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00:02the ancient city of Rome founded nearly 3,000 years ago for five centuries the
00:10Roman Empire was the mightiest on earth and one extraordinary building stands at
00:17its heart the Colosseum this building represents the evolution of the Roman
00:24Empire from its rise through its fall for centuries this ancient theater has
00:30held dark secrets about the Empire that built it and the thousands who died
00:35within it if people had to be killed they were killed the Romans didn't have any
00:40problems with doing that today advanced technology is helping scientists make
00:46brand-new discoveries with unique access to the bones of fallen warriors how did
00:53the ancient Romans present magical spectacles in this giant arena and
00:58create entertainment with the power to spread Rome's message across the whole
01:03Empire the only way to solve these mysteries is to dismantle the Colosseum
01:11brick by brick will blow apart its arches and tunnels to experience life and death
01:19within its walls and reveal the secrets hidden inside this ancient wonder
01:33the Colosseum a giant complex at the heart of the ancient city of Rome this was an arena
01:41of death and magic of potent spectacles with the power to sustain an empire buried within its walls are clues
01:51that reveal this was much more than just a theater
01:55the Colosseum still strikes our heart today you can still feel the same feeling that the Roman spectators felt at
02:03the time of the of the performances
02:07today teams of experts are exploring deeper than ever into the heart of the building
02:13solving the mysteries of this ancient arena
02:17to reveal how for 500 years the hidden secrets of this vast ruin helped Rome build an empire across Europe
02:26and beyond
02:28concealed under its monumental skin is a complex system of pillars arches and vaults
02:35they spread the colossal load of nearly a quarter of a million tons of stone allowing this building to tower
02:42160 feet above the streets of Rome in the stadium space for up to 80,000 spectators big enough to
02:51hold the Super Bowl
02:53built into the arena floor a subterranean maze of tunnels and chambers
02:58the secret domain of the Empire's most deadly servant
03:02the gladiator
03:04the Colosseum
03:06and the men who fought in it are the most iconic symbols of the Roman Empire
03:14even today the Colosseum is an impressive structure
03:18but perhaps its greatest mystery is not how it was built but why it was built in such a strange
03:24place
03:27geologist Guido Giordano has spent years studying this extraordinary building
03:32his theory is that its location is no accident
03:35and may even explain a key moment in the rise of the Roman Empire
03:41you can see back there the Colosseum
03:44and beyond that there is the business center for Rome
03:48the Colosseum was built right in the center of ancient Rome's government district
03:54this is a strange place to build an arena for entertainment
03:57so why was it built here?
04:02Guido thinks there may be answers hidden in the parklands that surround the Colosseum
04:08we have clues here
04:10this is an excavation site
04:12and what's beneath is extraordinary
04:16these excavators are removing heavy banks of soil from the hillside next to the Colosseum
04:21under the weight of this soil the banks have begun to collapse
04:25revealing a hidden subterranean world
04:29a world that Guido feels can shed light on the Colosseum's puzzling location
04:36this is grand
04:37look at the scale
04:40frescoes everywhere here
04:42beautifully painted, beautifully preserved
04:45incredibly, buried under the hills that rise next to the Colosseum
04:50is a vast abandoned palace lost for 1400 years
04:55here we have a crown, an eagle here
04:58the beauty of these frescoes shows this definitely must be the residence of a very, very important person
05:09how did this lavish royal palace end up being buried beneath the Colosseum?
