The Colosseum The Roman empire Summed up in stone
Never has such a Civilized culture Forged so much of its Wealth into engineering
Spectacles of Death For The entertainment of its People
in the morning you had Wild Beasts Shows
At Around lunchtime purse Affections
In the afternoon the piece de la resistance two men fighting to the doctor?
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
Archeologist 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
we had in our Hands for the first time remains of Reality Toes
and an Architect Pieces Together Clues of an elaborate System of ancient special-effects Machines
Then with a team of engineers and Builders They
reconstructed and for The first time in 15 Hundred 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 nova the colosseum Roman Death trap
Major Funding for nova is provided by the following
The David H Koch fund for science supporting nova and promoting Public Understanding of science
and The Corporation for public Broadcasting and By Pbs Viewers Like You thank you
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 a Hundred 60 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 coliseum stands as a Powerful Landmark on the Skyline of Rome?
When the Colosseum Was built it had an Enormous effect Because of its size and status and presence in Rome
The Echo of ITS 50,000 spectators cheering Bloody Theatrics Continues to haunt imaginations
Gladiators Fighting to the Death
Last Crucifixions
elaborate animal has
Over four Centuries The Colosseum Was Witnessed 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
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
Ancient Roman Authors Such as Marshall in his book of Spectacles describe how that World order Played Out on the arena 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 Gladiator
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 Gladiator are Based on events Portrayed in ancient Taxes 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
Let me someone's forshtin That's the yeah i have to imagine this being covered by The wooden aleena floor above?
It was Dark Down here lit only by Torches and small lamps
Today The arena floor has Been partially rebuilt for 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
Itched into the Walls of The Hypogeum best defines 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 on hunt These outsized on vast and a Murphy Through These drawings It Was possible to connect to these clues
and Turns a Whole Puzzle into a system that can Be Explained Here
He finds impressions made by Wooden Beams
And
Evenly Spaced Along The Floor are a Series of Round Holes in concrete
Here's Another Piece of the puzzle yeah and this is a base for a Capstan a
Capstan Is a large Round pole That could Be Turned by Workers to lift something
interesting Is in here open They may even appear with an indentation for hill Hampton
Another Mark Reveals Where a Ramp might have led to the arena
Investors 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 trapdoor 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
I believe Given The evidence There must have Been an ancient Lift System Here?
Throughout The Hypogeum best Defines evidence Of ancient backstage Machinery a Total of 28 Lifts
Has heinz vesta 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 trapdoor 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 1800's an Inscription Was discovered on its surface
It Ended Up here in the coliseum Museum where it became once again Largely Unnoticed
But Hidden Beneath These Fifth-Century Letters Maybe Another Much Earlier Inscription
Rosella Raya 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
you can See with the naked eye That the holes are arranged in a Regular Pattern
By Studying The Layout It was found that the host Formed a Series of Letters The
Holes are where bronze letters had once Been Fastened to the stone
This Was the hole for the first Letter the letter i for imperator
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 coliseum to begin
The stone is the plaque from its dedication and
The Letters Spell Out How the Colosseum Was paid for
With Booty
Butt Booty From Where
This patient's son Left a clue on the nearby arch of titus on
It Katherine Welch Finds Depictions of Romans Sacking The temple in Jerusalem
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
Following His sons conquest of Judea in the year 70 best Nation 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 best Vation Flavius is
nothing Like The emperor Before Him the infamous nero emperor
Nero's Rule is Marked By Extravagance and Much of Rome Earning a
Confiscates Land and Builds a Pleasure Palace With Gardens and a Man-made Lake
nero is Driven from the Throne commit suicide and Rome is Engulfed in Civil war
After a Ghastly Year of Civil War and the suicide of nero the spacian did everything in his living Power
To ingratiate Himself with a senate and
consolidate his personal Power
After Fighting His Way to the throne this patient 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
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
The Coliseum is the perfect symbol for how west asian and Rome came to power
and to enhance the Blood Sports Vest Bation 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
Humberto Burrow Father Is an engineer inventor and
gopro Enthusiast
He too is captivated by. How the Romans Released Wild Animals into the arena
Humberto also happens to be director of Health and Safety for the colosseum
beste Shares his drawings with Umberto
The Drink is Beautiful but How are we going to make It Work
Best as drawings provide a Skeleton of The system but it's not Clear How the lift Actually Works
Umberto Brings in structural Engineer Giovanni scrilla conte And Material Engineer Flavia campanelle
We have to create a System of Pulleys and counterweights That Works Perfectly and Synchronizes?
