What do you think?
Rate this book
Wonders of the World
The Colosseum
Read the Bldg Blog interview with Mary Beard about the Wonders of the World series (Part I and Part II) Byron and Hitler were equally entranced by Rome's most famous monument, the Colosseum. Mid-Victorians admired the hundreds of varieties of flowers in its crannies and occasionally shuddered at its reputation for contagion, danger, and sexual temptation. Today it is the highlight of a tour of Italy for more than three million visitors a year, a concert arena for the likes of Paul McCartney, and a national symbol of opposition to the death penalty. Its ancient history is chockfull of romantic but erroneous myths. There is no evidence that any gladiator ever said "Hail Caesar, those about to die..." and we know of not one single Christian martyr who met his finish here. Yet the reality is much stranger than the legend as the authors, two prominent classical historians, explain in this absorbing account. We learn the details of how the arena was built and at what cost; we are introduced to the emperors who sometimes fought in gladiatorial games staged at the Colosseum; and we take measure of the audience who reveled in, or opposed, these games. The authors also trace the strange afterlife of the monument--as fortress, shrine of martyrs, church, and glue factory. Why are we so fascinated with this arena of death?
224 pages, Hardcover
First published November 14, 2005
63 people are currently reading
659 people want to read
About the author
Keith Hopkins
18 books9 followersMorris Keith Hopkins was a British historian and sociologist. He was professor of ancient history at the University of Cambridge from 1985 to 2000.
Hopkins had a relatively unconventional route to the Cambridge professorship. After Brentwood School, he graduated in classics at King's College, Cambridge in 1958. He spent time as a graduate student, much influenced by Moses Finley, but left before completing his doctorate for an assistant lectureship in sociology at the University of Leicester (1961–63).
He returned to Cambridge as a research fellow at King's College, Cambridge (1963–67) while at the same time taking a lectureship at the London School of Economics, before spending two years as professor of sociology at Hong Kong University (1967–69) After a further two years at the LSE (1970–72), he moved to Brunel University as professor of sociology in 1972, also serving as dean of the social sciences faculty from 1981 to 1985.
In 1985 he was elected to the Cambridge chair in ancient history. The fullest account of his career and significance as an ancient historian is in his British Academy necrology (W.V. Harris, Proceedings of the British Academy 130 (2005), 3–27).
Hopkins had a relatively unconventional route to the Cambridge professorship. After Brentwood School, he graduated in classics at King's College, Cambridge in 1958. He spent time as a graduate student, much influenced by Moses Finley, but left before completing his doctorate for an assistant lectureship in sociology at the University of Leicester (1961–63).
He returned to Cambridge as a research fellow at King's College, Cambridge (1963–67) while at the same time taking a lectureship at the London School of Economics, before spending two years as professor of sociology at Hong Kong University (1967–69) After a further two years at the LSE (1970–72), he moved to Brunel University as professor of sociology in 1972, also serving as dean of the social sciences faculty from 1981 to 1985.
In 1985 he was elected to the Cambridge chair in ancient history. The fullest account of his career and significance as an ancient historian is in his British Academy necrology (W.V. Harris, Proceedings of the British Academy 130 (2005), 3–27).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
October 13, 2024
The Colosseum
By Mary Beard and Keith Hopkins
I love history, and any history buff has read about the Colosseum, but this really goes into details I never would have thought of. Of course, it goes into the animals and gladiators, but that is just the tip of the iceburg. This is a great book if you really want to know everything, right down to the seating and size of the seats. I don't think they left any detail out!
By Mary Beard and Keith Hopkins
I love history, and any history buff has read about the Colosseum, but this really goes into details I never would have thought of. Of course, it goes into the animals and gladiators, but that is just the tip of the iceburg. This is a great book if you really want to know everything, right down to the seating and size of the seats. I don't think they left any detail out!
September 4, 2012
This book isn't quite as exhaustive as Mary Beard's book on Pompeii, but it's very good. It discusses both the popular myths about the Colosseum and the truths, if any, behind them. It's also nice that Mary Beard and Keith Hopkins recognise that they could be wrong, and that future archaelogy could show them to be as wrong as the people whose comments and theories they disparage.
It's well written and interesting, including notes and further reading. They seem, for my memories of Rome, to be a pretty fair bit of advice.
It's well written and interesting, including notes and further reading. They seem, for my memories of Rome, to be a pretty fair bit of advice.
June 3, 2008
Full of great anectdotes and research, this book is perfect for the rare individual who is ready to look at the Colosseum academically. Without even going out of its way it makes clear that most of what you think you know about this wonder of the world is actually not true. It is a bit of a mythbuster, and convincingly done, a storyline of this monument's biography does emerge more clearly than the fable-ized version allows possible.
December 20, 2024
An interesting, quick listen about a cool place, and one I’ve been fortunate enough to visit! :)
April 13, 2025
Well I swithered and dithered about reading this DURING A219 and how I wish I had: pg 53 discusses Symmachus [of the mosaic in the exam] and how he write letters about putting on gladiatorial shows to celebrate his son's praetorship.....:-0 Anyhoo, I really enjoyed this short chunter through the life of the Colosseum from 80AD to now. Less idiosyncratic and more useful than the volume on the Roman Forum in the same series.
March 27, 2017
While the authors have interesting points it feels as if they try to cover too much in too little space. Many things I would have liked to have been elaborated on were only mentioned in passing in one sentence, while other things that didnt seem as interesting were discussed at times for pages. This obviously is rather opinion based but this book is merely ok, nothing great but not horrible either.
January 25, 2021
Solid skeptical history. Bookended by thin discussions of the building’s cultural significance.
