'No. VIII, send up the ostriches!'

Wow what a day, we immersed ourselves in Roman Archaeology today including a fantastic tour of the Colosseum by a very knowledgeable guide. At this point you may be wondering why I have not uploaded my blip of the interior of the Colosseum with gorgeous blue sky and awesome history?? Well, for me this piece of engineering deep in the subterranean level of the building was part of the most interesting story of the place.

The Colosseum is one of only four amphitheatres which has a subterranean level which was beneath where all the action happened, and no, Christians were not murdered in the Colosseum ( in other places yes, but not here). It was a huge theatre with trapdoors through which the gladiators and animals appeared from below - serious magic for those times. This hole in the ground was one of many which held a winching device, operated by slaves which...at the appropriate point signified by the Games choreographer...was used to raise the caged animals up into the arena: lions, bears, wolves and, yes you guessed, ostriches amongst others. Elephants were also used but they entered the arena at ground level, unsurprisingly. The slaves would live in the subterranean level and it would have been a pretty nasty place, lit only by candles and torches, smelling of animals and blood and gore etc etc.

Other myths exploded by our excellent guide were: emperors never used their thumbs to decide the fate of the losing gladiators (they had paid for them so it made sense not to have them killed....many died of infection from wounds). Also, Russell Crowe would never have fought Emperor Commodus (although the depiction of gladiator life in the film was very close to reality!)

So, no.VIII, send up the ostriches and be quick about it!

We ended our second day in Rome with a fast and furious park race around the Villa Borghese in the company of 800 other international orienteers. Tony finished in 20th place on his course and I finished in 16th place on mine. We then retired to a local restaurant with orienteering pals for good company and dinner.