NARRATOR:
The Colosseum-- the Roman Empire
summed up in stone. Never has such a civilized
culture poured so much of its wealth into engineering
spectacles of death for the entertainment
of its people. In the morning you had
wild beast shows. At around the lunchtime,
crucifixions. In the afternoon,
the pièce de la résistance, two men, fighting to the death. NARRATOR:
Ancient Roman accounts document
the Colosseum's repertoire in chilling detail. They depict an orgy of
outrageous spectacles-- costumed gladiators cast in
battles to the death, exotic animals unleashed
on unsuspecting victims, even sea battles with thousands
of people killed. Were the Romans as bloodthirsty
in their theatrics as ancient authors report? To investigate, a subterranean
archaeologist explores tunnels beneath the Colosseum to discover how it could be
flooded for naval battles. A forensic scientist gives voice
to gladiators whose battle-bruised bones bear
witness to their own deaths. FABIAN KANZ:
We had in our hands
for the first time remains of real gladiators. NARRATOR:
And an architect pieces together
clues of an elaborate system of ancient special effects
machines. Then, with a team of engineers
and builders, they reconstruct it, and for the first time in
1,500 years release an animal into the Colosseum. Now, can scientists and scholars
unlock the secrets of how and why
the Romans engineered such bloody spectacles? Right now on<i> NOVA,</i> "The
Colosseum: Roman Death Trap." If one building best
symbolizes the gore, glory and genius of the Romans,
it is the Colosseum. It is a spectacle of design
and engineering, the biggest building
they ever constructed. It spans nearly 2,000 feet
around, soars over 160 feet high, and soon after it opened in
the year 80, it was decorated in gleaming bronze shields and 16-foot statues
of gods and heroes. To this day, the Colosseum
stands as a powerful landmark on the skyline of Rome. When the Colosseum was built,
it had an enormous effect because of its size, status
and presence in Rome. (crowd cheering) NARRATOR:
The echo of its 50,000
spectators cheering bloody theatrics
continues to haunt imaginations. Gladiators fighting to
the death, mass crucifixions, elaborate animal hunts. Over four centuries,
the Colosseum was witness to an estimated
million human deaths. And with up to 11,000 animals
killed in a season, some species,
like the Balkan lion and a North African elephant,
were driven to extinction. Yet the Colosseum was much more than a spectacular
slaughterhouse. It was a carefully engineered
entertainment complex designed to reinforce
Roman world order. KATHERINE WELCH:
Watching fighting on a regular basis
for entertainment gave the Romans a sense of who
they were and infused them with a kind of military ethos that was instrumental in creating and maintaining
the empire. NARRATOR:
Ancient Roman authors, such as Martial
in his<i> Book of Spectacles,</i> describe how that world order
played out on the arena's stage. They cast the emperor
as master illusionist. On his command a menagerie of
ostriches, crocodiles, rhinos, bears and tigers
magically appear to be dispatched by hunters. A condemned criminal
is dressed in wings and catapulted across the arena
to play out a Greek myth. And fantastical sea battles
take place where thousands of prisoners
of war are either slaughtered or drowned. Can these astonishing accounts
of elaborate executions be true? Or has the boundary
between history and myth been blurred over time? Most recently the Colosseum
was brought back to life in the film<i> Gladiator,</i>
where tigers spring from out of nowhere
to maul Russell Crowe. But that's Hollywood effects. The Romans were doing it
for real. Parts of the movie<i> Gladiator</i>
are based on events portrayed in ancient texts and mosaics. They depict gladiators locked
in combat and wild beasts mauling people. But none of these accounts
describe how the Romans made these
animals magically appear. Some scholars suspect the secret
may be hidden in the Colosseum's basement. The hypogeum, the Greek word
for "underground," is a maze of corridors
and collapsed walls. Architect Heinz Beste thinks
that here, hidden from the spectators
above, is where the Romans engineered
their murderous magic. (Beste speaking German) (translated):
We have to imagine
this being covered by the wooden arena floor above. It was dark down here, lit only
by torches and small lamps. NARRATOR:
Today, the arena floor has been
partially rebuilt r tourists. The original was made of wood
and covered in sand to absorb blood. The floor and all its wooden
supports are long gone, but etched into the walls
of the hypogeum Beste finds deep cuts
and grooves. To decipher