05:15Guido thinks that the answer lies in its sheer extravagance
05:20this must have been a waterfall
05:22shooting water right into this pipe
05:26and then get pressurized
05:29and then shooting right in the middle of the room
05:33spraying up in the air
05:36Guido thinks the Colosseum was built on top of the palace grounds
05:40to make a huge statement to the public
05:42because compared to the palace
05:44the theater looked very different
05:50in the Colosseum there was no personal indulgence
05:53instead there was scale and ambition
05:57this building sent a message to ordinary Romans
06:00it was a palace for them
06:02designed to win their hearts in exchange for entertainment
06:07at its entrance once stood a colossus
06:13a monumental statue that gave the building its name
06:20taller than the Statue of Liberty
06:22this bronze behemoth was a statue of the sun god Sol
06:26but it had once portrayed an emperor
06:33its story is a clue to the fate of the palace
06:38Guido believes it had been built by Emperor Nero
06:42one of the most hated leaders of Rome
06:45the palatial rooms reveal evidence of how much he was despised
06:51this is all backfilling
06:53someone fill up this beautiful and huge room
06:58the people of Rome hated Emperor Nero
07:01eventually driving him to suicide
07:04then they destroyed his playboy palace
07:07which was built on land he had stolen from them
07:14the land had been devastated by the great fire of Rome in 64 AD
07:20but instead of rebuilding houses for the people
07:23Nero built a palace of his own
07:25complete with a giant boating lake
07:28and a statue of himself
07:32after Nero's death his successor tore down the palace
07:37but saved the statue
07:40returning the land to the people
07:42he drained Nero's lake
07:43and built an amphitheater in its place
07:45and he put the giant statue outside
07:49disguised as the sun god Sol
07:53the Colosseum was built as a gift to Romans
07:57to win back their support
08:00the new emperor Vespasian understood that to stay in power
08:04he had to prove he wasn't selfish like Nero
08:08later emperor wanted to erase the memory of him
08:13now it's a bird in darkness
08:17after Nero's selfish excess
08:19the Colosseum marked a turning point
08:23it was a building for ordinary Romans
08:25to celebrate the might of their growing empire
08:30and what they came to see were people willing to die in the empire's honor
08:36gladiators
08:38very little is known about these deadly messengers of Rome
08:41because in the ruins of the great Colosseum
08:44not a single gladiator bone has ever been found
08:48but now experiments on unique remains found in Turkey
08:52reveal incredible new insights into the mysterious lives of these warriors
09:05the Colosseum of ancient Rome
09:08a theater for the people and an arena of death
09:13the giant amphitheater carried a message from Rome's leaders
09:18follow us and we will keep you thrilled
09:20and the stars of the show were the gladiators
09:27but very little is known about these legendary warriors
09:32hidden in the vaults and columns of the Colosseum
09:35are tantalizing clues into the world of the gladiator
09:43these warriors were the biggest attraction in the empire
09:47inside the arena they became the stars of a true spectacle
09:51deep within the maze of brick walls under the Colosseum
09:54lies a secret entrance to their mysterious world
09:58a doorway connecting a 180 foot long tunnel
10:02that brought the fighters into the arena
10:052,000 years ago
10:06this would have led to Rome's fabled fighting school
10:09the Ludus Magnus
10:14standing right next to the Colosseum
10:16this was the breeding ground of the most powerful Roman propaganda tool
10:21the gladiator
10:25but there's a mystery
10:26no bones have ever been discovered at the Colosseum
10:30to tell us more about the lives of the gladiators
10:33were they just the Empire's disposable thugs?
