explains that wooden tokens for food and more lavish swag were also dispersed to attendees — similar to how T-shirts or bobbleheads are handed out at modern-day stadiums.