After Nero's death, Rome once again descended into civil war. The period from 68 to 69 AD was known as the "Year of the Four Emperors" because four emperors emerged in that brief span of time.
The circular Colosseum that still stood in the center of Rome was originally called the "Flavian Theatre," built to commemorate Vespasian, the last emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors and the first emperor of the Flavian dynasty.
During his reign, the Romans captured Jerusalem. Not only did they seize eighty thousand prisoners to serve as slaves in building the Colosseum, but they also used some of the treasures from the Jerusalem Temple to speed up its construction. The mint in Caesarea even struck gold coins to commemorate the event.
After the Colosseum was completed, it became a place for Romans to seek pleasure. Though it was a theatre, the Romans preferred bloody gladiatorial spectacles to opera. Crowds of people and wild beasts were driven to slaughter one another in close combat, their blood soaking the entire arena floor.
Some said, "As long as the Colosseum stands, Rome stands. When the Colosseum falls, Rome falls."
At first, the Romans did not believe Rome would be destroyed. But after the barbarians entered Rome, not only was the city thoroughly looted, the Colosseum was abandoned as well. For a time, it became a source where people dug up marble and searched for building materials.
Like the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt, it had been damaged into the form later generations saw not only because of desert winds and sand, but also because of human actions. Cities like Cairo had neither nearby quarries nor cement, yet they kept expanding. To save costs, people stripped away the stone from the outside of the Pyramids.
In modern Italian custom,