10:39Fabian Kanz wants to find out who these warriors were
10:43it's quite emotional
10:45I mean as a kid I watched of course the movies with the gladiators
10:49and now to put your hands on the skull of a gladiator
10:53is very fascinating
10:56Fabian has unearthed something astonishing
10:59the only gladiator bones that have ever been found
11:03they were discovered in the grounds of an amphitheater
11:05that once sat on the edge of the Empire
11:07in what's now modern-day Turkey
11:10we have two skulls of gladiators
11:13gladiator skulls are indeed rare
11:15but these are 100% gladiators
11:19these precious remains give Fabian a unique opportunity
11:23he wants to unlock new secrets about the life of a gladiator in ancient Rome
11:29both of these individuals are male
11:31between 25 and 30
11:33all you can see is a massive plant trauma
11:36might have been produced by a dagger
11:39or maybe a trident
11:41plant traumas to the skull are fatal
11:45and this was of course the end of this individual
11:49but we also found a lot of healed traumas
11:52you can see it here for example
11:53this is a very well healed trauma to the head
11:58Fabian thinks this healed skull may reveal more about the way these men were treated
12:03by the Empire that used them
12:08and that means slicing a cross section from the bone itself
12:12we are now going to cut out a piece of this healed wound
12:16to find out how this injury was treated
12:23under the microscope
12:24under the microscope the skull fragment reveals something extraordinary
12:28this is a cross section of the center of the healed wound on the skull
12:32there is no infection
12:33the wound was cleaned professionally
12:36by picking out all the little bone splinters that might have been there
12:41this wound was treated and cleaned very well
12:44just after the incident
12:48what's remarkable is that many of the gladiators bones from the site in Turkey
12:52show similar signs of healed injuries like this
12:55it's astonishing
12:57looking at the bones
12:59i think the gladiators had the best medical care available at that time
13:04far from being disposable thugs
13:07Fabian thinks the men were treated more like respected athletes
13:11for me it's a strong evidence that the owner wants to look after them
13:17to keep this investment going
13:20to get them on their feet again
13:24turning these men into gladiators was an investment Rome could afford
13:28with its expanding empire it had no shortage of new stock
13:36slaves convicts and captured soldiers
13:39were shipped in from across the empire
13:42to play a part in the great spectacle
13:47in gladiators school
13:49they were turned into fighting machines
13:52with carefully designed strengths and weaknesses
13:58the nimble retarius
14:00armed with trident and net
14:02would fight the secutor
14:04an armored juggernaut
14:05wielding a heavy shield and sword
14:08each pair was carefully matched
14:11to guarantee spectacular combat
14:13that could lead to glory
14:14or death
14:19and Fabian's discovered that these incredibly rare bones
14:23can tell him even more about their lives
14:25and their diet
14:28chemical traces of a person's food
14:31always build up in their bones
14:32to analyze the chemicals in these gladiator skeletons
14:36he grinds a bone sample into a powder
14:38and adds it to a liquid
14:40when he sprays the liquid into a flame
14:43it will burn with a signature color
14:45a fingerprint that reveals the chemicals locked inside the bone
14:51as you can see
14:52as you can see it's a bright bright reddish flame
14:55this is evidence for a very high strontium content
14:58the gladiators have double as much strontium in their bones
15:02as other Romans
15:04strontium is a mineral similar to calcium
15:07which strengthens bone
15:08because its presence here is so high
15:11Fabian concludes the gladiators were given a little extra help with their diet
15:15it's mentioned in some Roman texts
15:18that they have been supplied with a so-called ash drink
15:22and this ash might explain this very high strontium content
15:28the bone needs minerals
15:30and the ash drink would be the perfect supplier for this mineral
15:34it sounds a bit weird to be honest
15:37but I think this ash drink for the gladiators
15:39might be an equivalent to a modern day's energy drink
15:44the gladiators who fought in the Colosseum
15:47started life as outcasts of Roman society
15:51but careful nurturing turned them into elite fighting machines
15:54fit to deliver the Empire's message of power
15:59on the one hand they have been lower than nothing
16:02like an animal
16:04but on the other hand they have been superstars
16:06these new heroes of the Colosseum
16:09provided a spectacle that showed off the might of the Empire
16:12and roused patriotic passion in its citizens
16:17the Colosseum had become Rome's most successful marketing campaign
16:23but beyond the spectacle
16:25what impact did the Colosseum have on the everyday lives of Romans
16:30now new evidence reveals how the Colosseum fueled the explosion of a whole new industry
16:36to power the Empire across Europe
16:48the Colosseum
16:49built in 80 AD as a gift to win the hearts of the citizens of Rome
16:56to entertain and thrill with astonishing battles and terrifying carnage
17:02but the games were only a part of what the Colosseum had to offer to citizens that traveled from all
17:07corners of the Empire
17:11so how did the Colosseum continue to influence the people once they had left the arena?
