The Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death (TRIH ep 369)
80 · Resource
Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the Colosseum and Roman spectacles, using the film Gladiator as an entry point. They trace the origins of gladiatorial games from funerary rites to mass entertainment and civic ritual, and explain how spectacles served social cohesion and imperial propaganda. The episode examines the Flavian dynasty—Vespasian and Titus—who built the Flavian Amphitheatre on Nero’s drained lake to assert dynastic legitimacy after the chaos of AD 69. Seating arrang...
On these timelines: The Rest Is History (podcast), Resources: Combined
Around 80
- Year of the Four Emperors (68)
- Jesus of Nazareth (4 BCE)
- Reign of Nero (54)
- Reign of Marcus Aurelius (161)
- Crucifixion of Jesus (33)
- Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (70)
- Reign of Trajan (98)
- Roman conquest of Britain (43)
- Saint Paul (5)
- Reign of Tiberius (14)