November 20, 2015
The eleventh century equivalent to the modern Blue Guide, a travel book titled The Wonders of Rome, instructed medieval tourists on the function and identity of the Colosseum with spectacular confidence. It was “the temple of the Sun . . . disposed with many diverse vaulted chambers,” and in the middle of what we now know was the arena a colossal statue of Jupiter or Apollo was said to have once towered over the massive structure. Another medieval theory postulated that the amphitheater was actually a palace of Vespasian and Titus, “a brave attempt,” as Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard note, “to make sense of a remembered connection with those emperors” (150). In fact, from at least the early medieval period until the fifteenth century, the memory of the Colosseum as an amphitheater—the most important, mind you, of the hundreds that dotted the landscape of the western Roman Empire—was lost. Most visitors to the Colosseum today are unaware of this overlooked wrinkle in the history of Rome’s most popular ancient monument, just as most travel books focus almost solely on its classical past. Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard aim to correct this temporal prejudice with The Colosseum, a brilliantly concise book that chronicles the monument’s construction, history, and reception over the course of nearly two thousand years.
Don’t be fooled: The Colosseum is not a mere travel book. Nor is it a scholarly tome stuffed with heady academic debates of little to no interest to the non-specialist. Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard take on some of the most commonly held assumptions about the monument, an arena bathed in the blood of thousands upon thousands of animals and humans alike, and turn many of them upside down. They tackle both modern and ancient perspectives toward the Colosseum, its architectural history as the world’s most impressive amphitheater, traditional interpretations of what happened on the sand inside the arena, and how the Colosseum transformed from the Flavian Amphitheater, to the so-called Temple of the Sun, to a wonderland for enthusiastic botanists. Despite its small size, The Colosseum never shies away from the most important questions about the amphitheater, especially with respect to how we, as modern visitors, marvel at its architectural splendor despite our moral repulsion to what happened inside its walls.
“The Colosseum was very much more than a mere sports venue,” Hopkins and Beard note early on. Indeed, much has been said about how Rome’s sociopolitical hierarchy was embedded into the very fabric of the amphitheater. Senators and other elites sat closest to the arena, male citizens of lesser importance sat behind them, and women and slaves were confined to the uppermost rows (ironically, where most visitors desperately hope—and usually cannot—visit). The Colosseum was “a political theater in which each stratum of Roman society played out its role.” Typically, Hopkins and Beard proceed to make an even more sophisticated point, and keenly note how the Colosseum was one of the only venues where Rome’s disenfranchised citizens could confront their emperor. The Forum, they claim, was much too small and it was too difficult to “concentrate the popular voice” inside the immense Circus Maximus. The Colosseum, on the other hand, packed emperor, senators, and nearly 50,000 citizens into the same confined space. It was an ideal location for the city’s populace to show “their collective muscle in front of the emperor,” especially if he had started to flout their concerns (41). In a political scheme where the people lacked democratic power, this was of crucial importance. Hopkins and Beard appropriately emphasize this point.
Of the many impressive accomplishments of this book, the statistics Hopkins and Beard calculate in an attempt to better understand gladiatorial spectacle may prove the most intriguing. With all of the available evidence (on tombstones, in literature, and from the known number of amphitheaters) and certain suppositions taken into account, the numbers that they arrive at are informative and astounding. They calculate, for instance, that there were approximately 16,000 gladiators fighting outside of the capital annually, with up to 20,000 (according to Pliny) in imperial training camps. Add those numbers up, and you have “something like a quarter of the strength of the Roman legions combined” (93). Given these figures (and under the further assumption that gladiators fought at least twice a year), Hopkins and Beard go on to propose 8,000 deaths per year from gladiatorial combat, which would constitute around 1.5 percent of all twenty year-old men in the empire. Ultimately, these statistics contextualize the importance of gladiatorial combat to Roman spectacle—after all, a massive amount of effort would have been needed to replace those who had fallen in the arena—and provide us with a sense of how bloody the sport really was. “Gladiatorial shows,” Hopkins and Beard soberly remark, “were a deadly death tax” (94).
What did the Romans think about all this? Hopkins and Beard are eager to tackle this question directly, positing that the Romans were not as blind to the ethical concerns about gladiatorial combat as is commonly believed. They cite a law passed in the principate of Marcus Aurelius that abolished the tax on the sale of gladiators and stated that the treasury “should not be stained with the splashing of human blood,” and that it was morally reprehensible to acquire money from what was “forbidden by all laws of gods and humans” (120). Here, in 177 CE, and in the principate of an emperor who, in his Meditations, claimed to have found gladiatorial shows “boring,” the Romans were deeply critical of the cruelty associated with the most famous spectacle in the arena. While ethical opposition to blood sports was not as pervasive in the Roman world as it is in our own, the law nevertheless points to the fact that at least a sizable portion of the population apart from the Christians abhorred gladiatorial violence. What can we make of this? Hopkins and Beard reach a sensible conclusion: while the ethical boundaries of the Romans “were drawn in very different places from our own . . . that does not mean that they had no ethical boundaries, or ethical doubts, at all” (121).
The Colosseum is, in the end, one of the most enjoyable non-specialist books written on the ancient world. Those who have read Keith Hopkins or Mary Beard’s work before will not be surprised to find their prose here delightfully easy to read and understand. I highly recommend The Colosseum to those hoping to visit the amphitheater in the future and to all students of ancient history looking for a break from dreary academic writing. While The Colosseum is primarily aimed at the general reader, astute classicists will nevertheless find much to think about and digest from the conclusions drawn by Hopkins and Beard. It will not disappoint.
