1. Antar Abdellah

2.  The Poet (Italian) praises the Coliseum and compares it to other wonders of the world like the pyramids in Egypt (Barbarous Memphis), and the Babylon cities in Iraq (Assyrians).  He describes the Coliseum as the house where the Roman gods (Venus, Mars) serve the Caesar.

3.  He mentions some gladiatorial games where men were fighting with animals like (tigress, elephant, a wild lion..etc)  He also mentions the spectators who were watching these games and celebrating the coliseum opening.

4.  He tells the story of a robber who was sentenced to death, by joining in a gladiator game against a beast.  He describes the animals, the cages, the spectators, and the fierceness of the game.

5.  The Roman historian tells of the animal games and shows that were popular in Pompey.  He criticizes these shows and considers them of no real pleasure  And wonders about the values of such shows where both man and beast are killed.

6.  The writer addresses a dead lion who was killed in one of the gladiatorial games.  He pities that the beast was killed although it had magnificent appearance.  The writer may be addressing a human gladiator who was killed and considers him a lion.  The writer seems to criticize these games.

7.  A recent study on the history of Rome at the time of the coliseum.  The tradition of gaming with animals and beasts was a popular one and still is in Spain with the bulls.  Most of the killed victims were Christians as they were opposing the creed of the pagan Romans.  That’s why there is a cross in the area- a sign of the victory of the church.

8.  It was the tradition of the Romans to build amphitheaters for shows and meetings in different major cities they invaded.  There are amphitheaters in Tunis, Egypt, Syria, and Britain.  the Greek on the other side did not build such big amphitheaters although they had their older games- they thought that the onlookers would be out of rational thinking when viewing animals in contests.

9.  Blood shed was fascinating to the Romans- this may have been a way of purging out their anger.  People were thankful for the emperors that they kill the animals which cause a source of terror for them  Emperors were identified with killing heroes like Hercules who was depicted killing many animals.

10.  The area was also used for executing punishments for the wrong doers. The community as a whole may have participated in undertaking the punishment.  Gladiators were “dead men” who had the chance to restore their life if they win in the combat.  Most gladiators were condemned people, but also captives, and rivals.

11.  He tells the story of building the Colosseum.  Although Flavius and his sonTitus spent much money in building it, the name was not attributed to them but rather to their enemy who they hated most; Nero.  Nero had a nearby statue which resembled Apollo. The statue was called the Colossus- thus the place was called: Colosseum.

12.  The writer describes the grand ceremony of opening of the collosseum and the many beasts that were killed.  The magnificent place was ornamented with marble and colored golden and purple.

13.  1- Nature of the course  2- Art analysis  3- Literature analysis : Eveline  4- History analysis: sources  5- philosophy analysis: personal identity  6- getting deep in analyzing art  7- reading poetry: sonnets  8- more on history: methods of research  9- more on philosophy: reasoning  10- more on History and Art: the colosseum