I've seen a lot of ancient Roman amphitheaters, the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey, the ancient Roman theater at the foot of the castle hill in Amman in Jordan, the ancient city of Jerash north of Amman, the Colosseum, the ancient city of Dugha in northern Tunisia, the ruins of the ancient city of Carthage... We drove from Matemata all the way to the sea in the northeast, stopping at Jem on the way, hiking through the winding paths, and suddenly a huge roman amphitheater was unfolding in front of us, which was the Colosseum of Eljm, a world heritage site that must be punched in Tunisia.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the best-preserved Colosseum in the world</h1>
Many Colosseums were built in ancient Rome, spreading throughout the cities along the Mediterranean coast, but only a few have survived. There is only one four-story Colosseum in the world, which is the ancient Roman Colosseum in Rome, Italy, which mentions the conditioned reflection of the people in the Colosseum, commonly known as the Colosseum. But the world's best-preserved Colosseum is not it, it is the "Circus of Jem's Circus" in Tunisia, built in the 3rd century, about 230-238 AD, El Jem Colosseum.
The Scale of the Eldem Isle is second only to the Colosseum and is known as the world's three largest Roman hippodromes along with the Verona Arena in Italy. Standing outside its walls and looking up, it is majestic, and the 36-meter-high stone wall is five times the size of the forbidden city wall. Because it is too big, from the perspective of human insignificance, it is a circle, but it is actually an oval. Following the route of the tourists, through the cascading arcade stone doors, into the middle of the large playground-like arena, I did not feel the sudden shock, because it was an afternoon, the sun was dazzling, and the local angle could not appreciate its full appearance. When I am fully present, wandering around all corners, I cannot describe my mood in any words, with hatred and sympathy, sorrow and pity, trepidation and despair.
With 500 doors and a maximum capacity of nearly 40,000 people, the Roman Colosseum is not a place to watch a play, and neither the audience nor the "performers" have the heart to admire and admire its exquisite carving, geometric design and elegant construction. Inside the massive merciless stone walls sat tens of thousands of "people" more ruthless than stones, and the quotation marks here were used to negate the meaning. Some say that it can accommodate 50,000-70,000 spectators, but no matter how much it can accommodate, the blood of these people is probably cold, no matter how "blood boiling" they are when they watch the representation.
The ancient Romans were good at conquest, otherwise they could not have a territory to dominate Asia, Africa and Europe, and they had to watch the battle when they did not conquest. For nearly 600 years, from 146 BC to 439 AD, Rome ruled Tunisia and brought European civilization and their customs to this pure land. The Romans built countless ancient cities, arenas, shrines, amphitheaters in Tunisia... In the previous content, I wrote about the three Punic wars between the ancient Tunisian kingdom of Carthage and ancient Rome, and in 146 BC, the ancient Rome attacked the city of Carthage, and ancient Carthage was destroyed.
The boulders that built the arena did not come locally, as Jem did not produce megaliths, and the heavy building materials came from Sarata, 30 km away, and some say they were mined and transported by slaves from Gabes, 200 km away. In the end, a huge arena with a long axis of 188 meters and a short axis of 156 meters was built, with a total area of 160,000 square meters.
Tisdus later became the current Jem, the second largest city of the Roman Empire in North Africa. After a rebellion in 238 AD, an army loyal to Emperor Maximinus destroyed the city, and Jem collapsed and never recovered. The arena lost its function, and some of the boulders were demolished to build other buildings, including the Okba Grand Mosque in Kairouan, and the rest are largely well preserved. Until the 17th century (also known as the 19th century), ignorant people shelled the arena, blowing out a big hole in order to drive out dissidents from the Turkish rulers...
In the mid-19th century, the great French writer Flaubert called the Colosseum of Eldheim "the symbol and symbol of the existence of the Roman Empire in Africa." Many famous French writers, such as Maupassant, have come here to visit. After Tunisia's independence, the government repaired the arena with the help of foreign experts. In addition to being visited by tourists, it is also used for festival performances every summer. More than two thousand years later, the stormy arena staged one concert after another, with melodious songs and melodies swirling over the theater, which witnessed the process of humanity's transition from barbarism to civilization.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > historians and sociologists make the Colosseum a purgatory on earth</h1>
This arena was originally used as a place for people to watch beasts and beasts fight, until the appearance of titus Livy, a famous historian of the ancient Roman period. He found in his research that some special religious occasions were originally just to let animals fight with animals to sacrifice, and then actually let people replace animals, feeling too inhumane, so he found a sociologist friend to discuss whether there is a good way to solve, who knows, I originally thought it was a good intention, but it brought many people to hell on earth in the future.
