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Colosseum Lift That Carried Wild Animals Into Arena Rebuilt
An anonymous reader writes: Archaeologists have built a replica of the lift that was used to move lions and other wild animals into the Colosseum 1,500 years ago. It is estimated that a million animals may have been killed in the history of the arena. It took a year and a half for the archaeologists and engineers to build the 23ft-high timber lift, using only materials that would have been available to the ancient Romans. Gary Glassman, a director who made a documentary about the project said, "One of the reasons we are attracted to the Colosseum is because of the incredible violence that went on here. The question it poses is, how could such an advanced culture have staged such bloody spectacles? The Colosseum is a snapshot in stone, a physical embodiment of the culture of Rome."
That was on the PBS series NOVA on Feb 11, 2015 - I saw it then. Way to be current anon.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
What do you mean? Rebuilding it as it was originally? But then it would not be original anymore! There's a reason ancient monuments are kept as they are. Yes of course all monuments desperately need to be better preserved, especially here in Italy. But the Colosseum, for example, lacks much of its external walls because in the centuries after Romans its stone blocks were "stolen" to build other things, before a culture of preserving the past was fully developed. Anyway, nobody would think of rebuilding it, because even as it is, it is a testament of the past history.
If you're not too picky, you can still check out the Verona Arena, which is still very large and remains in use for concerts today.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."