Giovanni Translates Best as two-Dimensional Drawing into a
Three-dimensional computer Model Ellaby Mode if you Need to analyse about
Me so mekinese most iconic Insanity Flavia the trapdoor is one of the big challenges
on
One Hand it has to open to release the animal into the arena race open a Pneumatically Sorry
But When it's closed it has to support the weight of Gladiators
Charioteers and Heavy animals trampling on and above
Giovanni Puts The Pieces Together and Connects them in His computer Model With pulleys ropes and Hinges
Then Based on Giovanni's 3d Wizardry
Heinz and Humberto Build a scale Model a
Queen on four cylinders a Centerfire Ordinary Pody ocula
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
to large Hinged Arms Support The trapdoor 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
The Model Is essential to Experimental Work of any Kind
Because It is the Model That Allows You to understand all the Mechanics and
Building The Lift and trapdoor System Will provide a Window into a Uniquely Roman pastime
in a Uniquely Roman Building
The end for theater
Mark.wilson Jones Is an Architect with an Expertise in Greek and Roman Buildings
He's Here in our Linn Southern france at an amphitheater Constructed about 20 Years After the colosseum
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 For The special Circumstances of gratis oriole Fights
Anthony Means Double in Greek an
Amphitheater 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
Most Buildings are rectangular and That's a Bad Thing Because you can Get action stuck in the corner
If a Gladiator gets stuck in a corner he gets Killed
The Oval Shape Helps Prolong The action for Maximum entertainment
so this Shape Has a Dynamic quality
no corners Everything's Smooth so the action can move Around i
Think that Really Helps It Maintain its excitement
an
Amphitheater for Gladiator Combat is Uniquely Roman and form and Function
Exactly The Symbol emperor Vespasian's Needs to project his power and inspire Roman pride
There's the strong Connection Between The Unique Shape of the amphitheater and
Dallas were performances
The Link with the Military the conquest of empire
The Great Crowds The 50,000 that came Together in the coliseum who are 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
Well There's a Lot Like Without Thinking about Little Math ecology in a Forest Northeast of Rome
Umberto Is in search of the perfect tree for making the lift
The tree Will be used for one of the key parts of the Lift the capstan
Master Alberto
To fell the tree the team uses the same tools as the ancient Romans the Axe
The Two-Man Saw and
A wedge
Carmelo malick reno an Expert on ancient Roman Building Knows What tools to use from images on the trajan column
Erected Just Thirty Years After The opening of The Colosseum
Was That Cool or not wow 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
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
Remover from The Model to the Real team Was a Little traumatic
What can in a dimension four Times bigger Really amplifies the problem
The cage itself will Weigh over 800 pounds
It needs to be strong to keep Wild animals Inside a
Tent We Have to pay Attention to the sturdiness of The cage since it's Supposed to hold lions and tigers
Seeing the Lift at full scale humberto starts to have some Concerns?
