Colosseo or Colosseum was built by the three Flavian emperors, and its proper name is
Flavian Amphetheater. Its construction was part of the new imperial family's campaign
to promote a good public image. Probably built with the spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem at
the end of the so-called Jewish campaign, waged and won by Vespasian's (AD 69-79)
son Titus in AD 70, the amphitheater was inaugurated in AD 80. Made from travertine,
the stone oval was the largest amphitheater in the Roman world. The stones were hewn
from quarries near Tivoli and hauled to Rome along a specially built road. Some 300 tons
of iron are believed to have been used for the grapples that held the stones together.
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