The Colosseum is, without doubt, the most popular ancient monument in Rome – a must-see sight for around four million tourists a year from all over the world. But they are often quite oblivious, or indifferent, to its function in the past as a slaughterhouse for both people and animals who were tortured and killed to amuse a large 50,000 to 80,000-strong audience.
With its deplorable propensity for regular, well-attended spectacles featuring gory gladiatorial contests and deadly fights between men and beasts, this amphitheatre represents the dark side of Roman mores. It was the central venue for a popular form of prolonged, violent ‘entertainment’ that cannot be brushed aside and conveniently forgotten in favour of a more palatable appreciation of Roman achievements.
So it is highly appropriate that, in recent years, the Colosseum has become a visible symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment – which was abolished in Italy in 1948. When a person condemned to death, anywhere in the world, has their sentence commuted or is released, or if a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty, the colour of the light illuminating the Colosseum at night is changed from white to gold.
