Colosseum at Rome, a very disturbing monument

 

The  Romans built the Colosseum as a place for gladiatorial combat in the   years between 75 to 80 AD in Rome, Italy.  What is today supposed to  be a  tourist attraction is in plain terms a historical venue of  countless  gruesome murders through bloody gladiatorial fights, games  killing  animals and public executions that were supposed to be the most  sought  after entertainment in Rome mainly reserved for the elites to  watch ..  yes, to watch humans and wild animals tearing up each other in  a bid to  survive. Nine thousand animals were killed in the Colosseum  during the  first year of its construction alone! 

Unfortunately  we are given very little details in journals,  newspaper-articles and  history books on this horrendous social culture  because of which this  venue should actually cease being a tourist  attraction.  It's hard to  understand what tourists could enjoy such a  vacation which took them to  watch the spot of cruel bloodshed where  human life and the life of all  living beings were so cheap?  No  wonder the 21st century is no  different.  Landmarks that serve as  reminders of murderous sports are  still sources of pleasure, carefully  maintained, photographed and  visited, providing the government  with stacks of money. 

Commercialization conceals the importance of  promoting  civilization.  Travel agents and tour guides are all praise  about the  architecture of this place, often referring to it as the "stunning framework of Corinthian, Doric, and Ionic columns."  It was put up by Yahoo website as among the 10 most visited places in the world, calling it "a gorgeous dichotomy hard to not want to capture it all."

But an evil place has an evil history.  The Colosseum was damaged by fire  in  the year 217 AD, almost destroyed by earthquakes in 443 AD and 1349  AD,  converted into a cemetery in the 6th century, rented out as  residential  and commercial real estate in the 12th century and occupied  as a castle  in the 13th century.  After that, it was used as a bull  fighting ring  for many years.  Then, somehow, it it got transformed  into a wool  factory.  It was around 1750 AD that it began getting  restored as a  Colosseum and shockingly began being looked upon as  something "sacred."

And  again, evil history carries evil rumors.  Stories about haunting  in  the Colosseum have been passed down through generations.  These  rumors  tell ghastly tales.  Stories claim of unjustly slaughtered  gladiators  returning after dark to re-enact their final moments in  combat and  invisible chariots rattling across the arena.  Tourists  often claim they  hear words spoken in Latin, screams of slaves  and criminals  slaughtered at the whim of a crowd filled with enthusiasm and painful  cries of wounded animals.  There are also many reports of seeing  shadowy audience  and Roman guards silhouetted against the darkness of  the night.  Only  God Almighty would know to what extent these stories  are true or not.   However, such scenarios were commonplace within the  Colosseum and to a  reader, the distressing tales of this structure  represent the ghost of  the bloodthirsty Roman Empire itself.

I  ask myself, how would the world react if there was a huge historical   structure built in Spain during the Muslim rule, or some splendid   building in Persia constructed during the Safavid rule where humans and   animals fought to their deaths at the pleasure of cheering elites?    Would the West today look upon it as a "gorgeous" landmark, requesting   tourists to crowd around it with awe and admiration or would it serve as a permanent agenda for trumpeting our "cruel history?"

The  souls of numerous dueling gladiators, tormented prisoners and  animals  mercilessly mutilated and butchered at this ancient site will surely cry out on the Day of Judgment, asking for what sin were they  treated so  brutally to become a source of pleasure for their wealthy audience.  

Let  us at least hope that some conscientious tourists visiting this ancient venue of  mass  murders are awakened by its horrific history to denounce killings   perpetrated by the strong against the weak, and teach the same to their children.