Don’t be fooled: The Colosseum is not a mere travel book. Nor is it a scholarly tome stuffed with heady academic debates of little to no interest to the non-specialist. Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard take on some of the most commonly held assumptions about the monument, an arena bathed in the blood of thousands upon thousands of animals and humans alike, and turn many of them upside down. They tackle both modern and ancient perspectives toward the Colosseum, its architectural history as the world’s most impressive amphitheater, traditional interpretations of what happened on the sand inside the arena, and how the Colosseum transformed from the Flavian Amphitheater, to the so-called Temple of the Sun, to a wonderland for enthusiastic botanists. Despite its small size, The Colosseum never shies away from the most important questions about the amphitheater, especially with respect to how we, as modern visitors, marvel at its architectural splendor despite our moral repulsion to what happened inside its walls.
“The Colosseum was very much more than a mere sports venue,” Hopkins and Beard note early on. Indeed, much has been said about how Rome’s sociopolitical hierarchy was embedded into the very fabric of the amphitheater. Senators and other elites sat closest to the arena, male citizens of lesser importance sat behind them, and women and slaves were confined to the uppermost rows (ironically, where most visitors desperately hope—and usually cannot—visit). The Colosseum was “a political theater in which each stratum of Roman society played out its role.” Typically, Hopkins and Beard proceed to make an even more sophisticated point, and keenly note how the Colosseum was one of the only venues where Rome’s disenfranchised citizens could confront their emperor. The Forum, they claim, was much too small and it was too difficult to “concentrate the popular voice” inside the immense Circus Maximus. The Colosseum, on the other hand, packed emperor, senators, and nearly 50,000 citizens into the same confined space. It was an ideal location for the city’s populace to show “their collective muscle in front of the emperor,” especially if he had started to flout their concerns (41). In a political scheme where the people lacked democratic power, this was of crucial importance. Hopkins and Beard appropriately emphasize this point.
Of the many impressive accomplishments of this book, the statistics Hopkins and Beard calculate in an attempt to better understand gladiatorial spectacle may prove the most intriguing. With all of the available evidence (on tombstones, in literature, and from the known number of amphitheaters) and certain suppositions taken into account, the numbers that they arrive at are informative and astounding. They calculate, for instance, that there were approximately 16,000 gladiators fighting outside of the capital annually, with up to 20,000 (according to Pliny) in imperial training camps. Add those numbers up, and you have “something like a quarter of the strength of the Roman legions combined” (93). Given these figures (and under the further assumption that gladiators fought at least twice a year), Hopkins and Beard go on to propose 8,000 deaths per year from gladiatorial combat, which would constitute around 1.5 percent of all twenty year-old men in the empire. Ultimately, these statistics contextualize the importance of gladiatorial combat to Roman spectacle—after all, a massive amount of effort would have been needed to replace those who had fallen in the arena—and provide us with a sense of how bloody the sport really was. “Gladiatorial shows,” Hopkins and Beard soberly remark, “were a deadly death tax” (94).
What did the Romans think about all this? Hopkins and Beard are eager to tackle this question directly, positing that the Romans were not as blind to the ethical concerns about gladiatorial combat as is commonly believed. They cite a law passed in the principate of Marcus Aurelius that abolished the tax on the sale of gladiators and stated that the treasury “should not be stained with the splashing of human blood,” and that it was morally reprehensible to acquire money from what was “forbidden by all laws of gods and humans” (120). Here, in 177 CE, and in the principate of an emperor who, in his Meditations, claimed to have found gladiatorial shows “boring,” the Romans were deeply critical of the cruelty associated with the most famous spectacle in the arena. While ethical opposition to blood sports was not as pervasive in the Roman world as it is in our own, the law nevertheless points to the fact that at least a sizable portion of the population apart from the Christians abhorred gladiatorial violence. What can we make of this? Hopkins and Beard reach a sensible conclusion: while the ethical boundaries of the Romans “were drawn in very different places from our own . . . that does not mean that they had no ethical boundaries, or ethical doubts, at all” (121).
The Colosseum is, in the end, one of the most enjoyable non-specialist books written on the ancient world. Those who have read Keith Hopkins or Mary Beard’s work before will not be surprised to find their prose here delightfully easy to read and understand. I highly recommend The Colosseum to those hoping to visit the amphitheater in the future and to all students of ancient history looking for a break from dreary academic writing. While The Colosseum is primarily aimed at the general reader, astute classicists will nevertheless find much to think about and digest from the conclusions drawn by Hopkins and Beard. It will not disappoint.
January 3, 2022
This book starts out with a view of the Colosseum from the 1800s, which is one of the reasons why I picked up: I wanted to read about the 1700 or so years the Colosseum wasn't *The Colosseum*. Of course the main part of the book is about the Colosseum days of the Colosseum, but it is entertainingly written, but still with enough stuff to keep me entertained (despite having read quite a lot of the books they quote on the building and the gladiatorial games themselves).
Personally I would have liked more both about the afterlife of the building and the use of Colosseum both in literature and in politics, but considering this is written in a series which probably has its own limits, I take what I can get.
Recommended for people who want to know more about the Colosseum and people packing for (or dreaming about) Rome.
3,5 stars
Personally I would have liked more both about the afterlife of the building and the use of Colosseum both in literature and in politics, but considering this is written in a series which probably has its own limits, I take what I can get.
Recommended for people who want to know more about the Colosseum and people packing for (or dreaming about) Rome.
3,5 stars
May 2, 2025
El coliseo, monumento histórico, lugar de batallas terrestres y también navales, lugar de entretencion, batallas entre gladiadores, en otras épocas, se usaba como diversión para toros.