these fossil-like remains, he drew every stone
on every wall. After more than two years,
he began to make sense of the mysterious markings. BESTE (translated):
Through these drawings
it was possible to connect these clues
and turn the whole puzzle into a system
that can be explained. NARRATOR:
Here he finds impressions made
by wooden beams. And evenly spaced along
the floor are a series of round holes in concrete. BESTE (translated):
Here is another piece
of the puzzle. This is a base for a capstan. NARRATOR:
A capstan is a large round pole
that could be turned by workers to lift something. BESTE:
Ah, interesting. Up here we see an indentation
for a ramp. NARRATOR:
Another mark reveals where
a ramp might have led to the arena. In Beste's mind, the pieces
come together... Support framing from the floor
of the hypogeum to the floor of the arena. Halfway up, a horizontal beam
for workers to stand on. A capstan with poles
for workers to turn. A channel where a cage
could fit. And finally, a trap door that
could lower to become a ramp leading to the arena floor. Together they form
what could be a device to lift and release animals. (translated):
I believe, given the evidence, there must have been an ancient
lift system here. NARRATOR:
Throughout the hypogeum,
Beste finds evidence of ancient backstage machinery,
a total of 28 lifts. Has Heinz Beste discovered
the secret to how the Romans made wild
animals magically appear in the arena? To find out,
he wants to construct a lift and trap door system-- install it right here
in the Colosseum and raise an animal into
the most famous amphitheater on earth. But why did the Romans
build the Colosseum to stage these bloody
spectacles? Part of the answer is hiding
in plain sight. For years, a cast aside stone
was used as a place for visitors to rest, its
importance completely unnoticed. In the 1800s, an inscription
was discovered on its surface. It ended up here
in the Colosseum museum, where it became, once again,
largely unnoticed. But hidden beneath these 5th
century letters may be another, much earlier inscription. Rosella Rea is director
of the Colosseum and one of the leading experts
on the building. Mixed within
the engraved letters she sees a series
of strange holes. (Rea speaking Italian) ROSELLA REA (translated):
You can see with the naked eye
that the holes are arranged in a regular pattern. By studying their layout, it was found that the holes form
a series of letters. NARRATOR:
The holes are where bronze
letters had once been fastened to the stone. (translated):
This was the hole
for the first letter. The letter "I" for "imperator." NARRATOR:
Or "emperor." Connecting all the dots reveals
the original inscription. The Emperor Vespasian ordered
this new amphitheater to be constructed
from the booty. Vespasian Flavius becomes
emperor in the year 69. The following year he orders
construction of the Colosseum to begin. The stone is the plaque
from its dedication. And the letters spell out how
the Colosseum was paid for, with booty. But booty from where? Vespasian's son left a clue
on the nearby Arch of Titus. On it, Katherine Welch finds
depictions of Romans sacking
the Temple in Jerusalem. WELCH:
One of the panels depicts
the menorah, the Torah, and the sacred table, carried
by elite young Roman men. This is quintessential
war booty, the things that meant the most to the people from whom
they were seized. NARRATOR:
Following his son's conquest
of Judea in the year 70, Vespasian is rich
with gold and slaves. He can build anything he wants. So why the Colosseum? Vespasian needs a building
that makes a bold statement-- that he, Vespasian Flavius, is nothing like the emperor
before him, the infamous Nero. Emperor Nero's rule is marked
by extravagance and much of Rome burning. He confiscates land and builds
a pleasure palace with gardens and a manmade lake. Nero is driven from the throne,
commits suicide, and Rome is engulfed
in civil war. WELCH:
After a ghastly year of civil
war and the suicide of Nero, Vespasian did everything
in his living power to ingratiate himself
with the Senate and consolidate
his personal power. NARRATOR:
After fighting his way to the
throne, Vespasian casts himself as the anti-Nero. He buries Nero's palace,
fills in his lake and on top builds the opposite
of a pleasure garden-- a public building
for blood sports. WELCH:
In building the largest, most
expensive building in Rome, a building for popular
entertainment, it celebrated military power
and put it into a frightening, exciting, chastening context. NARRATOR:
The Colosseum is the perfect
symbol for how Vespasian and Rome came to power. And to enhance the blood sports,
Vespasian builds in some deadly surprises, releasing