17:17sometimes the games actually lasted for weeks
17:20so there was really big activity day and night
17:25the towering remains of the Colosseum still impress us even today
17:331900 years ago it would have looked even more magnificent
17:37the stone now weathered after two millennia would have shown brightly polished
17:45in the perfect archways statues of marble and gold trumpeted the glory of Rome
17:54its walls stretched nearly 2,000 feet around the outside
17:59rising higher than any other structure in the city
18:04this was the biggest single building ever created by the Empire
18:19today in Rome little trace exists of anything beyond the amphitheater walls
18:27but Wolfgang Neubauer thinks there was much more to Rome's spectacle of entertainment
18:36near Vienna Austria he is hoping to find new evidence of how the Empire designed and laid out the complex
18:43of buildings surrounding the amphitheater
18:45in these fields lie the remains of a mysterious lost Roman town called Carnantum
18:52complete with its own amphitheater modeled on the Colosseum
18:57all the remains of these buildings all the walls all the floors they are invisible to the eye it's just
19:02a green field but we have a huge town here
19:06the central area of Carnantum is spreading all over about 10 square kilometers
19:13but unlike in Rome the ruins here have never been built on
19:17underground the remains of every building lie intact
19:22this lost town can give Wolfgang clues about the network of buildings around the Colosseum and the role they played
19:30he's searching for hidden buildings using ground penetrating radar
19:35this is the largest survey ever undertaken on a Roman town so far
19:39everything is preserved in the ground the only task we have to do is to make it visible again
19:46his scans reveal a massive building surrounding the amphitheater itself
19:52we can now depict here a complete new quarter of Carnantum
19:56so it's outside of the town and it's built direct in relation to the amphitheater
20:04an entire village grew around the amphitheater to cater for the vast crowds that would flock here
20:10just like at a modern-day football game
20:13the same as at the Colosseum
20:16the scans of this invisible town also reveal that the stars of the games the gladiators were given special privileges
20:23this is the first school of gladiators that we found outside of Rome that has been completely surveyed
20:30we can clearly see a line of small rooms so this must have been the cells for the gladiators
20:36here we have rooms that they might have used for medical care
20:40but also there is a big hall where they could eat together
20:44so the gladiatorial school in Carnantum is absolutely unique
20:49Wolfgang's work is bringing to life the intricate detail of the gladiator school
20:54but his scans also reveal the role played by all the businesses that grew around the amphitheater
21:02the remains reveal an entire town that like the Colosseum held gladiator games
21:09this was the fourth biggest amphitheater in the Empire
21:13there was an entire street system
21:16a main road into town was lined with fast food outlets, souvenir stalls, shops and businesses catering for the colossal
21:25crowds
21:27there was even accommodation for gladiators
21:30with a heated training hall, a garden and a bath and spa
21:38these gladiators enjoyed every home comfort you could want
21:45Wolfgang's discoveries here reveal the full story of Rome's Colosseum
21:50the combination of all this data and the imagery that we produced out of it
21:56gives us a look into the day of the spectacle that happened really on an industrial scale
22:03and all across Europe copies of the Colosseum offered new Roman citizens a part in that industry
22:11such a day was really important for the whole society here
22:14it's just amazing to bring this to life again
22:17to see how this all worked and on what high industrial level this entertainment business actually was
22:24with such a huge industry in place many livelihoods depended on the games here and in Rome
22:31the Colosseum and the theatres that copied it were the lifeblood of the Empire
22:36these findings here in Canuntum clearly change our image of how the gladiatorial games in the provinces was organized
22:42so it was not people traveling around gladiators which were brought in
22:47it was really stable it was an infrastructure that was set up and yeah it was a big business
22:56out of this vast business grew equally huge legends of remarkable events staged inside the Colosseum
23:03and mystery still surrounds one of the greatest
23:06could they perform giant sea battles inside the arena?
23:12and how did the era of the gladiator finally come to an end for the greatest empire on earth?