Momentos de la historia que paso por algunos como lugar de prostitución, adoración a los mártires, la iglesia, cuyos sumos pontifices marcaban una apuesta a los terrenos, de lo cual se fue separando cuando entró el dictador mussolini, que le interesaba la arquitectura, un resumen muy bien dirigido, describiendo los momentos, desde su fundación por el emperador Vespaciano, en el 80 d.c, pasando por sus hijos, Domiciano y Tito, respectivamente, el primer hijo, que se describe como un sádico en las batallas entre gladiadores
Momentos de la historia que paso por algunos como lugar de prostitución, adoración a los mártires, la iglesia, cuyos sumos pontifices marcaban una apuesta a los terrenos, de lo cual se fue separando cuando entró el dictador mussolini, que le interesaba la arquitectura, un resumen muy bien dirigido, describiendo los momentos, desde su fundación por el emperador Vespaciano, en el 80 d.c, pasando por sus hijos, Domiciano y Tito, respectivamente, el primer hijo, que se describe como un sádico en las batallas entre gladiadores
November 16, 2024
I picked this book because I will be visiting Rome and sites like the colosseum in sixty days and wanted historical reference. The author did not disappoint. A quick read, small book, 200 pages. I agree with the other recent reviews which gave this book high grades for historical reference and lots of facts and corrections to our folklore and just plain things we didn’t know. A very interesting 2000 year old landmark.
January 1, 2025
Si bien no es un texto ni cerca académico, relata de manera amena diversos aspectos de la historia de uno de los mas grandes monumentos romanos que con diversas refacciones a lo largo de los siglos, se ha mantenido en pie hasta el dia de hoy. Harta anécdota y cosas desconocidas que uno no se entera en una simple visita. Ahora, después de leer el libro, se abren las ansias de volver a recorrer sus pasajes.
January 9, 2023
Um local incontornável que desejo visitar num futuro próximo.
April 7, 2023
This book discusses every aspect of the Colosseum, from how many gladiators were killed in an average year to how the Colosseum was built initially vs. remodeled. With so few records remaining, it is difficult to understand the number of gladiator deaths. However, the authors scraped together every scrap of information to write their book.
First, the gladiator movies are just that -- someone's idea of how they occurred in Rome. But no one knows for sure. After extensive research, the authors believe gladiator matches were less common than in the movies. They determined that famous gladiators probably fought twice each year. For several reasons, gladiators cost a lot to train and keep healthy. In addition, Rome taxed the gladiators' owners heavily.
The authors estimate that 8000 gladiators died yearly (throughout the Empire). They mention that killing that many healthy young men had to have depleted the military over time. Although the gladiators were not in the military, young men were selected to become gladiators at about 17. This reduced the number available to join the military.
The authors discuss the placement of different classes of Roman citizens in the Colosseum. First, of course, the nobles, senators, and knights sat nearest to the Emperor. Although the shows were free to Roman citizens, lower-class people sat further away from the action.
After research, the authors conclude that the events were not as frequent or wild as movies indicate. It was so expensive to put on these events that only the Emperor or wealthy nobles could foot the bill for these extravaganzas. Then, they turned their attention to the wild animal hunting in the Colosseum. Again, the authors found that animal killings weren't as common as movies portray. It was expensive and time-consuming to bring wild animals to Rome. To spend so much money and immediately kill the animals seemed counterintuitive to the authors.
However, I'd like to skip over to the killing of the Christians in the Colosseum. The authors found no record of Christians being eaten in the Colosseum. None. However, the Christians developed a writing genre to celebrate martyrs. Early Christians told stories about animals tearing brave souls apart while the Christians prayed to God.
The final chapter was interesting because the authors studied how the Colosseum changed over the generations. Separate groups caused these changes. First, after the fall of Rome, the Colosseum fell into disuse. A variety of folks took up living and working in the building. Then, the papacy earned money by selling off cartloads of the Colosseum's detritus (valuable exterior travertine and concrete). This continued for hundreds of years.
The second group was the Christians. By the Middle Ages, hundreds of stories of slain martyrs had been written, and the Christians claimed that the Colosseum should be saved for its Christian significance (even though there are no actual primary source accounts to substantiate this). Thereupon, the Pope and various Christian groups did restoration work.
The next groups to demand the Colosseum for their use were the archaeologists and botanists. From 1870 on, archaeologists excavated the floor and subfloors until rain collected at the base of the Colosseum and called a stop to their study. But the most unique group has to be the botanists. Over the centuries, over 400 different fauna species took hold in the Colosseum. It is thought the seeds were in the coats of wild animals! After the excavations by the archaeologists, almost 200 species were lost. However, despite the neglect, so many plants survived in the Colosseum. Many of them were not naturally found in Italy.
This book vacillated between fascinating and boring. However, I did learn that the Colosseum is elliptical in shape (not round) and is renowned as the largest amphitheater in the world. It is also one of the Seven New Wonders of the World..
First, the gladiator movies are just that -- someone's idea of how they occurred in Rome. But no one knows for sure. After extensive research, the authors believe gladiator matches were less common than in the movies. They determined that famous gladiators probably fought twice each year. For several reasons, gladiators cost a lot to train and keep healthy. In addition, Rome taxed the gladiators' owners heavily.
The authors estimate that 8000 gladiators died yearly (throughout the Empire). They mention that killing that many healthy young men had to have depleted the military over time. Although the gladiators were not in the military, young men were selected to become gladiators at about 17. This reduced the number available to join the military.
The authors discuss the placement of different classes of Roman citizens in the Colosseum. First, of course, the nobles, senators, and knights sat nearest to the Emperor. Although the shows were free to Roman citizens, lower-class people sat further away from the action.
