"The Colosseum has long been Rome's most famous and most visited monument. Byron and Hitler were equally entranced; mid-Victorians admired its flowers and occasionally shuddered at its reputation for contagion, danger and sexual temptation. Today it is the highspot of a visit to Italy for more than three million visitors a year, a concert arena for the likes of Paul McCartney and a national symbol of opposition to the death penalty. Its ancient history is full of romantic but erroneous myths. There is no evidence that any gladiator ever said 'Hail Caesar, those about to die...' and we know of not one single Christian martyr who met their end there. Yet the reality is much much stranger, as this fascinating and learned book explains." "Two leading classical historians tell the story of Rome' s greatest arena: how it was built and how much it cost; the gladiatorial and other games that were held there; the audience who revelled in - or objected to - the games; the emperors who staged them and sometimes fought themselves. They also trace its strange after-life - as fortress, shrine of the martyrs, church, glue factory and botanical garden. And they ask, why are we so fascinated with this arena of death?"--BOOK JACKET.

Originally published: London : Profile Books, 2005. Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-203) and index.