The Colosseum, Keith Hopkins
The Colosseum, Keith Hopkins
2 Rating(s)
List: $15.99 | Sale: $11.20
Club: $7.99

The Colosseum

Author: Keith Hopkins, Mary Beard

Narrator: Joan Walker

Unabridged: 4 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/03/2019

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

Byron and Hitler were equally entranced by Rome's most famous monument, the Colosseum. Mid-Victorians admired the hundreds of varieties of flowers in its crannies and occasionally shuddered at its reputation for contagion, danger, and sexual temptation. Today it is the highlight of a tour of 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 chock 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 his finish here.

Yet the reality is much stranger than the legend as the authors, two prominent classical historians, explain in this absorbing account. We learn the details of how the arena was built and at what cost; we are introduced to the emperors who sometimes fought in gladiatorial games staged at the Colosseum; and we take measure of the audience who reveled in, or opposed, these games. The authors also trace the strange afterlife of the monument—as fortress, shrine of martyrs, church, and glue factory. Why are we so fascinated with this arena of death?

About Keith Hopkins

Keith Hopkins was, at the time of his death, professor of ancient history at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of A World Full of Gods.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nicky on September 03, 2012

This book isn't quite as exhaustive as Mary Beard's book on Pompeii, but it's very good. It discusses both the popular myths about the Colosseum and the truths, if any, behind them. It's also nice that Mary Beard and Keith Hopkins recognise that they could be wrong, and that future archaelogy could......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on June 03, 2008

Full of great anectdotes and research, this book is perfect for the rare individual who is ready to look at the Colosseum academically. Without even going out of its way it makes clear that most of what you think you know about this wonder of the world is actually not true. It is a bit of a mythbust......more

Goodreads review by Mel on December 20, 2024

An interesting, quick listen about a cool place, and one I’ve been fortunate enough to visit! :)......more

Goodreads review by Zachary on November 20, 2015

The eleventh century equivalent to the modern Blue Guide, a travel book titled The Wonders of Rome, instructed medieval tourists on the function and identity of the Colosseum with spectacular confidence. It was “the temple of the Sun . . . disposed with many diverse vaulted chambers,” and in the mid......more

Goodreads review by Klara on January 03, 2022

This book starts out with a view of the Colosseum from the 1800s, which is one of the reasons why I picked up: I wanted to read about the 1700 or so years the Colosseum wasn't *The Colosseum*. Of course the main part of the book is about the Colosseum days of the Colosseum, but it is entertainingly......more