wild animals into the arena. But reconstructing the lift
that could have done this is an audacious plan. If Heinz Beste is to succeed,
he'll need to find an ally on the inside. Umberto Baruffaldi is
an engineer, inventor and GoPro enthusiast. He too is captivated by how
the Romans released wild animals into the arena. Umberto also happens to be director of health and safety
for the Colosseum. Beste shares his drawings
with Umberto. UMBERTO BARUFFALDI (translated):
The drawing is beautiful, but how are we going
to make it work? NARRATOR:
Beste's drawings provide
a skeleton of the system, but it's not clear how the lift
actually works. Umberto brings in structural
engineer Giovanni Squillacioti and material engineer
Flavia Campanelli. CAMPANELLI (translated):
We have to create a system
of pulleys and counterweights that works perfectly
and synchronizes. NARRATOR:
Giovanni translates Beste's
two-dimensional drawing into a three-dimensional
computer model. NARRATOR:
The trap door is one
of the big challenges. On one hand it has to open to release the animal
into the arena. NARRATOR:
But when it's closed,
it has to support the weight of gladiators, charioteers and heavy animals trampling
on it above. Giovanni puts the pieces
together and connects them in his computer model with
pulleys, ropes and hinges. <i> Perfecto.</i> NARRATOR:
Then, based on Giovanni's
3D wizardry, Heinz and Umberto build
a scale model. NARRATOR:
At the heart of the system is
the capstan, a large central pole. As this is turned,
it wraps a rope around it. The animal is placed
in this cage. It's connected to the capstan
through a series of pulleys, so as the capstan is turned,
the cage rises. Two large hinged arms support
the trap door when it's closed, and then swing down to open it. As the cage rises,
the door automatically opens, releasing the animal
onto the ramp. BARUFFALDI (translated):
The model is essential to
experimental work of any kind, because it is the model that
allows you to understand all the mechanics. NARRATOR:
And building the lift
and trap door system will provide a window into
a uniquely Roman pastime, in a uniquely Roman building,
the amphitheater. Mark Wilson Jones is an
architect with an expertise in Greek and Roman buildings. He's here in Arles
in southern France, at an amphitheater constructed
about 20 years after the Colosseum. MARK WILSON JONES:
In general, the Romans took
their building forms from the Greeks. But this is not the case
for the amphitheater. The amphitheater was a definite
Roman invention. And they created it for
the special circumstances of gladiatorial fights. NARRATOR:<i>
Amphi</i> means "double" in Greek, and<i> amphitheater</i> translates
as "double theater." But if a Greek theater were just
doubled, it would be round. The Roman amphitheater is
actually a stretched circle, or an oval. Wilson Jones believes
the Romans' innovation of the oval shape may be
a direct result of the building's function--
a place for gladiator combat. WILSON JONES:
Most buildings are rectangular. And that's a bad thing because you can get action stuck
in the corner. NARRATOR:
If a gladiator gets stuck in a
corner, he gets killed quickly. The oval shape helps
prolong the action for maximum entertainment value. WILSON JONES:
So this shape has
a dynamic quality, no corners. Everything's smooth. So the action can move around. And I think that really helps it
maintain its excitement. NARRATOR:
An amphitheater for gladiator
combat is uniquely Roman in form and function-- exactly the symbol
Emperor Vespasian needs to project his power
and inspire Roman pride. WILSON JONES:
There's this strong connection
between the unique shape of the amphitheater and
gladiatorial performances, the link with the military,
the conquest of empire. The great crowds of 50,000 that
came together in the Colosseum were celebrating all of that. It's really a sort of great day
out to feel a Roman citizen and feel at the center
of the world. NARRATOR:
In a forest northeast of Rome, Umberto is in search
of the perfect tree for making the lift. NARRATOR:
The tree will be used for one
of the key parts of the lift, the capstan. NARRATOR:
To fell the tree, the team
uses the same tools as the ancient Romans: the ax,
the two-man saw and a wedge. Carmelo Malacrino, an expert
on ancient Roman building, knows what tools to use from
images on the Trajan Column, erected just 30 years after
the opening of the Colosseum. (translated):
This column shows a fantastic
series of tree cutting. It depicts the deforestation
process for constructing new roads and
the creation of campsites as part of a military campaign. NARRATOR:
After an hour of chopping
and sawing, the tree comes crashing down. Now, the tree begins its