After research, the authors conclude that the events were not as frequent or wild as movies indicate. It was so expensive to put on these events that only the Emperor or wealthy nobles could foot the bill for these extravaganzas. Then, they turned their attention to the wild animal hunting in the Colosseum. Again, the authors found that animal killings weren't as common as movies portray. It was expensive and time-consuming to bring wild animals to Rome. To spend so much money and immediately kill the animals seemed counterintuitive to the authors.
However, I'd like to skip over to the killing of the Christians in the Colosseum. The authors found no record of Christians being eaten in the Colosseum. None. However, the Christians developed a writing genre to celebrate martyrs. Early Christians told stories about animals tearing brave souls apart while the Christians prayed to God.
The final chapter was interesting because the authors studied how the Colosseum changed over the generations. Separate groups caused these changes. First, after the fall of Rome, the Colosseum fell into disuse. A variety of folks took up living and working in the building. Then, the papacy earned money by selling off cartloads of the Colosseum's detritus (valuable exterior travertine and concrete). This continued for hundreds of years.
The second group was the Christians. By the Middle Ages, hundreds of stories of slain martyrs had been written, and the Christians claimed that the Colosseum should be saved for its Christian significance (even though there are no actual primary source accounts to substantiate this). Thereupon, the Pope and various Christian groups did restoration work.
The next groups to demand the Colosseum for their use were the archaeologists and botanists. From 1870 on, archaeologists excavated the floor and subfloors until rain collected at the base of the Colosseum and called a stop to their study. But the most unique group has to be the botanists. Over the centuries, over 400 different fauna species took hold in the Colosseum. It is thought the seeds were in the coats of wild animals! After the excavations by the archaeologists, almost 200 species were lost. However, despite the neglect, so many plants survived in the Colosseum. Many of them were not naturally found in Italy.
This book vacillated between fascinating and boring. However, I did learn that the Colosseum is elliptical in shape (not round) and is renowned as the largest amphitheater in the world. It is also one of the Seven New Wonders of the World..
April 27, 2025
Muy entretenido y a pesar de su extensión (no tiene más de 200 páginas) muy completo.
Para mi gusto, lamentablemente, Mary Beard no tiene muchos libros buenos. La razón, creo yo, no es ella misma, sino los editores que han abusado de ese manido mecanismo de usar artículos suyos en medios técnicos para producir libros prácticamente ilegibles (por ejemplo Doce Césares). Creo que los he leído todos (solo me falta el de Pompeya que lo tengo ahí esperando con un poco de miedo) y me atrevería a afirmar que hay un 50% de probabilidad de que un libro de Mary Beard defraude.
Pero no es el caso de "El Coliseo".
El libro, escrito en colaboración con Keith Hopkins, o para ser realmente justo, el libro de Hopkins, que es escrito en colaboración con Mary Beard, presenta una panorámica relativamente amplia de la historia del Anfiteatro Flavio, un edificio que recibió el nombre por el que todos lo conocemos, el "Coliseo", apenas en la edad media.
El libro no solo hace una relación de los períodos más importantes de esta, una de las más increíbles obras civiles de la tardoantigüedad romana, una de los que sobrevivió casi completa a los rigores del tiempo. La historia en este libro nos lleva desde sus humildes orígenes como un espejo de agua en la Domus Aurea de Nerón, pasando por su diseño y construcción (¡es una impresionante obra de ingeniería!) y el uso continuado por caso 5 siglos como sede de espectáculos de todos los tipos; hasta llegar a convertirse en las ruinas que se resistían a desaparecer durante el renacimiento y el barroco, incluso sometidas al agresivo expoilió que alimento los monumentos de la Roma moderna, y finalmente su renacer como símbolo de la grandeza de la antigua Roma durante el siglo XX (auspiciado por el regimen facista de Mussolini en un increíble giro de los acontecimientos) cuando se convirtió en lo que hoy es, uno de los más icónicos monumentos de la Ciudad Eterna.
Además de contarnos una Historia del Coliseo, el libro hace una entretenida y completa narración de los usos que ha tenido a lo largo de sus más de 2000 años de historia.
Se extiende en detalle en los espectáculos por el que lo conocemos, a saber inmensos y terribles genocidios de animales salvajes, que superaron en magnitud y, a mi muy personal parecer, en sevicia, al de los humanos que murieron "jugando" a los gladiadores, e incluso al de los que fueron torturados pagando por crímenes o como consecuencia de persecuciones políticas y religiosas en el mismo escenario.
No es común que lo diga nadie, pero hay que hacerlo de una buena vez, o por lo menos yo quiero desahogarme.
La magnitud de la tortura a la que sometieron los romanos a animales no humanos increíbles como elefantes, avestruces, rinocerontes, osos y grandes felinos, supera por un factor de más de 10 a la que sometieron a los animales humanos. Humanos que, como lo cuenta este mismo libro, eran en su mayoría personas que eligieron libremente estar allí. Ningún León, Oso Gris o Jirafa lo escogió. Esos humanos, gladiadores principalmente, estaban allí por su elección; si, no todos los gladiadores eran realmente esclavos como nos lo han querido dar a entender. Esta era una profesión de alto riesgo (pero no tanto como lo ha pintado la literatura y el cine) pero que podría implicar grandes dividendos económicos.
Se puede decir que incluso, y aquí me dirán que exagero pero las evidencias documentales están para quién quiera conocerlas, muchos mártires cristianos - que representan en realidad una minoría de quiénes murieron en las arenas del coliseo (si incluimos en la suma, las vidas de los animales no humanos que también eran vidas reales), lo hicieron casi por voluntad propia. Es claro que las torturas a las que fueron injustamente sometidos esos cristianos por sus creencias o más bien, como lo han aclarado repetidamente autores y autoras de todos los orígenes, por resistirse a rendir culto a los dioses romanos, no pueden justificarse; pero es cada vez más claro que ser torturado en la arena del coliseo no era precisamente un destino al que huían muchos cristianos primitivos y del que si querían huir leones, hienas y cocodrilos.
