Medieval Ages
Recent studies have discovered that from as early as the IV century materials were taken away from the Colosseum, and that some drains were obstructed by the end of the same century. At the beginning of the V century the water/drainage system, at least in the southwestern sector, had stopped working, as the lead piping and fountains had been removed. There is evidence that in 444 or 445, on occasion of the vicennalia of Valentinianus III, the building was still basically intact, but 50 years later it was greatly damaged, most probably by an earthquake.
89 burial places, dating back from Diocletian to Theodoric's times (IV-VI century) have been found in the valley of the Colosseum, mainly in the NE sector. 63 burial places have been found in and around the amphitheatre, though only 56 have been mapped. These 56 are located in 3 places. The 15 on the eastern side and the 18 on the northern side were outside the travertine paving around the amphitheatre, which was still being maintained. The third group of 23 tombs (VI century) were found inside the northern portico, so the conclusion is that during the V century the area was abandoned, but the amphitheatre was still in use; later on, when the amphitheatre was closed, it was used for burials.
Venantius' inscription
The inscription on the right - dating back to 484 or 508 - commemorates the works that the Praefectus Urbi Decius Marius Venantius Basilius had had done - at his own expense - to repair the arena and the podium, damaged by an "abominandus" earthquake.Venantius' repairs of the arena meant the dismantling of the remaining colonnade, by sliding the columns and pieces down in the underground of the arena, and filling it up. In 519 Eutaricus Cilica held games in a Colosseum without the upper portico or underground, not to mention other major damages to the cavea, entrances, etc.
When in 1810-14 Carlo Fea excavated the arena, he found three roads on top of each other, along the long axis. The oldest one had been built on top of "Venantius' filling". Later on, in 1874-75, P. Rosa started the main work on the oldest stratum of earth - dating back to Venantius' days - and found 70% of the columns of the upper portico, a quantity of inscriptions, the fittings of the vomitoria, blocks of travertine and tuff, wooden beams and parts of the underground machinery. There were the remains of at least 20 huge columns (together with the capitals) that had fallen down from the top portico and had damaged the cavea mainly in the NE-SE sectors.
The amphitheatre in an old map
The last venationes were staged in the Colosseum in AD 523, when the king Theodoric gave permission to Anicius Maximus to celebrate his consulate.At the same time he defined the games "actus detestabilis, certamen infelix" and blamed Titus for having spent all that money in a building destined to celebrate death. During his reign, the area was reclaimed, and to connect the Celian hill to the Colosseum a road was built level with the arena.
Later on it seems that the amphitheatre was closed by wooden barriers, but it is uncertain if it was a closure before a possible reopening or to defend a property. Between the VI and the XIII century the ground floor was raised by 1,3 metres. In this layer were found walls, a basin to prepare lime and the paved road at Venantius' level. Some openings were made in the walls facing the arena, leading to think that the place had become a kind of piazza along the only road between the Colosseum and the Celian hill.
The Colosseum half buried and overgrown with plants
According to Rossella Rea, the first occupation of the Colosseum in order to systematically dismantle it dates back to the period between the second half of the VI and the second half/end of the VIII centuries; it is certain that by then the stones of the amphitheatre were extracted and used as building material. In those times the only stable institution was the Church, and it was the Pope Gregorius Magnus (590-604) who introduced the practice of recycling ancient temples, buildings and halls and turning them into Christian churches.
The city had by now lost its importance and population because of the repeated invasions and looting of Italy. By the end of the VI century Rome counted only 90.000 citizens, that were reduced to 17.000 at the end of the XIV century, when the Papal seat was transferred to Avignon, in France (at the peak of its imperial expansion Rome counted 1 million inhabitants or more). Rome had become a little city concentrated in a small nucleus, surrounded by fields, orchards, ruins and farms, and this situation lasted up to about the end of the nineteenth century.
The Colosseum was outside the centre of the medieval city, which was concentrated on the banks of the river. Further earthquakes in 801 and 847 probably made more damage. The amphitheatre started being overgrown by plants and trees, and there are even stories about wild animals – wolves – frequenting the site. The ground level had slowly risen over the centuries, thus submerging a good half of the ground floor arches.
In the 11th century Rome fell into the hands of baronial families who were at constant war. They used to live in tall towers for safety reasons (a few of these towers are still standing as a reminder of the quarrelsome Middle Ages). One of the strongest families, the Frangipane, occupied the whole area around the Colosseum, which was transformed into a fortress.
