Mini Collosseum or Amphitheathre Discovered Under Rome's Airport

Discovery News ^ | Oct. 2, 2009 | Rosellla Lorenzi

[wildbill]

Beneath Rome's Fiumicino airport lies a "mini-Colosseum" that may have played host to Roman emperors, according to British archaeologists.

The foundations of the amphitheater, which are oval-shaped like the much larger arena in the heart of Rome, have been unearthed at the site of Portus, a 2nd century A.D. harbor near Ostia's port on the Tiber River.

A monumental seaport that saved imperial Rome from starvation, Portus is now reduced to a large hexagonal pond on a marshy land owned by a noble family, the Duke Sforza Cesarinis.

The two-square-mile site has been known since around the 16th century, but only in the 1860s was it seriously excavated by the Italian archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani, who marked the remains of what he believed was a theater

[wildbill]

Wealthy Romans and Emperors had all sorts of fabulous villas in the country with additions. This might have been a construction for a wealthy gladatorial fan or one who loved theatrical productions like Sulla.

I think Marius had a fabulously tricked out villa somewhere in the same area that he retired to and carried on a sybaritic lifestyle after he retired from running Rome. I'm not saying this is the one, but perhaps they'll find some clue one day about the ownership.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

404 Not Found.

[ClaudiusI]

Those who are about to fail to find the page salute you.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/mini-colosseum-unearthed-rome.html

It’s Unix.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

"It is unusual to find this type of building so close to a harbor, and it is unclear exactly what it was used for. Gladiator fights may have taken place there, as well as wild beast baiting, and even the staging of mock sea battles. It might have also been a form of Roman 'folly,' shaped like an amphitheater, but used as a monumental garden," Keay said.

Let's see, right down by the port where it would be frequented by sailors. Yea, couldn't be an arena, must have been a garden. /sarc

I have a feeling Mr.Kaey doesn't really understand sailors, or that Romans are what Italians come from.

[John-Irish]

Yeah, either that or while waiting for their flight the emperors took in a show. :-)

[freedumb2003]

Amazing find!

[wildbill]

Sorry, but it works for me every time. Maybe your browser settings aren’t set up to view this website.

I got the URL directly from the site by copy/paste so I didn’t have to worry about a mistake in typing.

Can’t explain it. Why not try www.discoverynews.com and see if you can get to the main page?

[InABunkerUnderSF]

If you change the extension to .html, not .htm as posted in the link it works. This was using Firefox and also tried Chrome, on a Windows machine. Didn’t try from a Mac or Linux box

[Frantzie]

Rome was build on computers using Unix?

No wonder the Romans developed technologies about 700 years before the rest of the world.

[wildbill]

I have Vista and use the Maxon browser. Wouldn’t it be nice if everything worked on the same standards.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Nah, celebrated diversity!

:o)

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

It was called Vnixvs at the time.

[SunkenCiv]

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[colorado tanker]

I don’t think Marius ever got to Rome during his brief reign.

[wildbill]

Marius was never a king or emperor as we know the term. Instead he was a successful general and politician who was elected to seven consulships which put him at the head of the Roman republic along with a fellow consul.

He was perhaps the most notable leader of Roman political life during the last days of the Republic.

He was in and out of Rome all the time between campaigns so I don’t understand your comment unless you are confusing him with someone else.

[colorado tanker]

Doh! You meant Marius the general and consul during the Republic. I was thinking of the Marius who was a Gallic Emperor in the late Empire.

[wildbill]

Just goes to show I’m a Republic kind of guy

[colorado tanker]

:-))