23:27The Colosseum centerpiece to a vast industry of propaganda and entertainment
23:34ancient Romans flocked here in their thousands to be amazed by the empire's most legendary stars
23:42gladiators
23:44but one Colosseum legend is cloaked in mystery
23:47were giant sea battles staged inside the arena
23:52the Colosseum was a real showpiece
23:55so I think it's not improbable at all that the Romans would hold such a sea spectacle
24:01how could this stadium possibly be filled with battleships?
24:09there's a clue buried right next to the Colosseum
24:13a three foot wide tunnel that runs right beneath the walls
24:21archaeologists believe that it may feed into a labyrinth of strange shallow channels
24:28channels that lead to the center of the arena
24:31could these be the remains of a gigantic system?
24:35with the power to flood the Colosseum with water
24:42so the emperor could stage full-blown sea battles
24:46the ultimate display of Roman might and ingenuity
24:54the legend of the Colosseum sea battles comes from a single ancient text
24:59it describes the arena flooding in a matter of hours
25:04how could this be possible?
25:10high up in the mountains outside Rome
25:14Valerie Higgins is trying to find the answer
25:17she starts at one of Rome's famous aqueducts
25:20the Aqua Claudia
25:22it's the biggest of eleven giant channels that piped water into the ancient city
25:28we want to understand how much water could go through it
25:31we want to understand how it delivered water into Rome
25:35how difficult is it for the Romans to fill an arena?
25:41helping Valerie is Adriano Morabito
25:44an expert in Roman subterranean tunnels
25:48this ancient aqueduct once channeled fresh water
25:51forty-six miles into the center of Rome
25:55along here we can see the level of the water going along
25:59maximum half a meter of water
26:01and then the rest was just empty
26:03obviously it was going down by gravity not by pressure
26:06Valerie wants to work out whether this aqueduct
26:09could have supplied enough water to fill the Colosseum in just a few hours
26:15what we would like to do is measure the height of the aqueduct
26:18and then measure it in another place as well
26:20so we can work out the gradient
26:23the slope of the tunnel floor will help them calculate how fast water flowed into Rome
26:29so here is a hundred and ten
26:32and there is eighty-seven
26:34so we have a twenty-three centimeters difference in nine meters
26:38but what they find is a very gentle slope
26:42a gradient of only one in forty
26:44they didn't actually want the gradient to be too steep
26:47water that's flowing too fast erodes the structure
26:52Valerie's work shows the water here would have flowed far too slowly to fill the Colosseum as the legend describes
26:59it's an extraordinary large arena
27:01it isn't filled very high
27:02it's only filled to like a meter and a half
27:05but nevertheless it's really hard to imagine water coming through here filling the Colosseum
27:12but Valerie believes the aqueduct may not tell the whole story
27:16she thinks there may be a crucial piece missing from this complex puzzle of Roman plumbing
27:25multiple aqueducts, eleven in total
27:29channeled freshwater directly into ancient Rome
27:33Valerie's theory is that when the Colosseum was built
27:36a huge water tank was added somewhere near the amphitheater
27:41the tank stored enough water to flood the Colosseum in one shot
27:47beneath the amphitheater the network of circular channels
27:51distributed the stored water quickly and evenly into the arena floor
27:56ready for a spectacular sea battle
27:59then four huge drainage channels open to flush the water away again
28:05in time for the next games
28:10but if a giant storage tank was the key to filling the Colosseum with water
28:15where is it?
28:18with the help of Dr. Matteo Barone
28:20Valerie follows the route of the aqueduct through urban Rome
28:25near the Colosseum she discovers the partial remains of a much larger structure that once existed here
28:30could this be the missing piece of the jigsaw?