In 1144 the Roman people banned the baronial families from the city, in an effort to free Rome from the influence of the Pope and of the nobility and to establish a Senate like the one of the ancient Romans. The Colosseum was then occupied and declared property of the free municipality of Rome. In 1159, though, the Frangipane reoccupied the building.
This image of Christ, encased in a keystone, still reminds us that a section of the Colosseum belonged to the religious order of the Santissimo Salvatore.
In 1216 the Annibaldi family challenged the Frangipane for the possession of the fortress, and the struggle lasted to about the end of the century, with the Annibaldi taking over the Colosseum, but being obliged to return it to the Church in 1312. It is uncertain if the monument was still practically intact in the XII-XIII century. There is mention of a bullfight, organized in 1332, in which 18 youths of the Roman nobility are said to have lost their lives, but the truth of the story is dubious (Delehaye, entry: Colosseum, in Catholic Encyclopedia).
In 1231 part of the SW wall collapsed during a very violent earthquake, but the great destruction took place in 1349, with more external arches crumbling. This fact is reported in a letter of the poet Francesco Petrarca. In the XIV century the families of the Orsini and Colonna were granted permission to remove stones and marble. In 1439 some stones were used to build the tribune in the church of St. John's Lateran. It was then that the removal of marble, stones and bricks really started, and it lasted for generations. Many palaces and churches were built with the stones of the Colosseum. It is reported (Lugli) that, in the year 1451-1452 alone, 2.522 cartloads were taken from the site to be used for buildings of the Vatican and for the walls of Rome.
The property was then subdivided, and sections of the amphitheatre were donated to religious orders. The order of the Olivetani even built a wall connecting their slice of Colosseum to the nearby convent of Santa Maria Nova. During the illiterate Middle Ages, all recollection of the games had gone lost, and people started to imagine that the building had been a temple dedicated to the Sun God, or to the devil. In this period the guides for the pilgrims visiting Rome generally described the Colosseum as a round temple, dedicated to different gods, that once had been covered by a dome made of bronze - or maybe copper. It was in this period that many legends started to circulate about the massive round building, saying that it was a palace of Titus and Vespasian, a temple of demons, a seat of occultism ... and more.
Recent studies have discovered that from as early as the IV century materials were taken away from the Colosseum, and that some drains were obstructed by the end of the same century. At the beginning of the V century the water/drainage system, at least in the southwestern sector, had stopped working, as the lead piping and fountains had been removed. There is evidence that in 444 or 445, on occasion of the vicennalia of Valentinianus III, the building was still basically intact, but 50 years later it was greatly damaged, most probably by an earthquake.
89 burial places, dating back from Diocletian to Theodoric's times (IV-VI century) have been found in the valley of the Colosseum, mainly in the NE sector. 63 burial places have been found in and around the amphitheatre, though only 56 have been mapped. These 56 are located in 3 places. The 15 on the eastern side and the 18 on the northern side were outside the travertine paving around the amphitheatre, which was still being maintained. The third group of 23 tombs (VI century) were found inside the northern portico, so the conclusion is that during the V century the area was abandoned, but the amphitheatre was still in use; later on, when the amphitheatre was closed, it was used for burials.
Venantius' inscription
The inscription on the right - dating back to 484 or 508 - commemorates the works that the Praefectus Urbi Decius Marius Venantius Basilius had had done - at his own expense - to repair the arena and the podium, damaged by an "abominandus" earthquake.Venantius' repairs of the arena meant the dismantling of the remaining colonnade, by sliding the columns and pieces down in the underground of the arena, and filling it up. In 519 Eutaricus Cilica held games in a Colosseum without the upper portico or underground, not to mention other major damages to the cavea, entrances, etc.
When in 1810-14 Carlo Fea excavated the arena, he found three roads on top of each other, along the long axis. The oldest one had been built on top of "Venantius' filling". Later on, in 1874-75, P. Rosa started the main work on the oldest stratum of earth - dating back to Venantius' days - and found 70% of the columns of the upper portico, a quantity of inscriptions, the fittings of the vomitoria, blocks of travertine and tuff, wooden beams and parts of the underground machinery. There were the remains of at least 20 huge columns (together with the capitals) that had fallen down from the top portico and had damaged the cavea mainly in the NE-SE sectors.
The amphitheatre in an old map
The last venationes were staged in the Colosseum in AD 523, when the king Theodoric gave permission to Anicius Maximus to celebrate his consulate.At the same time he defined the games "actus detestabilis, certamen infelix" and blamed Titus for having spent all that money in a building destined to celebrate death. During his reign, the area was reclaimed, and to connect the Celian hill to the Colosseum a road was built level with the arena.
Later on it seems that the amphitheatre was closed by wooden barriers, but it is uncertain if it was a closure before a possible reopening or to defend a property. Between the VI and the XIII century the ground floor was raised by 1,3 metres. In this layer were found walls, a basin to prepare lime and the paved road at Venantius' level. Some openings were made in the walls facing the arena, leading to think that the place had become a kind of piazza along the only road between the Colosseum and the Celian hill.
The Colosseum half buried and overgrown with plants
According to Rossella Rea, the first occupation of the Colosseum in order to systematically dismantle it dates back to the period between the second half of the VI and the second half/end of the VIII centuries; it is certain that by then the stones of the amphitheatre were extracted and used as building material. In those times the only stable institution was the Church, and it was the Pope Gregorius Magnus (590-604) who introduced the practice of recycling ancient temples, buildings and halls and turning them into Christian churches.
The city had by now lost its importance and population because of the repeated invasions and looting of Italy. By the end of the VI century Rome counted only 90.000 citizens, that were reduced to 17.000 at the end of the XIV century, when the Papal seat was transferred to Avignon, in France (at the peak of its imperial expansion Rome counted 1 million inhabitants or more). Rome had become a little city concentrated in a small nucleus, surrounded by fields, orchards, ruins and farms, and this situation lasted up to about the end of the nineteenth century.
The Colosseum was outside the centre of the medieval city, which was concentrated on the banks of the river. Further earthquakes in 801 and 847 probably made more damage. The amphitheatre started being overgrown by plants and trees, and there are even stories about wild animals – wolves – frequenting the site. The ground level had slowly risen over the centuries, thus submerging a good half of the ground floor arches.
In the 11th century Rome fell into the hands of baronial families who were at constant war. They used to live in tall towers for safety reasons (a few of these towers are still standing as a reminder of the quarrelsome Middle Ages). One of the strongest families, the Frangipane, occupied the whole area around the Colosseum, which was transformed into a fortress.
In 1144 the Roman people banned the baronial families from the city, in an effort to free Rome from the influence of the Pope and of the nobility and to establish a Senate like the one of the ancient Romans. The Colosseum was then occupied and declared property of the free municipality of Rome. In 1159, though, the Frangipane reoccupied the building.
This image of Christ, encased in a keystone, still reminds us that a section of the Colosseum belonged to the religious order of the Santissimo Salvatore.
In 1216 the Annibaldi family challenged the Frangipane for the possession of the fortress, and the struggle lasted to about the end of the century, with the Annibaldi taking over the Colosseum, but being obliged to return it to the Church in 1312. It is uncertain if the monument was still practically intact in the XII-XIII century. There is mention of a bullfight, organized in 1332, in which 18 youths of the Roman nobility are said to have lost their lives, but the truth of the story is dubious (Delehaye, entry: Colosseum, in Catholic Encyclopedia).
In 1231 part of the SW wall collapsed during a very violent earthquake, but the great destruction took place in 1349, with more external arches crumbling. This fact is reported in a letter of the poet Francesco Petrarca. In the XIV century the families of the Orsini and Colonna were granted permission to remove stones and marble. In 1439 some stones were used to build the tribune in the church of St. John's Lateran. It was then that the removal of marble, stones and bricks really started, and it lasted for generations. Many palaces and churches were built with the stones of the Colosseum. It is reported (Lugli) that, in the year 1451-1452 alone, 2.522 cartloads were taken from the site to be used for buildings of the Vatican and for the walls of Rome.
The property was then subdivided, and sections of the amphitheatre were donated to religious orders. The order of the Olivetani even built a wall connecting their slice of Colosseum to the nearby convent of Santa Maria Nova. During the illiterate Middle Ages, all recollection of the games had gone lost, and people started to imagine that the building had been a temple dedicated to the Sun God, or to the devil. In this period the guides for the pilgrims visiting Rome generally described the Colosseum as a round temple, dedicated to different gods, that once had been covered by a dome made of bronze - or maybe copper. It was in this period that many legends started to circulate about the massive round building, saying that it was a palace of Titus and Vespasian, a temple of demons, a seat of occultism ... and more.
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