Today I think I walked 10 miles - all of which seemed to be up hill...
Things I learned about the Colosseum:
- It only took 8 years to build - by 45,000 slaves.
- It could seat 50,000 and had standing room for another 20,000.
- All 70,000 could exit in under 20 minutes due to the 80 exits and the way the Romans organized the crowd.
- Only 2% of the gladiators survived.
- The entire structure used to be covered in white marble, which was then stolen - er, recycled - by the church to construct the Vatican.
Things I learned about Palatine Hill:
- Roman mythology says this is the location of the cave where the infant brothers Remus and Romulus were found nursing from a she-wolf that kept them alive. When Romulus grew up he decided to build a city here.
- Palatine comes from the Greek word "palus", which is where we get the word palace.
- It was the Beverly Hills of Rome.
- Emperor Augustus lived here.
- This is where "binge & purging" originated.
- When you were invited to have dinner with the Emperor, dinner consisted of 50 courses. If you didn't eat all of them, it was considered an insult to the Emperor and you'd probably be put to death. So after 4 or 5 courses, the guest would go to "purging" room to empty their stomach so they could eat more... And if the guest couldn't make themselves throw up, a slave was standing by to help by sticking a feather down the guest throat. Oh my....
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