Storied Building

The famous Colosseum in Rome. One of the world’s most famous buildings. More properly called the Flavian amphitheater, it was built by the emperor Vespasian over what had been a personal lake built by the emperor Nero as part of his vast ‘Golden House’. From private pool to public monument. After the Roman Empire was Christianized, few had a use for the structure, gladiatorial games having gone out of fashion for obvious reasons: Christians had oft been victims in the bloody sports. The giant building became a stone quarry for the next 1200 years. The holes in the sides are from looters who dug between the stone seams to dig out metal. The Colosseum is pocked with such holes. It’s a wonder there’s something there for us to see today.