On the site of that Golden Palace, he decreed, would be built a new amphitheater where the public could enjoy gladiatorial combats and other forms of entertainment.ĭid you know? Archaeologists believe that the Colosseum contained both drinking fountains and latrines.

The Flavian emperors, as Vespasian and his sons Titus (79-81) and Domitian (81-96) were known, attempted to tone down the excesses of the Roman court, restore Senate authority and promote public welfare.Īround 70-72, Vespasian returned to the Roman people the lush land near the center of the city, where Nero had built an enormous palace for himself after a great fire ripped through Rome in A.D. No fewer than four emperors took the throne in the tumultuous year after Nero’s death the fourth, Vespasian, would end up ruling for 10 years (A.D. 68, his misrule and excesses fueled a series of civil wars. Games in the Colosseum Origins of the ColosseumĮven after the decadent Roman emperor Nero took his own life in A.D.