# Tell me stories from the Coliseum **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891 "2012-12-23T03:15:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/1 "2012-12-23T03:15:23Z")
I only have a glancing knowledge of the kinds of hijinks that went on in this place. From what I can tell it was quite a barbaric scene, but if you don’t mind my saying so, not always without artistic value. What stories do you know from the Coliseum? I am interested in the depraved, the political, but also the kind of thing one would perhaps not expect. If you have any good links or sources, post 'em. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/2 "2012-12-23T03:24:39Z")
Well, I saw Springsteen there for three shows back in 1985. You can hear me in the background of “The River” from his live album. I’m the guy yelling “Bruuuuuuuce!” ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/3 "2012-12-23T03:29:06Z")
I meant the Roman Coliseum. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/4 "2012-12-23T03:38:04Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I meant the Roman Coliseum. You have no idea how old **silenus** is. And he was yelling “Brvvvvvvce”! ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/5 "2012-12-23T04:06:58Z")
I love what smartasses you guys can be sometimes 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/6 "2012-12-23T20:21:09Z")
First, nitpick, it’s Colosseum (or, alternatively, the Flavian Amphitheatre). It is said that there was once a time when they flooded the stage area and staged mock naval battles called [Naumachiae](http://www.the-colosseum.net/games/navmachiae.htm). They were reproductions of naval battles from history where criminals or real sailors fought each other. [Here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/53157520@N07/5633491318/in/set-72157626528791610) is a picture I took while visiting the underground almost two years ago of what is thought to be one of the boat docks. [This](http://www.flickr.com/photos/53157520@N07/5633470998/in/set-72157626528791610) is another place they thought was a dock, as well. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/7 "2012-12-23T21:08:49Z")
One time I went to the Colosseum with some friends, one night. I was tipsy from the wine we’d had. There was another group of people there, and it was the birthday of one of the group members. When those guys found out that my friends and I were musicians, they asked us to sing Happy Birthday for them. Good times. (Not sure if that’s what the OP was looking for. 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/8 "2012-12-23T21:53:55Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > You have no idea how old **silenus** is. > And he was yelling “Brvvvvvvce”! Or Bruuuuuuuuutus! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/9 "2012-12-23T23:49:51Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > You have no idea how old **silenus** is. > And he was yelling “Brvvvvvvce”! –Golf Clap– Been there. Had the planet’s WORST pizza in a small cafe built into a holding cell. ( Seriously. ) I love the idea that they had water battles. They were that good at engineering. Freakin’ brilliant. And savage. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/10 "2012-12-24T03:18:45Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > You have no idea how old **silenus** is. > And he was yelling “Brvvvvvvce”! Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/11 "2012-12-24T06:44:07Z")
“Thumbs up” = life? “Thumbs down” = death? That’s a 19th Century fabrication. We don’t actually know what signals they used. The Latin texts are unclear on the subject. Many modern scholars believe that the death signal was the thumb turned toward the body or the neck, meaning “stab him”. The mercy signal may have been thumb down, meaning “drop your sword”, or thumb clasped within the fist, meaning “sheathe your sword”. The death blow was probably given where the neck joins the shoulder. If you stab through the trapezius muscle, you can reach the heart without any bones blocking the way. Messy, but by Roman standards, relatively quick and merciful. Before the invention of soap, part of the bathing process was to cover your skin with olive oil, then scrape the oil off with an instrument called a strigil. Apothecaries collected the used oil, because gladiator sweat was believed to have aphrodesiac properties. The emperor Commodus liked to dress as Hercules, and fight in faux gladiator matches. His opponents always carried unsharpened weapons, and were often drugged or crippled before the match. (He may have been crazy, but he was not stupid.) Despite what Hollywood depicts in _The Fall of the Roman Empire_ and _Gladiator_, he did **not** die in the arena. He was killed by a gladiator, but it was either a lover’s quarrel or a paid assassination. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/12 "2012-12-25T14:13:31Z")
There’s a plaque on the outside of the Colosseum dedicating it to the Christians martyred there, but historians now think that probably none were. That tended to take place at the Circus Maximus about 500 m away. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/13 "2012-12-25T16:19:50Z")
It’s frickin’ HOT! That stone reflects a lot of sunlight on you, and when they warm up, they just _bake_ you. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-stories-from-the-coliseum/644891/14 "2012-12-25T18:01:50Z")
I saw a program on PBS or perhaps the Discovery Channel suggesting that they had some sort of sail-like fabric on long beams shading most of the seats in the Colosseum.