28:34we have some remains of a monumental fountain
28:37what is interesting about the monumental fountain
28:41is there was a water storage unit in it
28:44Valerie thinks the original structure is now missing
28:47but would have been big enough to hold the three and a half million gallons needed to fill the Colosseum
28:53we've got the Colosseum over there
28:55so this could quite easily be diverted to be used in the Colosseum
29:01but it would have to flow fast to do the job in just a few hours
29:06she makes one final measurement to work out the slope between the tank and the floor of the Colosseum
29:13it's six meters difference between here and the Colosseum
29:18it's very steep going down here
29:21it descends quite fast
29:23you could get a big hydraulic pressure from here that would push the water into the Colosseum very quickly
29:31so I think it's a feasible proposition
29:37thanks to the ingenuity of Roman water engineers
29:40the Colosseum staged spectacles that became legendary across the expanding empire
29:46but sea battles couldn't be staged at every amphitheater
29:51how did the Empire captivated citizens without them
29:54now new clues in Naples reveal the magical techniques once used to strike awe and wonder into the Colosseum's crowds
30:13the Colosseum
30:14the Colosseum
30:15a spectacular building that helped establish the greatest empire in history
30:20this is where the Roman Empire cast its spell on its citizens
30:27inside a mysterious maze of walls and passages fills the floor of the arena
30:34they suggest that something extraordinary once happened here
30:39but these remains have crumbled too much to reveal their secrets
30:48Hines Best has come to the Capua Amphitheatre
30:51a twin arena to the Colosseum
30:55he believes there is evidence here that the Romans could make exotic animals like lions and tigers
31:01suddenly appear out of nowhere in the arena
31:04these underground walls are dotted with clues that can tell Hines how the Empire dazzled its audiences
31:23with shows designed to demonstrate the might of Rome
31:30and it's not long before he starts to see tell-tale patterns emerge in the masonry markings
31:36we can solve all these evidence that we see here on the wall
31:41and from there it also explains what happened with this logo
31:46these small holes in the walls are crucial clues to Hines
31:50they reveal that the shafts and columns once supported complex theatrical machinery
31:56lifts, trap doors and ramps
31:59here was inserted an ascensor
32:03you can see the traces of these four vertical poles
32:08these theatrical machines were the key to the unbelievable spectacles staged in the arena
32:15and he thinks that some new clues reveal the scale of the machines that were used
32:21and how they managed to raise huge wild beasts to the arena floor
32:29beneath the arena floor
32:30and among the dense maze
32:33of concrete shafts
32:39the
32:40engineers built inside each chamber
32:43elaborate wooden elevators
32:44to raise dangerous beasts to the arena
32:49slaves drove a capstan
32:51that winched the caged animal up
32:54to a trap door beneath the arena floor
33:02making beasts and fighters
33:04appear as if by magic
33:07the spectator
33:14did not see the animals before
33:15he saw only when he entered the arena
33:24this underground labyrinth was the baking hot sweatshop that drove the arena
33:29and it would have looked very different from how it appears today
33:33we also felt like different races
33:35a huge
33:35an inchiasse
33:37that they brought here
33:38together with the smell
33:39and then we also have to think about the an inchiasse of the arena
33:43because also the spectators
33:45what happened in the arena
33:47they also hurled
33:48in this sense they were shot
33:50they gave applause
33:55below the arena
33:57everything had to run like clockwork
33:59because here
34:01and at the coliseum
34:02only a perfect show would do
34:05the important
34:06the spectaculation was good for the emperor
34:09here in these places
34:10the emperor
34:11could demonstrate
34:13the greatness
34:15and the power of rome
34:19audiences would roar with excitement
34:22in awe at the breathtaking power of their roman masters
34:28behind this discoveries reveal how the coliseum was designed with one purpose
34:34to defy belief
34:37within its walls and those of amphitheaters across Europe
34:41audiences would fall under the spell of the mighty Roman Empire
34:50but the coliseum did not last forever
34:53can new evidence beneath the streets of Rome reveal what led to the collapse of this once mighty structure?
35:01and did it crumble as the Roman Empire crumbled around it?
35:14the coliseum
35:16the coliseum
35:16once a symbol of ancient Roman power
35:20first built to win over the citizens of Rome
35:23it became the blueprint for many amphitheaters constructed across the empire
35:29and like the empire it became a way of life
35:32now it lies in ruins
35:36this building is iconic
35:38as it represents the evolution of the Roman Empire
35:42from its rise through its fall
35:46was it the end of the empire itself that triggered the collapse of the coliseum?
