About
Large portions of Rome's largest gladiatorial school's ruins are obscured by contemporary streets.
An impressive architectural feat that continues to draw in vast numbers of tourists every year, the Colosseum is also the ruins of the Ludus Magnus, the Great Gladiatorial Training School of Rome. Originally constructed under Emperor Domitian in the late first century, the Ludus Magnus was the largest of the four gladiator schools built by his order. It functioned as a place for gladiators from all across the Roman world to eat, sleep, train and practice fighting techniques on a regular basis. Their training was open to the public, as it was customary in those times, and spectators could watch fights take place in its arena up until 64 AD.
