The facility was originally known as Adelphia Coliseum in a naming rights arrangement, but after Adelphia missed a required payment and subsequently filed for bankruptcy in 2002 this name was dropped.
Lanciani attributes the collapse of the western portion of the shell to the earthquake of September, 1349, mentioned by Petrarch.
The last shows seen in the Coliseum were given in the early part of the sixth century, one by Eutaricus Cilia, son-in-law of Theodoric, in 519, and a second in 523 by Anicius Maximus.
Thus at a moment when the Coliseum stood in grave danger of demolition it was saved by the pious belief which placed it in the category of monuments dearest to Christians, the monuments of the early martyrs.
Although the typical Coliseum of Rome combatants were trained gladiators, convicted criminals and prisoners of war, occasionally glory-seeking individuals volunteered to fight.
The Coliseum of Rome event organizers recognized that they had to keep the death rate down if they were to have enough gladiators show up (but not too low lest the spectators stayed home).
Language sleuths are not sure whether the Romans were referring to the immense scale of the Coliseum of Rome or to the fact that it stood near the colossus ("tall statue") of Nero.
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