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The Amphitheater is the largest amphitheater ever built in the Roman Empire and still allows guided
tours every day!! This &#39; wonder of the world&#39; survived the fall of the Empire, several earthquakes,
modern day pollution and traffic vibrations.
Why visit the Colosseum? The Colosseum was originally called &#39;Flavian Amphitheater&#39; and it was
built by Emperor Vespasian, founder of the Flavian dynasty, to entertain the people with gladiator
contests and public spectacles like mock sea battles, animal hunts and public executions. The
construction started in 72 AD and was finished in 80 AD under Vespasian’s son and successor
Emperor Titus.
How was the amphitheater built? It was built on a former artificial lake which was part of Nero&#39;s
huge park in the center of Rome. Right next to this site stood a giant statue of Nero of 35 meters
high, called Colossus. It is said that this statue gave the theatre its current name. Other people think
that the medieval monk named Venerable Beda gave a prophecy saying, “Rome will exist as long as
the Colosseum does; when the Colosseum falls so will Rome; when Rome falls so will the world”.
For many people it is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. This
elliptical shaped structure is 189 meters long, 156 meters wide and stands almost 50 meters tall.
The number of spectators it could hold is estimated to have been at 50 thousand and could exit
everyone in 15 minutes. This structure helped modern day builder to create similar stadiums to look
at problems with entering and exiting stadiums. What we see now is just the skeleton of what was
once the greatest arena in the world.
The Colosseum was unique. Above the ground there were four stories. The upper store contained
seats for lower classes and woman. The lower stores were preserved for prominent citizens and
senators, with the best seat for the Emperor. Entry was free for all Roman citizens. The spectators
were given numbered pottery shards in order to direct them to the proper seat.
Take a tour to the Roman Colosseum and go back into the past!

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Roman religion was how the inhabitants of Rome explained their lives and environment in a very simple
way by using gods who are no longer with us.
The idea of gods, comes from the Greeks who used gods to represent happenings in their daily world
and to explain why things happened. There were 12 main gods who were believed to live on the
Mountain of Olympus. Jupiter was the king of all the gods and he controlled the sky and thunder. Juno
or Hera was Jupiters wife and she was the protector of the women in Rome. The third god was Minerva.
She came out of Jupiters head. She is the goddess of trade, wisdom and art. Neptune was the brother of
Jupiter and he is thought to be the god of freshwater and the sea. He also controls the hurricanes,
earthquakes and horses’ behaviors. Venus was the goddess of fertility and love for the ancient Romans.
The sixth god is Mars who is known as the god of war and keeper of agriculture. The next god was
Apollo, who stood for music, light, truth, and healing powers. Diana was the daughter of Jupiter and she
was the goddess of hunting, the moon and giving birth. Vulcan is the god of fire, volcanoes and he is the
maker of weapons made from metal and forged from heat. The tenth god was Vesta who represented
the home and the family. She was all of Rome’s priestess. Mercury was the god of trade, travel,
communication and he was the one who would travel with a person’s dead soul to the underworld.
Ceres, was the last god and she took care of the agriculture, motherhood and marriage.
One place that was consider like a church was the Pantheon because people want to pray and confess to
this place. This place was built by the emperor Hadrian on the year 117-138 A.D. In the year 609 it was
transformed into a Church and it was saved from getting destroy it is especially dedicated to honor
pagans’ gods. All 12 of the Roman gods have been put to rest and now the Roman people honor social media.

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The Ancient Rome economy was not a complex economy because it was based on
slavery and trade and coins. This article will focus on trade and coins. For the Romans,
trade helped them to survive because the geography of Rome was dry and it did not
produce enough food products to feed close to a million people in Ancient Rome. Some
trade products included, beef, olive oil, spices, marble, corn, and tin.  Trade was done
as far as the Middle East, North Africa and even Spain. Developing the coin helped to
keep track of trade and made it much easier.

Sea Routes: The roman empire had three different kinds of routes: sea routes, land
routes, and trade routes which created building roads. The sea routes went from the
Mediterranean and Black Seas. The port at Ostia was one of the most important
because it was located at the beginning of the Tiber River that was 15 minutes away
from Rome.  This sea route let many boats to travel to North Africa in the city of
Cartage, which lasted between three to five days. Sea trade allowed the Romans to
trade large and small amounts of products with this route in a short amount of time, but
it was also one of the most dangerous because of piracy.

Land routes were also
important routes for
trade in Rome. They
went through also
different mountains to
make trading easier
and allowed the
Romans to defend
different places that
were conquered.
These routes are
considered on today&#39;s
world and amazing
infrastructure because these routes are still used for exports. The roads served two
purposes: for trade and as borders.  A roman messenger could travel 80 km in one day
and merchants traveled 40 km in one day. This was important for horses and animals to
survive and rest properly. The Apian Way was built by Caesar to benefit the Roman
army to protect and fight wars in 312 BC.
Coins

In Rome, coins were minted or produced in large amounts to
make trade easier and manageable. Coins had values and
were easily used for exchange goods and services. Large
payments could be made in one place and canceled in another
place. The use of coins in Ancient Rome began the first idea of loans and banking.