Li Wei remembered seeing the ancient method of disposing of prisoners of war in a book of ancient military history, and thought that these people were dead anyway, and it would be better to replace them with "strong young people who were forced to participate in gladiatorial battles just because they owed less money to the rich." Sociologist friends also nodded yes, and suggested that criminals should also be listed as candidates for gladiatorial fighting. They chose some of the lowest levels of society, like violent murderers, thieves, arsonists, etc., to "perform" the gladiatorial fight at the funeral of a wealthy merchant in Paestum.
However, something they did not expect occurred, people quite liked this kind of performance, and by the time of the Roman Empire, a gladiatorial fight involved hundreds of people and lasted for 100 days. People watched the fight in the arena with relish, and it was not themselves who died anyway, it was not about themselves hanging high.
Princes, nobles, and cold-blooded people actually want to take the lives and deaths of others as entertainment, as a tool to make money. The Eljem Arena has tens of thousands of private rooms for spectators, many underground institutions, so that the noble spectators can better watch the duel, so that these people who do not match their identities and behaviors can better enjoy.
We walked into the "rooms" and tunnels where animals and people were held, and now people replace the original ground with a glass in order to light the ground, and you can imagine how dark it was. Gladiators prepare for battle in such dark and narrow tunnels, survive in cave-like nests, and count the last days of their lives. They don't know who their coming opponent is, until the moment they open the door, it may be a beast, a fierce general, or it may be their own father or brother.
The voice and opinion of the audience can decide whether to kill the loser, even if the audience does not want the loser to die, it is only to let him live for two more days... The results are all the same terrible. At this moment I could not help but think of a sentence: the fruit is ripe, and rot is its only destiny. Become a gladiator, and the result is death.
The earliest records of Roman gladiator fighting date back to the 3rd century BC, when prisoners of war were used as gladiators. According to the British newspaper Times, Italian archaeologists have discovered the marble tomb of the ancient Roman general Marcus Nonius Marinus. Marinus is the prototype for Maximus, played by Hollywood actor Russell Crowe in the epic film Gladiator.
I believe that many people have seen this 2000 film "Gladiator", which won the 73rd Academy Award for Best Film, the warm tough guy, the invincible roman general starring russell Crowe, the old king entrusted the country to him, but was killed by his son, the general was also ordered to execute, fortunately escaped, and the wife and children could not escape the ravages and killing... Maximus was sold to Tunisia as a deserter, bought as a gladiator along with Juba, a black slave found in Carthage, and returned to Rome to perform a dramatic reincarnation for the usurper emperor.
The film is too deeply rooted in people's hearts, but it also brings some misunderstandings. Gladiators do not fight animals, and performers who fight animals are called "gladiators". In the eyes of the Romans, the gladiator and gladiator were two completely different professions. Gladiators can sometimes surrender in battle, and losers don't necessarily get killed. In the movie, Emperor Commodus extends his thumb to place it horizontally, and finally decides the life and death of the gladiator by pointing up or down, while in reality it should be that the emperor will cover his thumb with four fingers when he hopes that the gladiator will live, hoping that the gladiator will show his thumb when he dies.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > millennia rotation, still swinging ileum</h1>
More than 2,000 years later, we can easily stay out of the matter as visitors, with kittens sleeping leisurely on the land of the arena basking in the sun, small traders using the arena's fame to attract tourists to sell souvenirs, and students creating and copying this architectural marvel... It was as if it had never happened.
I think if people at that time could travel back to the times of peace and then go back and see how they were in that situation. Many years ago, a radio show said this: Is it heroes who make history, or history that creates heroes? When history is reduced to years, when heroes are restored to people, we will find that the complex world is actually very simple.
Even the last performance of life staged in this social deformity of war prisoners is the most brilliant flower of life bloomed by heroic compassion. Complex life is reduced to one word: survival.
I remember watching a Russian movie called "Lost in the Tomb" in 2010, about four young people digging up a safe during World War II, with soldiers' badges with their names and pictures of them. When they jumped into a nearby lake and dived out again, they were already on the front lines of 1942... In fact, in the bright sunshine of the 21st century, it is his own remains.
"We'll see you again, it's just not time." Maximus and his brother-in-law Juba say this, and at the end of the film Juba miraculously survives, mourning the general who gave him hope of living, laughing, and learning to say this: Not yet...
Iron Man said in the last video he recorded for himself:
“Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way. "
Yes, I am this kind of person, I like the happy ending, in my heart, Maximus killed the usurper and the beast emperor Commodus, married Princess Lucia, ascended to the throne that should have belonged to him, and ruled the country lovingly...
And reality, I don't want to see this movie again, even if it is full of guts.
Reference: Why did this group of social deformities make the ancient Romans so crazy and obsessed? Shi Yaming
Author: That dares to be affectionate
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