En resumen. Este es el libro que hay que leer sobre el Coliseo: bueno, cortico y completo.
Para mi gusto, lamentablemente, Mary Beard no tiene muchos libros buenos. La razón, creo yo, no es ella misma, sino los editores que han abusado de ese manido mecanismo de usar artículos suyos en medios técnicos para producir libros prácticamente ilegibles (por ejemplo Doce Césares). Creo que los he leído todos (solo me falta el de Pompeya que lo tengo ahí esperando con un poco de miedo) y me atrevería a afirmar que hay un 50% de probabilidad de que un libro de Mary Beard defraude.
Pero no es el caso de "El Coliseo".
El libro, escrito en colaboración con Keith Hopkins, o para ser realmente justo, el libro de Hopkins, que es escrito en colaboración con Mary Beard, presenta una panorámica relativamente amplia de la historia del Anfiteatro Flavio, un edificio que recibió el nombre por el que todos lo conocemos, el "Coliseo", apenas en la edad media.
El libro no solo hace una relación de los períodos más importantes de esta, una de las más increíbles obras civiles de la tardoantigüedad romana, una de los que sobrevivió casi completa a los rigores del tiempo. La historia en este libro nos lleva desde sus humildes orígenes como un espejo de agua en la Domus Aurea de Nerón, pasando por su diseño y construcción (¡es una impresionante obra de ingeniería!) y el uso continuado por caso 5 siglos como sede de espectáculos de todos los tipos; hasta llegar a convertirse en las ruinas que se resistían a desaparecer durante el renacimiento y el barroco, incluso sometidas al agresivo expoilió que alimento los monumentos de la Roma moderna, y finalmente su renacer como símbolo de la grandeza de la antigua Roma durante el siglo XX (auspiciado por el regimen facista de Mussolini en un increíble giro de los acontecimientos) cuando se convirtió en lo que hoy es, uno de los más icónicos monumentos de la Ciudad Eterna.
Además de contarnos una Historia del Coliseo, el libro hace una entretenida y completa narración de los usos que ha tenido a lo largo de sus más de 2000 años de historia.
Se extiende en detalle en los espectáculos por el que lo conocemos, a saber inmensos y terribles genocidios de animales salvajes, que superaron en magnitud y, a mi muy personal parecer, en sevicia, al de los humanos que murieron "jugando" a los gladiadores, e incluso al de los que fueron torturados pagando por crímenes o como consecuencia de persecuciones políticas y religiosas en el mismo escenario.
No es común que lo diga nadie, pero hay que hacerlo de una buena vez, o por lo menos yo quiero desahogarme.
La magnitud de la tortura a la que sometieron los romanos a animales no humanos increíbles como elefantes, avestruces, rinocerontes, osos y grandes felinos, supera por un factor de más de 10 a la que sometieron a los animales humanos. Humanos que, como lo cuenta este mismo libro, eran en su mayoría personas que eligieron libremente estar allí. Ningún León, Oso Gris o Jirafa lo escogió. Esos humanos, gladiadores principalmente, estaban allí por su elección; si, no todos los gladiadores eran realmente esclavos como nos lo han querido dar a entender. Esta era una profesión de alto riesgo (pero no tanto como lo ha pintado la literatura y el cine) pero que podría implicar grandes dividendos económicos.
Se puede decir que incluso, y aquí me dirán que exagero pero las evidencias documentales están para quién quiera conocerlas, muchos mártires cristianos - que representan en realidad una minoría de quiénes murieron en las arenas del coliseo (si incluimos en la suma, las vidas de los animales no humanos que también eran vidas reales), lo hicieron casi por voluntad propia. Es claro que las torturas a las que fueron injustamente sometidos esos cristianos por sus creencias o más bien, como lo han aclarado repetidamente autores y autoras de todos los orígenes, por resistirse a rendir culto a los dioses romanos, no pueden justificarse; pero es cada vez más claro que ser torturado en la arena del coliseo no era precisamente un destino al que huían muchos cristianos primitivos y del que si querían huir leones, hienas y cocodrilos.
En resumen. Este es el libro que hay que leer sobre el Coliseo: bueno, cortico y completo.
August 7, 2021
A short but entertaining and illuminating book into the history and significance of the Colosseum, the great amphitheater at the heart of Imperial Rome, and still one of the most significant classical ruins today.
I've not read any Hopkins before, but Beard (represented more strongly in spirit than in book credits, by Joan Walker's capable narration) always has a flare for the skeptical observation, the desire to delineate between what we know and what we don't, and an insistence on not confusing what the tour guides say with what the actual archaeological and historic record points out.
The Colosseum itself is a grand anomaly, a classical Roman structure smack-dad in the middle of a major city that, for a variety of reasons, still survives today. Sure, a lot of it doesn't survive, mine for marble for other buildings (or, worse, for marble to turn into lime), a lot of what we see now is reconstruction from over the ages, esp. the 18th-19th Century. It's so massive a structure that, even though parts of it have been used for a variety of things, from shops to manure storage to palace, nobody could quite afford (despite various plans) to convert the whole thing into something else. Its size saved it from being completely obliterated, and its (quite tenuous) association with Christian martyrdom eventually made its Catholic Church owners attempt to (mostly) preserve it as a religious site, until the archaeologists and Italian nationalists kicked them and the copious flora draped about the building out in the 19th Century and began to turn the site into what we see today.
