Colosseum

From Late Latin, from colosseus (“colossal”); a mediaeval term for the classical Latin Amphitheatrum Flavium; see also coliseum.

Colosseum

1. The largest stadium in the Roman empire, located near the center of Rome.
   • 2002, Tracey Ann Schofield, Rome‎, page 39:

     The Colosseum (known at the time as the Flavian Amphitheater) in Rome was the empire's greatest amphitheater. A marvel of Roman engineering, the Colosseum could hold up to 70,000 spectators.

   • 2007, Luciano Mangiafico, Italy's Most Wanted™: The Top 10 Book of Roman Ruins, Wonderful Wines, and Renaissance Rarities‎, page 36:

     The Colosseum’s elliptical shape is 617 feet long, 512 feet across, and 159 feet high.

   • 2009, Holly Hughes, Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up, unnumbered page,

     Perhaps no classical Roman ruin evokes the excesses of the late Empire like the Colosseum.

• colossal
• colosseum
• colossus

• coliseum