transformation into the capstan. But Umberto leaves a little bark as a reminder of where
it came from. The team uses
their scale model as a guide for building the lift. BARUFFALDI (translated):
The move from the model
to the real thing was a little traumatic. Working in a dimension
four times bigger really amplifies the problems. NARRATOR:
The cage itself will weigh
over 800 pounds. It needs to be strong to keep
wild animals inside. (translated):
We have to pay attention
to the sturdiness of the cage since it's supposed to hold
lions and tigers. NARRATOR:
Seeing the lift at full scale,
Umberto starts to have some concerns. BARUFFALDI:
The most difficult part will be
getting the lift in without touching the Colosseum. Because if we damage
the Colosseum, I'll be chased
out of the Colosseum. NARRATOR:
Today, the Colosseum is
a majestic ruin. Over the centuries, everything of value was stripped
from its walls. But coins minted for its opening and carvings on tombs show how the Colosseum was
likely decorated. In its arches stood 160 bronze
statues 16 feet tall, representing gods and heroes
the Romans borrow from the Greek pantheon. At its top layer were
gleaming bronze discs symbolizing captured shields. Finally, framing the arches were columns of various
architectural orders: Greek capitals on the upper
three layers, but on the street level
are Roman capitals. WELCH:
Vespasian is giving the people,
the plebs Romana, exactly what they want--
Greek orders, Greek statues, but all with a Roman twist and pressed into the service
of the conquering Roman state. NARRATOR:
The Colosseum's decorations
amplify the message of the building's
monumental scale: We Romans love
Greek art and culture, but we have surpassed them. Rome is the new superpower. As a final touch, there was a bronze chariot above
the entry arch on the north side, where the emperor could make
his grand entrance. But Vespasian will never walk
beneath it. He dies just months before
the Colosseum is completed. He does leave a lasting legacy
though: the largest building in Rome
and an imperial dynasty. For the first time
in Roman history, an emperor is directly succeeded
by his natural son. In the year 80, Titus holds
the inaugural games in honor of his father. Roman author Martial
in his "Liber Spectaculorum"-- the<i> Book of Spectacles--</i>
describes the inaugural games. A hundred days of crucifixions,
wild beast shows, gladiator combat
and, for the first time, the acting out of Greek myths with elaborate scenery
and actual death. WELCH:
What happened with the
inauguration of the Colosseum is that these Greek
mythological executions entered the arena repertoire. Except in the theater
they were bloodless, they were just actors. In the amphitheater they were
condemned criminals who were forced to dress up
as Greek mythological characters and killed in the Colosseum. NARRATOR:
The Romans would reenact
well-known Greek myths, such as Icarus flying too close
to the sun and falling to earth. But in the Colosseum, there was
a gruesome twist. The criminal playing Icarus
would be catapulted across the arena to his death. This is not a myth. It's real. NARRATOR:
Martial goes on to describe
a mass execution so cruelly choreographed it
surpasses even Roman standards. Naumachiae-- mock sea battles
where ships are sunk with hundreds of prisoners
on board. What astonishes Martial is not
the mass murder by drowning, but rather
how it was pulled off. How could the Colosseum be
flooded for sea battles in the morning, then drained
quickly enough for gladiator combat
in the afternoon? The Romans were masters
of moving water. A network of 11 aqueducts
carried clean water to Rome from mountain springs,
some over 50 miles away. The aqueducts provide the means
to get water into the Colosseum. And new discoveries are
revealing a system to get water out. Adriano Morabito, director
of Subterranean Rome, has spent ten years mapping the
city's underground water system. One day while surveying
for a new metro line, he took an unexpected turn. MORABITO:
We were mapping all the sewage
system and suddenly we went into an older drainage system
and we saw light at the end. NARRATOR:
To his great surprise, the light
at the end of the tunnel was the Colosseum. Morabito had stumbled into an
ancient drain or "collector." MORABITO:
This is the only collector
still working today. In ancient times we had all
four collectors getting rid of the water out
of the monument. NARRATOR:
Beneath the arena, Morabito
finds evidence of four drains that emptied water
from the Colosseum. And climbing to the top
of the hypogeum, Morabito finds 40 channels
that may have fed water in. MORABITO:
Some archaeologists speculate that this could have been used
