Timeline of the Colosseum’s
History
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Construction began 70–72 AD - Inaugurated 80 AD
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Record visitors 12M+ (2023) -
Status today UNESCO · New7Wonders
Two thousand years in one view
The history of the Roman Colosseum spans a drained marsh and Nero’s private lake, the rise of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a place among the New7Wonders. Every turning point sits in the timeline below.
Natural Pond
Before human settlement, the valley where the Colosseum now stands was a natural pond formed by waters from surrounding hills.
Republican Rome
The Romans drained the valley and built houses, public buildings, and temples, turning the area into a significant urban center.
Great Fire under Nero
A massive fire ravages Rome, leading Emperor Nero to construct the Domus Aurea with an artificial lake in the valley.
Construction Begins
Emperor Vespasian reclaims the land from Nero's lake and initiates the construction of the Colosseum.
Early Construction Phase
Building of the first and second tiers begins. The elliptical structure of the travertine stone takes shape.
Structural Advancements
Work progresses on the upper tiers, incorporating vaults and arches. Construction of the hypogeum (underground chambers) begins.
Final Touches Under Vespasian
The first two tiers are completed. The decorative elements are added. Vespasian dies in 79 AD.
Inauguration
Emperor Titus inaugurates the Colosseum with 100 days of games after completing the third and fourth tiers.
Completion by Domitian
Domitian completes the Colosseum's structure, adding the hypogeum, which are underground chambers for animals and gladiators.
First Reconstruction
Emperor Antoninus Pius carried out repairs after a fire that damaged the Colosseum and surrounding buildings.
Fire and Repairs
A lightning strike causes a fire, leading to significant damage. Reconstruction begins under Emperor Macrinus and continues for 30 years.
Repairs Completed
Under Emperor Gordian III, the Colosseum's restoration is completed, commemorated by coins depicting the restored structure.
Lightning Strike and Repairs
Another lightning strike damages the Colosseum. Emperor Decius oversees the necessary repairs.
Earthquake Hits Rome
A catastrophic earthquake affects Rome and its provinces, causing further damage to the Colosseum.
Last Gladiatorial Games
Emperor Honorius bans gladiatorial combats, marking the end of this era in the Colosseum's history.
Visigoth Sack
The Visigoths sack Rome. The Colosseum is abandoned and later used as a burial site during the sieges.
Repairs Post-Visigoth Sack
Praefectus Urbi Iunius Valerius Bellicius undertakes restorations after the Visigothic invasion.
Earthquake and Restoration
A disastrous earthquake hits Rome. Praefectus Urbi Rufius Cecina Felix Lampadius funds repairs on the arena and terraces.
Vandal Sack
The Vandals sack Rome. The Colosseum suffers further damage during the 15-day plundering.
Final Ancient Restorations
Praefectus Urbi Decius Marius Venantius Basilius oversees the last recorded ancient restorations, including filling the arena.
Last Animal Hunts
The final venationes, or staged animal hunts, are held in the Colosseum, ending its use for public spectacles.
Major Earthquake
A severe earthquake under Pope Leo IV causes extensive damage, further degrading the Colosseum.
Frangipane Occupation
The powerful Frangipane family takes control of the Colosseum, using it as a fortified residence.
Devastating Earthquake
An earthquake collapses the Colosseum's southern side. The materials are later reused for other constructions.
Religious Brotherhood Ownership
The Arciconfraternita del SS. Salvatore ad Sancta Sanctorum obtains part of the Colosseum and begins selling its materials.
Sacred Site Declaration
Pope Benedict XIV declares the Colosseum a sacred site, protecting it from further destruction and initiating restorations.
Major Restoration Efforts
Raffaele Stern and Giuseppe Valadier lead significant restoration efforts to stabilize and conserve the Colosseum.
Excavation and Use by Mussolini
Mussolini's regime excavates the hypogeum and uses the Colosseum as a backdrop for Fascist parades and rallies.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Colosseum is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognizing its cultural and historical significance.
Euro Coin Symbol
The Colosseum is depicted on the Italian 5-cent euro coin, symbolizing its enduring legacy.
