You can also appreciate the ingenuity of the building you will see an underground stream which still connects to the drainage system. Standing underneath the reconstructed arena you can imagine what a hellhole the ‘back-stage’ really was – a hot, cramped, stinking mess of men, animals, flies and smoke. You can also imagine a different side to the colosseum, here you can appreciate what it must have been like for the hundreds of slaves working tirelessly operating lifts and pulleys to pull off the greatest show on earth. Most interesting is the reconstructed lift or elevator which was operated by 8 men to raise a half ton cage to the surface. From the underground you can see up through the large central area where a huge sliding rap allowed the movement of large stage sets to be raised on the arena. You will see niches where animals were kept caged waiting for their grand entrance onto the arena. As you descend, you will pass a corridor that the gladiators used to enter the underground from the main barracks the Ludus Magnus across the road. The underground of the colosseum is surprisingly clean and white and has corridors of square arches which held up the arena. If you are an architecture or engineering buff this is a must. Visiting the arena today means you can descend into the belly of the colosseum to see how the underground was used. Thanks to the work of a German architect, in 2015 a replica hand-operated lift was created and inserted into the underground.

In all there are 15 corridors which initially held 28 lifts by the 2nd century there were at least 60 lifts in fact, there are at least 5 phases of reconstruction. The design has a large central ramp running down the middle, with corridors on either side. The underground is where machinery was used to raise animals and men to the arena. The exact dates of when the hypogeum or underground was started or completed are unknown but they are attributed to the emperor Domitian around 10 years after the completion of the colosseum.

What is underneath the colosseum called