to flood the arena. NARRATOR:
Morabito believes
the 40 input channels and four drains
provide the plumbing to stage naval battles. To put his theory to the test, he investigates how much water
the Romans would need to flood the arena. He finds four passageways
leading into the hypogeum, wide enough to launch
flat-bottomed boats into the arena. MORABITO:
When the arena was flooded the water was coming in here and then the boats were starting
floating up to this level, because otherwise the water
would have gone into other rooms. NARRATOR:
Morabito reasons the water could
have been no higher than about five feet or it would
spill over into other areas
of the Colosseum. Multiplying that depth
by the area of the arena, he calculates, with
the floor removed it can hold a million and a quarter
gallons of water, equal to about two Olympic
swimming pools. But can the drains empty
that much water fast enough to stage sea battles
and gladiator fights all in one day, as author
Martial describes? (thunder) One night a thunderstorm puts
Morabito's theory and the surviving drain
to the test. The storm dumps 800,000 gallons
of water into the Colosseum, filling the hypogeum halfway. That rainwater,
with just one drain, empties in under two hours. Morabito calculates that with
all four drains working, the Colosseum could be emptied
in less than an hour. It was therefore
technically possible for the emperor's engineers
to flood the arena for its opening games. NARRATOR:
Morabito believes the Romans had
the plumbing and enough water to stage mock sea battles
in the Colosseum, just as the ancient texts claim. But could they really lift
animals into the arena? After months of constructing
the lift and trap door system in the workshop outside of Rome,
today the pieces finally arrive. The 440-pound trap door, the 2,000-pound frame
and nearly 1,000-pound cage. And the capstan,
weighing in at 500 pounds. Originally the pieces were built right into the walls
of the hypogeum. But today those fragile walls are a part of a protected
World Heritage site that can't be altered. So their idea is to pre-assemble
the lift outside the Colosseum and then drop it into place as
one self-contained unit. SQUILLACIOTI (translated):
Assembling the lift is a tricky
process, almost as tricky as the design. It's big and bulky. And then lowering
into the Colosseum is the most difficult part. NARRATOR:
Umberto has hired
a 200-foot crane for this delicate operation. Giovanni Cirillo is
behind the controls. CIRILLO (translated):
The only issue today
is the wind. And the later it gets in the
afternoon the windier it gets. That might shake the structure
and make my job less exact. NARRATOR:
After hours of assembling,
the team is finally ready to raise the lift. The crane hauls the machine to a
standing position, and then... stops. NARRATOR:
There's a problem. The crane has a built-in scale, and Cirillo discovers
the lift is too heavy. CIRILLO (translated):
The load is 600 kilos
overweight. Over this distance
that's a problem. NARRATOR:
The crane has the power
to raise the lift, but when its arm extends
out over the Colosseum, too much weight could cause
the crane to tip over. BARUFFALDI (translated):
We don't know if we can get
the lift inside. The main issue is the crane
might topple over. NARRATOR:
The team does some quick math
to try to save the project. SQUILLACIOTI:
According to our calculations, the cage weighs
around 450 kilos. Once we take that away, the load
will be lighter for the crane. NARRATOR:
They remove the cage, but
they're still 150 kilos-- or about 300 pounds-- over. Umberto confers with Cirillo
and takes a calculated risk. He green-lights the raising
of the lift. The crane hauls the lift up, nearly 200 feet and over
the walls of the Colosseum. Umberto holds his breath as
the crane's arm stretches out over the hypogeum. This shifts the crane's center
of gravity. If the lift is still too heavy,
the crane could topple over, crashing into the Colosseum and smashing the lift
into the hypogeum. To make it even more
challenging, Cirillo has to maneuver the lift without even being able
to see it, guided only by radio contact. Rosella Rea, director
of the Colosseum and perhaps the person with the
most riding on the success or failure of the lift project,
arrives at the critical moment, as the team steers the lift between the narrow, fragile
walls of the hypogeum with almost no wiggle room. To everyone's immense relief,
the lift slides in perfectly. After flying the three-ton lift
into place, the half-ton cage is a breeze. BESTE (translated):
Well, when you look at it as a
drawing, when you imagine it in your mind's eye, or when you
