The Colosseum
The Colosseum or Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheater or Colosseo, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and stone, it is the largest amphitheater ever built and is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering.
The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, and was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.
Of course, you can explore the neighborhood around the Coliseum, Rome itself and use that as your spark.The architecture, the people, the food, the history, the food…
Phoenix Rising Poetry Guild 
THUMBS DOWN
Standing beneath centuries of crumble
and decay, to say it still wasn’t impressive
would be highly deceptive. A stadium,
an ancient arena remaining as a site
to see on the Italian landscape.
You cannot escape the importance
of every circumstance that played out;
decisions made by the thrust of a digit!
Emperors and gladiators and “Gallia
est omnis divisa in partes tres”.
It’s one of those evasive days
where I stray from decorum thinking,
“Had I have gotten a down-turned thumb,
would I have returned an upturned bird?”
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Chuckle…perhaps just that kind of day! 😉
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Hmmmm….. Spartacus speaks?
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TRANSFER OF POWER
It’s odd,
but some folks say
an old rugged cross left
the colossal Colosseum
crumbling.
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Power from the soul – from whatever and every good force that is.
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July 13 – The Coliseum
Twisted History
From television to the big screen
One would believe that the Coliseum
Was a circle of persecution and death
A haven for the bloodthirsty populace
To give the thumbs down to Christians
And the thumbs up to their heroes
But history has a different account
Oh, the Gladiators did fight there
And famous battles were reenacted
Plenty of blood was spilled
To the elation of the lustful crowd
But only rumors of Christians dying
Nothing written to back that up
My guess is maybe, maybe not
Nevertheless, the Coliseum is
An amazingly historical structure
Something that I would like to see
If I ever get to Rome
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Maybe nothing written, but I wouldn’t put it past them.
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Within the crumbling walls
of the Roman Colosseum,
voices of emperors,
spectators and blood
of gladiators, Christians,
and Jews cry out.
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The walls have ears, and tongues. Wonderful.
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take me out to the contests
let me sit with the crowds
thumbs up or thumbs down – give ‘im the rack
more gory the better or I wont come back
then bring the horses and riders
for chariot races and fame
so its maim, shame, pain or, acclaim
at the Roman games
( to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame 😏)
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I enjoyed this; it’s a perfect anti-maim.
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Thanks! Thinking about those large crowds just led me to that song.
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[…] https://phoenixrisingpg.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/phoenix-rising-july-p-a-d-travelog-destination-poet… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum […]
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(Multi Prompted)
When in Rome…
(a haibun)
The huge crumbling structure reminded me of a deserted chitin.
We did not pay the admission to walk the inner flagstones.
The gated entrances were enough of a breach to imagine the
emanation of sickening cheers at the death of some animal or human.
At what hour did the sluggish masses tiptoe home?
After delivering their thumbs up or thumbs down messages.
Attempting some distraction in the Roman summer heat.
Constructed by mathematical wizards, sockets fit into gears ancient
forerunners to binary coded computations.
All those numbers just get wadded in my brain.
Bullies. High ranking bullies to build such a monument to brutal theatrics.
While so many suffered and only escaped life when the final curtain fell.
Modern playgrounds are mini coliseums.
The bullies are fed propaganda by their parents who
think they have the rights to judge another person’s fate.
Especially if they feel their own comfort zones threatened.
Once… just once I played the role of a bully.
I had been bullied so much that I learned the horrid skill.
But after seeing the grief stricken face of the one I tormented –
I vowed never to do so again. I became a defender of tolerance,
acceptance and finding solutions that did not require violence.
one does not have to
follow the masses, but
to pursue justice
©JP/dh
for those who wish to go to the post the link is here
When in Rome…
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This moved me. Much.
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THE DEFEATED GLADIATOR
His thumb
is pointing down,
so now I have the chance
to face the emperor and thumb
my nose.
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“The so-called “Roman” thumbs down (kill him) or thumbs up (let him live) gesture to gladiators is actually an invention of Hollywood. It is true that there were gestures used in the Coliseum that denoted these meanings, but nobody knows what those gestures actually were – it wasn’t recorded.
By the way, Romans also used to nod up for “no”, down for “yes”. They did not shake their heads for “no”. Very confusing!” – Mark Gibbons @ Urban Dictionary.
I found this while trying to find the definitive answer. Wiki does not state such though, but agrees that the symbols were not clearly identified. “The source of the gesture is obscure, but a number of origins have been proposed.”
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I’ve read about the confusion too, including that thumbs up was the bad sign. Oh, well; it;s nice to ignore all that for the sake of a poem.
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Yes it is. But learning something new every day, well that’s a modern ‘Thumbs up’ 🙂
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Bloodthirsty
Dust settles
over the husk
of a departed soul
as the cheers
of thousands
is poured
like molten lava
in an elliptical arc,
drowning the victorious gladiator
and all I can do is wonder
are we only born warriors
and spectators
both filled with the desire
for blood…
is there anyone else I can be?
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The Colosseum
Walk through stone seats
surrounding the arena,
whose floor is made
of sand. Stand and hear
screaming hordes
seated by class,
all there to see
gladiators fight
to the death. You can
almost smell the blood.
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[…] PHOENIX RISING JULY P.A.D. TRAVELOG – DESTINATION: POETRY (THE COLOSSEUM) […]
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[…] by prompt at Phoenix Rising 13 July 2015 Colosseum image is copyright and restriction free: Swedish National Archive on Flickr Commons […]
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