Ike, Cheryl and Dave had walked 16km around Rome the previous day, and day two was to be another busy one. Starting out early, they headed to the Colosseum, where little Ike was amazed at the size and scale, and not a bit surprised to hear that it is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
Construction of the Colosseum took eight to ten years and was financed with plunder taken from Jerusalem. Also called the Flavian Amphitheatre, as its construction was ordered by the Flavian Emperors, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian after the fall of Nero. In fact, the Colosseum was built on top of Nero’s Golden Palace, in an area of the city called the Palatine Hill.
Emperor Titus opened the Colesseum in 80 CE, with games and festivities that lasted 100 days and cost the lives of 5 000 animals, not to mention the human quarry, around 400 000 people died here according to some sources. Emperor Domitian, Titus’ successor, later expanded the amphitheatre with an extra storey and a number of spaces underneath the Colosseum. This made the Colosseum of Rome the largest amphitheatre in Roman history, as it could accommodate 65 000 spectators.
Further down from the Palatine Hill area, where there are many remains of palaces, lies the cave where the she-wolf is said to have found Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers whose story tells of the founding of Rome. Our three adventurers walked to the Forum which had been a swampy area until it was drained in the 7th century BCE, and the construction of temples began.
It was only during the 2nd century BCE that the development of the Forum gathered momentum, along with the increasing power of the Roman empire and its growth across the Mediterranean region.
Ike was delighted to meet some local cats who told him many pussy-cat secrets, which Ike is not at liberty to divulge:
Interesting info. I’ll bet those cats have fun exploring those expansive ruins. Really well preserved for its age.