How interesting it was to see that the Japanese soccer fans at the World Cup took the trouble to clean up the stadium after their team's games...win or lose, they picked up the detritus left behind by spectators. That is not something that is normally done here, where people leave mountains of peanut shells, popcornucopias (I made up that word; don't look it up!), and empty drink containers as they leave arenas to go to the parking lot and make even more mess.
BUT! Had those decluttering Japanese folks been around in the days of the Roman Empire, we might now know what we know now about Roman snack habits. Archeologists are prowling the areas beneath the old Colosseum, its drains and walkways, and what they find left behind is telling the story of a night out in old Rome, centuries ago.
Ticketholders for plays and gladiator bouts 1900 years ago refreshed themselves with olives, nuts, meats, cherries, grapes, figs, blackberries and peaches, judging from the trash left down there. Pass the pistachios please!
Alfonsina Russo is the director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, and she says these discoveries “deepen our understanding of the experience and habits of those who came to this place during the long days dedicated to the performances."
Beside the snack leavin's, these sad items were found: bones from lions, bears, dogs and other species that researchers figure were used to fight each other for the entertainment of the crowd, or as the targets in hunting demonstrations. But we have not come that far as a culture, when dog fighting is still practiced in the less-self-aware portions of the US.
Coin collectors must have been thrilled to see that the Colosseum researchers found some 50 bronze coins dating back to between the third and seventh centuries.
Since 2021, experts have been scooping out the lower passages and sewers underneath that stadium, trying to figure out their advanced water drainage system. Those old Romans knew how to flood the tunnels beneath the stands to put on water shows, and if it ever got cold enough, they were going to have the Ice Capades for a week or so!
We think of that Roman amphitheater, which was the largest in the world in ancient times, as mainly a place for gladiator events, but besides those and the water shows, there were theatrical productions, fire shows, and mock naval battles to go see, and they drew respectable crowds, although the place became less popular when Comcastico Cable came to Italy in AD 522. The last events we know about in the Colosseum were held in 523.
Had the National Football League been in business then, they certainly would have put a team there, but no. They wound up with Cleveland instead.
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