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
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 a Hundred Sixty bronze Statues Sixteen Feet Tall
representing Gods and Heroes The Romans Borrow from the Greek Pantheon
At its top Layer with 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
The Spacian 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
The Coliseum's decorations amplify The message of The Buildings Monumental scale
We Romans Loved 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 Vas Passion 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 Marshall in His li bear spectacle orem the book of Spectacles 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
What Happened with the inauguration of The Colosseum is that These Greek MyThological
Executions
Entered The arena repertoire
Accepted 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 Coliseum
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
Marshall Goes on to describe a mass Execution so cruelly Choreographed It Surpasses even Roman Standards
No, machi i mock sea battles where ships are sunk With Hundreds of Prisoners on Board
What astonishes Marshall is not The Mass murder By Drowning But Rather how it was pulled off
How could the Coliseum 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 10 Years
mapping The City's Underground Water System
One day While Surveying for a New metro line he took an Unexpected Turn
we were mapping all The Sewer System and
Suddenly we Went into an older drainage System and We Saw light at The end
To his great surprise the light at the end of The Tunnel Was the colosseum
morabito had Stumbled into an ancient Drain or collector This is the only collector Still Working today
In ancient times we had all four
Collectors
getting Rid of The Water out of the Monuments
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 Him
Some archaeologists speculate that This could have Been used to flood the arena
morabito Believes The 40 input Channels and 4 Drains provide the Plumbing two-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
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
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 Marshall Describes
One Night a Thunderstorm Puts more abidos Theory and The surviving Drain to the task
The Storm Dumps 800,000 Gallons of Water into the coliseum Filming in the hypogeum Half Way
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 the four technically possible for The emperor's engineers to flood The arena for his opening Games
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 trapdoor System in the Workshop outside of Rome
Today The Pieces Finally arrived
The 440-Pound
trapdoor
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
Simply The Lift Is a Tricky process almost as Tricky as The design it's big and bulky
and Then Lowering You to the colosseum is the most difficult photographer
Humberto Has hired A 200-Foot Crane for This delicate operation
Giovanni's Cirillo Is behind the controls
The Only issue today is the Wind and the late that he gets in the afternoon the Windier it gets
That might Shake the structure and Make my Job less exact
After Hours Of assembling The team is Finally ready to raise the lift
The Crane Holds the machine to a standing Position?
There's a problem
The Crane has a Built in scale and cirillo discovers the Lift is too Heavy
Valon Is 600 Kilos Overweight Over This distance That's a Problem
The Crane has the power to raise the lift but When its arm Extends Out over the coliseum
Too Much Weight Could cause The crane to tip over
we don't know if we can Get The Lift inside the main issue is the claim might topple Over
The team Does some quick math to try to save the project
according to our calculations The cage weighs Around 450 Kilos
Once We Take That Away Load Will be lighter for the train
They remove The cage but There's Still a Hundred Fifty Kilos for about 300 pounds over
Berto 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 Cranes Arm stretches Out Over the hypogeum
This Shifts The Crane Center of gravity
If the Lift is still too Heavy the crane could topple Over crashing into the coliseum and
Smashing The Lift into the Hypogeum
hi tony
Purely Jani Duty 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 Ran Director of The coliseum and Perhaps The person with the most riding on the success or failure of the lyft 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
Howdy Johnny Goudie to everyone's immense relief the Lift Slides in Perfectly
After Flying The 3-ton Lifts into place a Half ton cage is a Breeze
Nine Ticklish Aldo The Spaceman well then you look at It as a Drawing
Can You imagine It in your Mind's Eye or When you're right about it That's One Say
This is i use them to see it full-scale you
To really Be Able to touch It fans of us That's a Whole others it's really amazing and for me it's especially
Fantastic
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
Fabien cons of The medical University of Vienna Was Brought in to analyze the Human Remains
It Was a Mass grave we Found the remains from 168 People and
66 have Been Young Males aged Between 20 and 30
Unusual Injuries offer a clue to who was buried Here the distance is about 5 centimeters
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
One of The most famous Pairings is a Saku tour Equipped with a short Sword Shield and Helmet
Ana reti arias the Fishermen who fought with a net and trident
From The Forensic evidence it'S obvious who won this battle
It was the first Known gladiator cemetery we had in our Hands for the first time remains of Reality enters
Among Many of the gladiator Bones cans find something even more remarkable
evidence of Healing
What Was surprising for us it was the high number of
Well-Heeled Injuries Which indicates There Must Be Excellent Health care for this Gladiators
Ancient Roman Texts offer a clue to one possible treatment a
Special Potion made from ash and
This might Have Been Leaving traces in the Bones
To find out if There's Any truth to this Gladiator Potion cons Grinds a bone Sample into a powder and
Processes it into a Liquid that he puts into an instrument called an Emission Spectrometer
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 Pound
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
Conn's 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 Ludus Magnus are right in the Shadow of The Colosseum 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
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
Young
Surrogate Was a Group also Mentum Admitted in vinci to us now all the Major parts of the Lift are in place
The cage
Capstan and
trap Door
Now that it's in place we have to make It Work the first task is installing all the Missing Pieces
They Place Wheels on the cage
Handles on the capstan and
above The Capstan humberto and tulio install a Spool for rope
We Attach This rope Here and as It turns the rope wraps Around It and pulls the cage up
i forgot
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
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?
