Stephanie Hillin
Professor Gibson
HUM2020
8 October 2008
The Roman Colosseum
“Today, Rome is a modern, cosmopolitan city, and the third most-visited tourist destination in Europe”. Rome stands on top of more than two and a half thousand years of history, was once the largest city in the world and the center of the Western Civilization. Many of those historical landmarks are still present, and are controlled by the Roman Catholic Church in today’s modern Rome. One of the most popular landmark is the Roman Colosseum . The Roman Colosseum was an important architectural monument because of the structure, historical environment, and messages.
The Roman Colosseum was constructed of various materials that could be easily found around Rome. Some of the materials that were used included: Travertine Limestone, a stone called “Tuff”, Roman-made cement, tiles, and bricks. Travertine was mined from Tivoli (also known as Tibur). The stone can have a variety of colors including white, yellow, and red. The stone is basically made up of Calcite and was used in construction of the external wall, the ground floor, and for the main pillars. It is said that Travertine can stand a pressure of four hundred and ninety nine pounds, depending on the quality. Tuff is produced from volcanic material that has fallen after its eruption. Its color can be gray, yellow, green or brown. Tuff was used for the construction for other pillars and walls. It was also used in the preparation of special cement. The tiles and bricks were made up of clay mixed with water, sand, straw, and finally ground Pozzolana. Then by hand, the mixture was pressed into a wooden mold and dried in the sun. While drying in the mold, the tiles had to be turned over frequently to make sure they would not bend. To make bricks, the finished tiles would be placed into an oven and then be baked at eight hundred degrees Celsius. Tiles were used for the construction of the floors and walls. The bricks were used for the...