write about it, that's one thing. But then to see it full scale, and to really be able to touch
it, that's a whole other thing. It's really amazing, and for me
it's especially fantastic. NARRATOR:
With the lift in place,
the team pops the Prosecco. But they may be celebrating
too soon. They still have to turn
all these parts into a working machine. But why did the ancient Romans
go to such lengths to make death theatrical? Some answers are coming
from the victims themselves, or at least their bones. In 1993, Austrian archaeologists
uncovered a cemetery in a Roman city
in what is today Turkey. Fabian Kanz of the Medical
University of Vienna was brought in to analyze
the human remains. KANZ:
It was a mass grave. We found the remains
from 68 people. And 66 have been young males,
aged between 20 and 30. NARRATOR:
Unusual injuries offer a clue
to who was buried here. KANZ:
The distance is about
five centimeters. NARRATOR:
These holes in the head,
surely the cause of death, were almost certainly the result
of a trident-- a weapon unique
to gladiator combat. The Roman author Suetonius describes seven gladiator
characters, each with different costumes
and weapons. Onof the most famous pairings
is a Secutor, equipped with a short sword,
shield and helmet; and a Retiarius,
"the fisherman," who fought with a net
and trident. From the forensic evidence, it's
obvious who won this battle. KANZ:
It was the first known
gladiator cemetery. We had in our hands
for the first time remains of real gladiators. NARRATOR:
Among many of the gladiator
bones, Kanz finds something even more remarkable--
evidence of healing. KANZ:
What was quite surprising for us was the high number
of well-healed injuries, which indicates there must be
excellent health care for these gladiators. NARRATOR:
Ancient Roman texts offer a clue
to one possible treatment, a special potion made from ash. KANZ:
And this might have been leaving
traces in the bones. NARRATOR:
To find out if there's any truth
to this gladiator potion, Kanz grinds a bone sample
into a powder and processes it into a liquid that he puts into an instrument
called an emission spectroter. Here he sprays the liquid
into an argon gas torch, where it burns with
a distinctive flame. The color of the flame changes, depending on the elements
in the liquid. And therefore, we can find out
about the mineral composition of the bone. NARRATOR:
The flame turns from blue
to a bright yellow, indicating that the gladiator
bone has a high concentration of strontium. Strontium is a natural element with properties similar
to calcium, a crucial mineral for building
strong bones. It was mentioned
in the historic texts that a kind of ash drink was
substituted to the gladiators to remedy their pain
after fighting. And this would perfectly fit to explain this high strontium
content of the gladiators. NARRATOR:
Kanz believes gladiators were
given the Roman equivalent of calcium supplements
to strengthen their bones. But why go to this trouble
to save gladiators? Although slaves,
gladiators were trained in special fight schools. The remains of one,
the Ludis Magnus, are right in the shadow
of the Colosseum. KANZ:
The gladiators have been
a big investment for the owner
of the gladiator school, comparable to modern football
or soccer teams. And they wanted to save
their investment. And therefore, they engaged
the best available doctors at the time. NARRATOR:
It would have been
extremely expensive if half the gladiators were
killed at every event. To protect their investment, the Romans began to provide
gladiators with medical care, so they could live to fight
another battle. And perhaps to compensate
the audience for a reduction in the number of deaths, the emperor added
entertainment value by ordering
more elaborate stagecraft. Now, all the major parts
of the lift are in place: the cage, capstan and trap door. BARUFFALDI (translated):
Now that it's in place,
we have to make it work. The first task is installing
all the missing pieces. NARRATOR:
They place wheels on the cage... handles on the capstan... and above the capstan,
Umberto and Tullio install a spool for rope. BARUFFALDI:
We attach this rope here
and as it turns, the rope wraps around it
and pulls the cage up. NARRATOR:
The team connects the capstan
to the cage with enough rope to stretch the length of two
football fields. Their earlier model is starting
to feel very small indeed. (translated):
We only tested the model. That was just 50 kilograms. The real thing is 3,200
kilograms. So that's why things
are a bit tense here. NARRATOR:
With everything strung up, Umberto gives the lift
a trial run. He tries to turn the capstan
without success. The cage goes nowhere. (translated):
Three of us tried to lift it,