35:52or do clues inside the arena itself suggest that an act of nature brought down its walls?
36:02under the quarter of a million tons of masonry sit truly colossal foundations
36:09a gigantic donut over half a mile around
36:13100 feet thick and 40 feet deep
36:16made from the Roman's toughest concrete
36:19but experts believe it wasn't tough enough
36:23causing cracks to form
36:25which divided the foundation in half
36:28and ruined the stability of the structure above
36:32but what could have caused these cracks?
36:34how did the greatest empire builders make a mistake?
36:38that ultimately brought down the arena's giant wall?
36:48geologist Guido Giordano has studied the landscape around the coliseum for several years
36:54he thinks cracks in the foundation of the coliseum would explain what caused the amphitheater's collapse
37:02the north side is built on the same rock that make this hill
37:06which are strong, good bedrock
37:09but on the south side the coliseum is built on very soft sediments
37:15soft, muddy river deposits beneath the southern half of the coliseum
37:19make this part of the building very unstable
37:23did one of the many earthquakes that rocked ancient Rome
37:26crack the coliseum in two?
37:29during the big earthquake that struck Rome
37:33the shaking of the ground was substantially different
37:37from the north side on the solid rock where the shaking was just like this
37:42to the south side on the soft rock where the shaking was like that
37:47and you can see big cracks running through
37:51this is what happens when you have a big shaking
37:55and differential subsidence
37:59in fact an earthquake did bring down the south wall
38:02but only centuries after the end of the empire
38:05did something else catastrophic end the era of the coliseum much earlier?
38:11Guido's hunting for clues in other ancient ruins close to the amphitheater
38:17this is the theater of Marcellus
38:19the largest theater of ancient Rome
38:22similar to the coliseum
38:25it has seen a lot of changes
38:28like the coliseum
38:30the theater of Marcellus was once a grand symbol of an empire at its peak
38:35but something changed
38:36sending this magnificent building into decline too
38:41you can see around here
38:43there are a lot of rocks scattered
38:45that sort of litter the ground
38:48these holes used to host metal clumps
38:52that the Romans used to connect
38:55these travertine blocks
38:57in order to stabilize the structure
39:00this is one of the first things that were stolen from the monument
39:05despite 300 years as the heart of Rome's vibrant entertainment industry
39:11Guido believes the Marcellus and the coliseum suffered a sudden twist of fate
39:17if you look at the top
39:18you will notice that there are apartments
39:21those are clearly not part of the original structure of the theater
39:26have been built up later on
39:28to replace the top part of the theater that at some stage collapsed
39:33when this beautiful theater was progressively abandoned
39:37Guido thinks the theater was abandoned
39:39following a decision to move power and wealth away from Rome
39:45nearby at an ancient bridge
39:48Guido finds further clues about the fate of the theater
39:52consider this nice layering
39:54the block that make the columns of the theater
39:58just 500 meters away from here are remarkably similar
40:02considering the amount of material needed for this bridge
40:06we can imagine that possibly the third layer of the theater
40:09which is presently missing
40:11was actually the site where most of these blocks have actually been taken
40:18With the empire's wealth in decline
40:20the luxuries of life, theater and fun
40:23were sacrificed for basic building maintenance
40:26people did not have their wealth to go to theater
40:30or to go to other kind of performances
40:33entertainment structure like the coliseum
40:36started to decline
40:40deteriorate
40:41and eventually through time even collapse
40:45the cracks in the empire were showing
40:48and the coliseum was abandoned
40:50and with that the golden era of the gladiator was over
40:54these rocks are witness of a very complex and long history
41:01yet almost 2,000 years later
41:04the coliseum's ruins have lost none of their magic
41:11built to erase the memory of a selfish emperor
41:15the coliseum was designed to entertain the people
41:18and to fuel the rise of an empire
41:21its hidden secrets still thrill us even today
41:25reminding us that the roman empire was indeed the greatest on earth
41:31the world the world as the future
42:01is one of those wild animals
42:01and the arts and the arts and the little things
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