Out of all of the events that happened in the Colosseum, animal fights, gladiators, sea battles were any of the viewers ever hurt or killed? Such as by animals escaping or a weapon flying into the stands? I have to imagine that they were seeing as how it happens with modern sports once in a blue moon. How often did it happen?
Perhaps not what you’re looking for and I don’t have a cite handy, but one emperor was in the mood during one set of games to lock the spectators into a colloseum and the heat killed off a lot of them.
Again, no cite handy, but I remember being taught that certain lowlifes enjoyed being in the tunnel leading to the arena and haranguing the gladiators / condemned as they were being led out. One day the Emperor (Nero? Commodus?) had the soldiers turn out the lowlifes into the arena too.
I remember one of my classmates fainting during the relating of a gladiatorial fight.
Sometimes badly-built wooden stands for seating would collapse, involving a great loss of life, like at Fidenae in 27 CE. Riots were common - the most famous was at Pompeii in 59 CE, and people certainly died in that. I could swear that there was a case of an animal escaping into the crowd, as a result of which the amphitheatre walls at that particular place were raised, but I can’t remember where or find a reference.
Technically, I’d say the Nika Riotswere even worse.
Oh, there are plenty of riots to go around the in ancient world! I was using Pompeii as an example because it happened at an amphitheatre (like the Colosseum) and involved gladiatorial games - by the time Constantinople is important, it’s all about chariot racing.
Titus ordered that frames for netting be added to the lower sections of the Flavian Amphitheatre to keep big cats from getting into the seating areas, but whether that was because one escaped or simply because the venatio was more popular under Titus I couldn’t say.
I remember my Indiana-born mom telling me stories of going to the Indy 500 - how a crash would sometimes send pieces flying into the stands. It apparently happened more often a few decades ago, but I seem to remember it happening more recently at least once.
Anyway - if something like that happens now, it is a safe bet that it happened more often back then…whether it was a horse or chariot or some other beast careening into the stands, or just a stray spear or other thrown weapon going too high…
So - not an answer, but more of an assumption: I would say the odds are far more likely that it did happen vs. not, but leave it to the folks who actually studied this stuff to provide specific cites…
Or, of course, the risk could have remained the same, but Titus was just more forward-thinking or safety-conscious than his predecessor.
AFAIK, the stadium wasn’t in use under his predecessor (Domitian).
Maybe afraid of lawsuits.
Domitian was emperor after Titus, not the other way around. I think the Flavian amphitheatre was build mostly under Vespasian and dedicated by Titus.