It's a short book, which is sort of a shame, because there are so many enticing threads that are presented but never pursued. There's also a moderate amount of discussion early on about gladiators and the games in ancient Rome, and how that all fit into and shaped the culture over the centuries; I'd love to have read more of this.
Ultimately, a fine book to read, never having seen the actual site. I hope to within the next few years, pandemic willing, in which I case I will re-listen before doing so, or maybe afterwards, or even maybe both.
I've not read any Hopkins before, but Beard (represented more strongly in spirit than in book credits, by Joan Walker's capable narration) always has a flare for the skeptical observation, the desire to delineate between what we know and what we don't, and an insistence on not confusing what the tour guides say with what the actual archaeological and historic record points out.
The Colosseum itself is a grand anomaly, a classical Roman structure smack-dad in the middle of a major city that, for a variety of reasons, still survives today. Sure, a lot of it doesn't survive, mine for marble for other buildings (or, worse, for marble to turn into lime), a lot of what we see now is reconstruction from over the ages, esp. the 18th-19th Century. It's so massive a structure that, even though parts of it have been used for a variety of things, from shops to manure storage to palace, nobody could quite afford (despite various plans) to convert the whole thing into something else. Its size saved it from being completely obliterated, and its (quite tenuous) association with Christian martyrdom eventually made its Catholic Church owners attempt to (mostly) preserve it as a religious site, until the archaeologists and Italian nationalists kicked them and the copious flora draped about the building out in the 19th Century and began to turn the site into what we see today.
It's a short book, which is sort of a shame, because there are so many enticing threads that are presented but never pursued. There's also a moderate amount of discussion early on about gladiators and the games in ancient Rome, and how that all fit into and shaped the culture over the centuries; I'd love to have read more of this.
Ultimately, a fine book to read, never having seen the actual site. I hope to within the next few years, pandemic willing, in which I case I will re-listen before doing so, or maybe afterwards, or even maybe both.
December 19, 2019
Bien que le plan de cet ouvrage soit atypique, les deux auteurs partent des représentations des lecteurs (peinture, film) pour étayer leur propos ce qui peut être un bon outil de vulgarisation. Ils ont également tout à fait raison de prendre du recul par rapport aux sources antiques et ils proposent certains axes de réflexion très intéressants. Toutefois, le ton condescendant qu’ils utilisent pour qualifier les travaux de recherche de leur collègues archéologue et historien les desservent énormément : ils peuvent ne pas être d’accord avec leurs théories mais de là à remettre en question leurs compétences, je ne trouve pas cela très fairplay. Surtout, ils n’apportent pas forcément eux-mêmes d’autres alternatives probantes. J’ai dans ma bibliothèque un autre ouvrage de Mary Beard sur Pompéi, je pense le lire pour savoir si cet ouvrage me laissera la même impression.
Pour une chronique plus complète, rendez-vous sur mon blog :
https://labibliothequedaelinel.wordpr...
Pour une chronique plus complète, rendez-vous sur mon blog :
https://labibliothequedaelinel.wordpr...
February 15, 2025
A short look at the Roman Colosseum containing some fun anecdotes and covering a few of the key areas surrounding the Colosseum when it was built, what the gladiators looked like, etc.
I would not say it was the most academic account of the Colosseum. Hopkins often strays into tangents that feel somewhat irrelevant. At other points, the book does address some common misconceptions around the Colosseum and shows how modern perceptions have been shaped by popular media. I would have liked a greater discussion on the architectural features of the Colosseum and how it would have been built; instead, Hopkins is more interested in discussing the people who would have performed and spectated at the shows.
I'm generally not a fan of Mary Beard's style of writing, and unfortunately, Hopkins writes in a similar way, which stops me from rating this book any higher. Still, this is a decent and accessible overview of the Colosseum, which covers most of its important aspects.
I would not say it was the most academic account of the Colosseum. Hopkins often strays into tangents that feel somewhat irrelevant. At other points, the book does address some common misconceptions around the Colosseum and shows how modern perceptions have been shaped by popular media. I would have liked a greater discussion on the architectural features of the Colosseum and how it would have been built; instead, Hopkins is more interested in discussing the people who would have performed and spectated at the shows.
I'm generally not a fan of Mary Beard's style of writing, and unfortunately, Hopkins writes in a similar way, which stops me from rating this book any higher. Still, this is a decent and accessible overview of the Colosseum, which covers most of its important aspects.
January 11, 2025
Es muy difícil estar en la Ciudad Eterna y no quedarse maravillado frente a uno de los yacimientos más impresionantes del mundo antiguo que están en pie. Llegar a la arena y tratar de hacer pasar los gritos de los visitantes por vítores hacia un gladiador listo para dar entretenimiento, porque es eso y mucho más. Es el lugar de la propaganda política, de la religión y de los rituales. También lo es de la botánica o de la fábrica de lana. El Coliseo no es sólo el monumental edificio ordenado a construir por Vespasiano, sino el resultado de más de veinte siglos de historia y que aún conserva algunos secretos que espero nos sorprendan en un futuro cercano. Keith Hopkins y Mary Beard hacen un ejercicio divulgatorio que han conseguido que cuando vuelva a Roma y esté frente a él lo valore con una mayor profundidad.
February 26, 2025
Ancient Rome - and the Colosseum in particular - have been of great interest to me. I recently watched Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" and Gladiator II" and was inspired to learn more about the Colosseum. After browsing a bunch of books I stumbled upon this one, "The Colosseum" (part of the Wonders of the World Series). Having now read it, I think I made a good choice. It had a great balance between the monument's architecture/construction, as well as some of the history and controversy. I very much appreciated the authors' skepticism when discussing some of the prevailing archeological theories. I've often thought that some archeologists are too quick to develop theories and conclusions when presented with meager evidence.
