“Kill him! Flog him! Burn him alive! Why is he such a coward? Why won’t he rush on the steel? Why does he fall so meekly? Why won’t he die willingly?” Imagine a crowd shouting this at you as you fight for your life. This is the famous philosopher’s, Seneca, eyewitness account of what the crowd would chant at matches. He was not a fan of the games, calling the gladiatorial games, “plain butchery”.
November 2013, single image, additional exposures for highlights, focal length 16mm, aperture f/8, shutter speed 30 seconds, ISO 100, tripod.
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He warned his friend to stay away saying, “Unhappy as I am, how have I deserved that I must look on such a scene as this? Do not, my Lucilius, attend the games, I pray you. Either you will be corrupted by the multitude, or, if you show disgust, be hated by them. So stay away.”
When you enter the space one can’t help but think back to the gladiator games. It is hard to even imagine that at one point the gladiators and the Colosseum were forgotten or disregarded as insignificant. At one point the Colosseum was quarried for building material. Other times used as a place to garden. Even it was considered for a wool factory.
Luckily none of these things came into fruition. Thanks to restoration and preservation we are able to enjoy this glimpse into history today.
Half of the building was covered in scaffolding, so the classic view of the building was not available for a shoot. Luckily, I was able to find a unique angle that did not have scaffolding or people covering my view.
