Excellent history of the Colosseum with pictures. ( )

I would agree with much of Iacobus view, especially "Unfortunately there is little about the Colosseum ". I have read about it some and hoped to learn more. This is more a history of Rome and not a good one, and briefly some of the social situations that may have influenced the Colosseum, but the author seems to have forgotten the title of the book.. ( )

I finally got around to reading this book after owning it for over 20 years! As a fan and a teacher of ancient history, I found this book interesting but, ultimately, unsatisfying. There is not nearly as much as I would have liked on the Colosseum as a structure: no diagrams, relatively few photos. What the book does do is set the monument's historical and cultural context, giving a taste of gladiatorial and beast shows, but also showing the wider Roman scene: the Circus, theatres, and other diversions. However, most of this can just as easily be got from more general books on Ancient Rome.

A lot of the book is a review of the Colosseum in history and literature, right up until the nineteenth century. Much of this is interesting, although Quennell has to eek out the few references with much more general material. Still, interesting stuff about the fate of Roman antiquities from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance to the dawn of the 20th century. Many literary references.

Unfortunately there is little about the Colosseum after 1900. It is almost as if the clearning of the fabled vegetation signalled the end of an era. Who'd have thought? So nothing on the excavation of the subrooms, nor how it was used in the last century, or prospects for the Colosseum now. Go elsewhere if you want a thorough treatment of the Flavian Amphitheatre.

1105 The Colosseum, by Peter Quennell and the Editors of the Newsweek Book Division (read 3 Mar 1971) This is a "made up" book but I was impressed by some of it. Naturally, the authors have to strain some to write a whole book about the Colosseum--but it is a structure unbelievably rich in history. It is hard to picture it as it was before 1933--when the surrounding buildings were cleared away. The most moving of all comments on the Colosseum in the book is Byron's in Childe Harold which ends:
"...Heroes have trod this spot--'tis on their dust ye stand."
All in all, a good book to own. ( )