With Everything strung Up
Humberto Gives the Lift a trial Run
He tries to turn the Capstan Without Success
The cage Goes nowhere in persona non-grata da da da da soni three of us try to lift it
but i didn't budge
Look Like an Elephant impossible to move
Umberto Calls in reinforcements
Even With six People They can't Turn the Capstan to lift the cage or move the trapdoor
It'S all too Heavy
The Ramp is Very Heavy and the Lever System We Initially Designed Does not Work
How did the ancient Romans manage to lift so much Weight
with the Romanian programming We are facing the same Challenges that The Romans had When they were originally making it
The size is the same if the mechanisms are the same and the problem is Just as Big
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
The more i worked on this the more i realized how Great The Romans were and how small we are in comparison?
Lifts i realized i Was Learning from them Learning Directly from the ancient Romans
The Team Adds Pulleys to redistribute the weight of the cage and trapdoor
Umberto Gathers Eight Men
As they push the capstan
The rope Glides to a network of 12 pulleys
and The cage Lifts Up off the Ground
There Goes our
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
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
1500 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
Paulo Caldera Rescues Wolves taking His 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 Turned the Capstan
To raise the wolf
Every Part is Now Working as a Synchronized machine
The trapdoor Is Lower
The cage rises into place its Door opens
And The Wolf he emerges into the arena
The Days of Wild Beasts in the coliseum as Hunters or Hunted are Thankfully long gone and
The Wolf Runs Safely to his Rescue
Hynde humberto and Their team Have not Only Recreated 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
2000 Years Ago
Unfortunately for Designer imagine not Just One Left Here but the whole role of One behind the other
Mid Cordova's Packed This Lift Which produced the spectacular action above
Now with the full-scale Lift we can Begin to get a sense of Just how magnificent the stage craft must have Been
It's really Fantastic
Fantastic
Each Year Over 5 million Tourists Visit the Colosseum
They are Awed by its size and Horrified imagining the smaller
How could a culture as Advanced his room
Justified The spectacular Bloodshed that took Place in
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
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
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's and how it came to benefit the populace the
Rome falls to the Barbarians in 476 the Colosseum like a Victorious Gladiator
Still Stands
battered in triumphant It Is a lasting Reminder of the Gore and Glory
The Story continues online Where you can Watch This and other nova programs
unlock The Secrets of the Parthenon and other engineering Marvels
follow Experts as They reconstruct an ancient war machine The egyptian Chariot and
Watches Craftsmen Build a replica of Florence's iconic dwarma
See original video Shorts Explore in-Depth reporting and dive into interactive's find us at pbs.org
Slash nova follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The Three-Part Nova Series Building Wonders is available on Dvd to order Visit shoppbs.org or Call
1-800 Play Pbs nova Is also available for download from Itunes