June 25, 2020
Thinking it was time for a non fiction read! I do love anything to do with history, particularly Ancient Rome or ancient Egypt. I have visited the coliseum and stood within its walls, however I wasn’t as well read then as I am now (mid teens!) and I feel I would appreciate seeing it now so much more than I did back then.
This was such an interesting read, dealing with the origins of the colosseum, it’s uses, the famous gladiator events, even touching on the morals and ethics surrounding such a horrific and brutal sport.
Enjoyable if you are after a little slice of history with a little bit of humour and nostalgia thrown in!
This was such an interesting read, dealing with the origins of the colosseum, it’s uses, the famous gladiator events, even touching on the morals and ethics surrounding such a horrific and brutal sport.
Enjoyable if you are after a little slice of history with a little bit of humour and nostalgia thrown in!
December 18, 2020
Interesante aproximación a un edificio y todas las implicaciones culturales que tuvo durante su erección y que sigue teniendo hasta nuestros días. Mary Beard y Keith Hopkins se dan a la tarea de mostrar qué significaba el anfiteatro para los romanos que lo construyeron, las implicaciones que tenían los enfrentamientos gladiatorios y demás espectáculos que en él se presentaban, las diferencias de clases sociales que se veían manifiestas en los lugares que se ocupaban dentro del anfiteatro y hasta cuándo mantuvo este papel, qué fue después de que Roma dejó de ser la capital imperial y qué significó durante la Edad Media, el Renacimiento y hasta nuestros días.
August 29, 2019
As it was and as you are.
So what should we think when we visit this relic of the Roman Empire? Starting with the impressions of Lord Byron to a Victorian travel guide we are challenged to reflect on what we are seeing. Then, we are told that we know more about this than we might have thought. Using research into individuals involved, we learn that gladiators lived just over 22 years. 48 was the average for other males. It seems that the gladiator probably had two fights a year. From a small sample size it shows a 13% loss of life from a set of fights.
Stay in school kids.
So what should we think when we visit this relic of the Roman Empire? Starting with the impressions of Lord Byron to a Victorian travel guide we are challenged to reflect on what we are seeing. Then, we are told that we know more about this than we might have thought. Using research into individuals involved, we learn that gladiators lived just over 22 years. 48 was the average for other males. It seems that the gladiator probably had two fights a year. From a small sample size it shows a 13% loss of life from a set of fights.
Stay in school kids.
November 25, 2024
"Para descubrir la historia completa de esta fascinante construcción nada mejor que sumergirnos en las páginas de El Coliseo, de Keith Hopkins y Mary Beard, una obra fascinante que ofrece una visión integral del famoso anfiteatro romano. Publicado por la editorial Crítica, el libro ofrece un excelente ejercicio de erudición por parte de los dos destacados historiadores para explorar tanto la historia como los mitos que rodean al icónico monumento".
RESEÑA COMPLETA: https://atrapadaenunashojasdepapel.bl...
RESEÑA COMPLETA: https://atrapadaenunashojasdepapel.bl...
March 30, 2024
Mary Beard and Keith Hopkins bridge the gap well between the accessibility of popular history and a summation of the scholarly consensus on all aspects of the building and the games. I think the book excels more in the use of textual evidence to bring the colosseum to life. My only gripe is with the presentation of the archaeology where for example the purpose of the cryptoporticus of Commodus is taken at face value when other major theories exist.
November 21, 2024
Una buena primera aproximación al Coliseo. Es ameno de leer, muy introductorio y generalista. Si bien no ahonda mucho en las cuestiones que presentan, sí que sirve para que el lector interesado tenga un esbozo de todo lo que hay sobre el Coliseo y, a partir de ahí, ya se puede buscar más bibliografía específica. La verdad es que me ha gustado bastante porque sí que hay cuestiones que presentan interesantes y que hacen que el lector (y hasta el académico) se plantee cosas.
January 14, 2025
Si bien me ha parecido interesante, creo que pasa muy de puntillas y rápido en algunas cosas y se para demasiado en otras que considero menos relevantes. Esto es una apreciación personal. Además, tiene tan pocas páginas que me cuesta tomarlo como algo más allá de un libro de curiosidades sin mucha más intención que ejercer de pasatiempo. Al interesado en el tema, aún así, no creo que se vaya a arrepentir de haberlo leído.
April 17, 2025
El Coliseo es un libro simple. Las autoras juegan con la representación de este monumento en distintas épocas y con sus diferentes usos. Hacen un esfuerzo por mostrar quienes participaron y fueron parte del coliseo, aunque sin muchos aciertos. Más bien, en varias partes del libro hacen análisis antojadizos, repiten ideas o muestran datos menores que solo hacen más lenta la lectura.
Un libro menor que, seguramente, pronto estará en cajas de remate.
Un libro menor que, seguramente, pronto estará en cajas de remate.
July 21, 2025
Un libro muy interesante sobre la historia del Coliseo. Escrito de forma ágil y entretenida nos proporciona información sobre el famoso monumento a lo largo de toda la historia, no solo de la antigua Roma.
Es cierto que, como indican los autores, queda mucho por confirmar sobre frecuencia de uso, espectáculos de gladiadores, cifras, etc... pero lo que se conoce es lo suficientemente interesante como para recomendar su lectura.
Es cierto que, como indican los autores, queda mucho por confirmar sobre frecuencia de uso, espectáculos de gladiadores, cifras, etc... pero lo que se conoce es lo suficientemente interesante como para recomendar su lectura.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews