The Colosseum essay

Authors Avatar

Ben Couchman

The Colosseum

The earliest gladiatorial shows originated from three pairs of gladiators in around 264bc this quickly escalated to 320 pairs in 65bc and heightened with a massive 10000 individuals in 107ad when Trajan celebrated his victory in the dacian wars. The coliseum was unlike many of the traditional amphitheatres like that at Pompeii. Pompeii was built from a solid base whereas the coliseum was built from rings of pillars. There were a few key developments that let the Romans build the great structures that they created, one of these was the arch, linked with the key stone , this let them brake away from the tradition right angle format of building and create more elaborate structures. The other was concrete, this brake through allowed the Romans to build under water and domes as well as extremely strong structures. All these developments would be a key part in the building of the coloseam.

         

The Romans had many different materials, each with a different quality. Tufa was a soft stone, used for higher up in tall buildings to reduce the weight. Travertine was a harder rock; this was used for the top of foundations and the pillars as it was a hard wearing, tough material. Roman mortar was used to bind agents together such as cement blocks and bricks; this would also help prevent the erosion of the iron spear heads in between the blocks. This was made from sand lime and water but a chalk mortar could also be made up. When it came to concrete the Romans had many different types for different uses. The normal concrete was lime, sand and water but different materials could be added to create different qualities for the concrete. If aggregate was added to the concrete mix it would have an increased strength, but if you water an even stronger material that would also set under water you could add pozzolana in the place of the sand. This volcanic dust strengthened over time, set very quickly and set under water and so created to best concrete to use on to jobs was the most reliable concrete was needed, such as the arches in the coliseum. The last one is a very light concrete where pumice stone is used, this lightweight material is used where the lightest touch is needed and weight is restricted. Normal concrete was still a good material and would be used for things such as foundations.

Join now!

               

The order and method of construction is a very well planned and thought out one witch included every eventuality and problem. It started with a hollow oval of one metre thick concrete foundations which were laid over Nero's lake. in between the travertine blocks witch made the pillars , a spear head shapes iron spike was placed in between the blocks , this then filled in with lead and chalk mortar helped keep it all together and stop erosion.  The basement of the Colosseum's arena that was later installed 44m wide and. wooden ramps ...

This is a preview of the whole essay