Φωτογραφίες

Another magnet for tourists – this colossal amphitheatre could seat 50,000 spectators who sat on three levels depending on their status. Gladiators, wild animals and slaves were made to fight against one another in bloodthirsty scenes, then the dead were dragged off via the exit shown here on the far side. Originally the stage was a wooden surface covered with sand to absorb the blood. This quickly burnt down though – the understage chambers were dark and were lit by flaming torches, an obvious fire hazard. Now you can see clearly the underground cells where wild animals were kept and slaves were responsible for operating lifts using pulleys, to raise and lower the animals to the arena.

In this shot I tried to emphasise the scale by using shooting at the widest possible angle.