ROME SELF-GUIDED TOURS
COLOSSEUM

The Roman Colosseum is the largest amphitheater ever built. It stands as the most iconic symbol of Ancient Rome and is indelibly linked to the celebrated gladiator shows that took place within its walls.  Imagine traveling back in time to the year 85 AD and seeing this architectural wonder - newly built - hosting Emperor Domitian's' Great Games.

 

You stand among the crowd of excited spectators just outside the colosseum in the shadow of the enormous bronze statue of the sun god Solis. Stretching up against the clear azure midday sky, bright streamers of blue, red, yellow and green ripple from the tops of the poles that ringed the top of the oval structure. It was completed barely six years earlier - paid for with the treasure looted from the temple of Jerusalem by Emperor Vespasian's Legion of soldiers.

 

Statues of sundry divine figures gaze down from the arches on the two tiers above the entrance arches. At street level, the air is filled with the hubbub of the crowd on the open ground surrounding the amphitheatre. The cries of street-hawkers selling their wares, and bursts of laughter and shouts of those calling out to their friends pierce the steady drone of voices. The crowd presses towards the entrances to hand over their terracotta tickets and climb the steps to try and find some place to sit for the afternoon’s gladiator fights. 

 

Our audio / visual self-guided tour of the Roman Colosseum - allows you to experience the amphitheater as it was in its heyday - and learn of the seedy underworld of gladiator fighting as you wander through the site. Blood and Sand is written by Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author Simon Scarrow (Eagles of the Empire Series) and narrated by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Oz, Lost, Games of Thornes). The experience includes digital reconstructions of the colosseum. 

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