but it didn't budge. Not a bit. It looked like an elephant. Impossible to move. NARRATOR:
Umberto calls in reinforcements. Even with six people,
they can't turn the capstan to lift the cage
or move the trap door. It's all too heavy. (translated):
The ramp is very heavy and the lever system we
initially designed does not work. NARRATOR:
How did the ancient Romans
manage to lift so much weight? (translated):
We are facing the same
challenges that the Romans had when they were originally
making it. The size is the same, the
mechanisms are the same, and the problem is just as big. NARRATOR:
Umberto searches for a solution
in an unexpected place: Roman ships. Could the same mechanics that
hoisted the heavy sails be used to lift the cage? Umberto's hard drives are filled
with images he's collected of surviving pieces
of Roman ships. Among them he finds what may be
the key to heavy lifting, a simple device that dates far
back in antiquity-- the pulley. The cage weighs 800 pounds. Adding a pulley splits
the weight evenly between the two sides
of the rope. Another pulley changes
the direction of the force. It's easier to pull down
than up. With one pulley attached to the
cage, it feels half the weight, only 400 pounds. Attaching two pulleys
on the cage makes it feel like only 200 pounds. The more pulleys you add, the more the weight is
distributed between them and the less force you need
to lift the cage. BARUFFALDI:
The more I worked on this,
the more I realized how great the Romans were, and
how small we are in comparison. Building the lift, I realized
I was learning from them. Learning directly
from the ancient Romans. NARRATOR:
The team adds pulleys
to redistribute the weight of the cage and trap door. Umberto gathers eight men. As they push the capstan, the rope glides through
a network of 12 pulleys. And the cage lifts up
off the ground. SQUILLACIOTI:
The fascinating part is seeing
this mechanism, which at first was essentially
a static, seemingly simple structure, turn into something dynamic,
a machine, simply by using these ropes,
pulleys and human strength. NARRATOR:
But can this machine perform the Colosseum's signature
magic trick? To find out, the team wants
to release an animal into the world's most famous
amphitheater for the first time
in 1,500 years. But which animal? According to legend, Romulus and
Remus, the founders of Rome, were suckled by a wolf. So a wolf is the perfect animal
to test the lift. Paolo Caldora rescues wolves
taken as pets and then illegally abandoned. He leads a wolf through
the labyrinth of the hypogeum. In ancient times, wild beasts would have been
carried in already in cages. The cage door is lowered, and the men turn the capstan
to raise the wolf. Every part is now working
as a synchronized machine. The trap door is lowered. The cage rises into place,
its door opens, and the wolf emerges
into the arena. (echoes of cheering crowd) The days of wild beasts
in the Colosseum as hunters or hunted
are thankfully long gone, and the wolf runs safely
to his rescuer. (applause) Heinz, Umberto and their team
have not only re-created an ancient Roman lift machine, they have created a time
machine. For a brief moment, raising
the wolf opens a window onto the spectacles here in
the Colosseum 2,000 years ago. BESTE (translated):
Imagine not just one lift here, but a whole row of them,
one behind the other. The corridor was packed
with lifts, which produced the spectacular
action above. Now, with the full-scale lift
we can begin to get a sense of just how magnificent the
stagecraft must have been. It's really fantastic. NARRATOR:
Each year, over five million
tourists visit the Colosseum. They are awed by its size and horrified
imagining the slaughter. How could a culture
as advanced as Rome justify the spectacular
bloodshed that took place here? WELCH:
Gladiatorial games and
associated violent spectacles needed absolutely
no justification. And in the ancient sources,
we find just the opposite, that they were believed
to stiffen moral fiber. NARRATOR:
Romans attending the Colosseum
were more than spectators, they were participants. These games showcased the power
of Rome and reminded citizens that their prosperity
was paid for in blood. WILSON JONES:
Inside the Colosseum you have
spectacle, you have energy, you have entertainment. The whole building is used as
a vehicle for the demonstration of the power of the Roman world and how it came to benefit
the populace. NARRATOR:
Though Rome falls
to the barbarians in 476, the Colosseum, like a victorious
gladiator, still stands. Battered and triumphant, it is a lasting reminder of
the gore and the glory of Rome. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