New7Wonders
The Colosseum is voted one of the New7Wonders of the World, affirming its global importance and appeal.
Restoration Sponsorship
Diego Della Valle, head of Tod's, sponsors a €25 million restoration project. The controversial public-private partnership causes delays.
First Stage Completed
The restoration of the façade and ground-level arches has been completed. Plans to replace the floors for cultural events have been announced.
Upper Levels Opened
The top two levels of the Colosseum are open for guided visits. They showcase the marketplace and areas where plebeians once gathered.
COVID-19 Impact
The pandemic reduces visitor numbers due to travel restrictions and lockdowns, but maintenance and conservation efforts continue.
Record Visitors
The Colosseum attracts over 12 million visitors. Culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano announces this during an Easter visit.
How Roman concrete and travertine kept it standing
Builders pieced the Flavian amphitheatre together from something close to 100,000 cubic metres of travertine limestone, cut at the Tivoli quarries some 30 km east of the city and carried in along a road laid specially for the job. To lock the outer stones in place they used roughly 300 tonnes of iron cramps and no mortar at all; the pockmarks dotting the façade now are simply the empty sockets, gouged open when later generations dug the metal out to reuse during the medieval and Renaissance centuries. Higher up, the engineers lightened the load on purpose, swapping in volcanic tuff and brick-clad opus caementicium so the topmost galleries rested far gentler on the base.
It is that Roman concrete, more than anything, that let the structure outlast the empire itself. The recipe blended lime with pozzolana, the volcanic ash dug near Pozzuoli outside Naples, yielding a hydraulic cement that set even in the wet and quietly mended its own hairline cracks whenever loose lime met rainwater. Beneath the arena the foundation ring plunges as much as 12 to 13 metres, and that depth explains the lopsided ruin you see: the northern curve rode out the violent quakes of 847 and 1349, whereas the southern side, perched on softer alluvial ground, broke off and was hauled away for building stone.
The velarium: a giant awning rigged by sailors
When the summer heat turned brutal, a huge pull-out shade known as the velarium was drawn across the seating bowl. Tellingly, the job fell not to ordinary attendants but to crews of sailors seconded from the imperial fleet at Misenum, since no one else handled heavy rope and canvas at height so confidently. Look up and you can count 240 corbels with their sockets along the top cornice, the mounts that once carried the wooden masts; from those masts the sailors ran lines down to anchor blocks still embedded in the paving around the monument, then worked the fabric open and shut exactly as they would have trimmed sails at sea.
The awning never sealed the whole oval. It left a wide gap above the arena and was angled to throw shade over the audience rather than the combatants below. Roman writers add a couple of vivid details: on the hottest days organisers sprayed the stands with perfumed water, the sparsiones, and the emperor Commodus annoyed spectators by trapping them under the canvas through his own long appearances.
The medieval afterlife: fortress, quarry and sanctuary
After the games died out, the amphitheatre was treated as both prime property and a heap of free materials. The Frangipani clan walled it off as a private fortress in 1084, weaving the arcades into a stronghold that commanded the route linking the Lateran with the Palatine, before the rival Annibaldi took their turn holding it. When the 1349 quake toppled the southern outer ring, its fallen rubble and pried-loose travertine supplied Rome's masons for generations: stone from here ended up in the Palazzo Venezia, the Palazzo della Cancelleria and, most strikingly of all, in the masonry of the new St Peter's Basilica.
The looting finally ceased once the Church recast the ruin as sacred ground. In 1749 Pope Benedict XIV blessed it for the Christians thought to have perished there, set a cross in the arena and lined the interior with Stations of the Cross. Backed up soon after by the great buttresses of Raffaele Stern and Giuseppe Valadier in the early nineteenth century, that act turned a handy quarry into a guarded landmark and cleared the way for everything that preserved it into our own age.
Stand in the history you just read
From the public walkways you only ever glimpse the arena over a railing. A guided underground and arena-floor tour instead leads you down into the hypogeum and out onto the rebuilt arena level, where the lift shafts, beast pens and travertine engineering described above turn into something you can stand inside rather than just read about.
