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Times Online After 2,000 years, gladiators are to return to the Colosseum - though only in mock fights.  Umberto Broccoli, head of archaeology at Rome City Council, said a series of mock combats would take place next year to give the Colosseum's visitors a feel of the shows originally staged there, along with "the sights, sounds and smells" of the arena.
The events would be launched to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Emperor Vespasian, who began the construction of the Colosseum, completed by Titus, his son and successor. It has yet to be decided, however, whether the mock combats will be staged on a wooden floor placed over the subterranean chambers in the arena itself - or on a stage outside it. Mr Broccoli insisted that, however the fights were presented, they would be "authentic", with gladiators wearing the kind of outfits the real combatants wore and using the same weapons and fighting techniques. The archaeologist, who is also a radio and TV journalist, said this would not be a "tacky" show put on by fake centurions and gladiators who pose for photographs with tourists outside the Colosseum, nor would it be a "Disneyland" attraction. Instead it would be an educational tool for bringing "the spirit of antiquity alive". As the gladiators staged their battles, visitors would hear descriptions by Seneca, the first century philosopher and imperial adviser, of their daily life and customs. Ancient monuments and museums "must speak to the public with a new language", Mr Broccoli told La Repubblica. The idea was to "re-create them as they really were". Museum exhibits were too often "badly displayed and badly explained", he added. Sergio Iacomoni, who runs a "gladiator school" where history enthusiasts learn how to use gladiatorial weapons, said it was ready to take part. Founded in 1994, the club has 200 members. City officials have said that mock gladiator fights are a more appropriate way to celebrate the anniversary at the Colosseum than pop concerts, which risked damaging the monument because of high decibels and vibrations. In the past, Sir Paul McCartney, Simon and Garfunkel, Elton John and Bryan Adams have all performed on a stage next to the ancient arena. A concert at the Colosseum planned for New Year's Eve starring the Italian rock star Gianna Nannini is likely to go ahead, but it may be the last. The free pop concerts were the brainchild of Walter Veltroni, the Mayor of Rome from 2001 until April this year, when he lost the election to Gianni Alemanno. Francesco Giro, Deputy Culture Minister in the government of Silvio Berluconi, said the Colosseum "has no need of publicity through events such as pop concerts, which can only cause the monument damage. We can no longer tolerate this kind of entertainment in archaeological areas." The city's Roman past is likely to be marked, however, by a Disneyland-style ancient Rome theme park at Castel di Guido, just outside the city, due to be completed in up to five years time. Vespasian, born in the year 9AD, founded the Flavian dynasty of Emperors and reigned from 69 to 79. A respected military commander, he gave the Roman Empire stability after the disarray and civil war following the death of Nero, when three short-lived emperors - Galba, Otho and Vitellius - followed one another in quick succession. {mosgoogle left 7887083644} The Roman historian Suetonius described him as an "upright and honourable man" who dismantled the legacy of the detested Nero, draining the lake in front of Nero's opulent Golden Palace and building the Colosseum on it instead for public entertainments. He was serving in the Middle East when acclaimed as emperor by the army. As an army commander in 43AD, Vespasian took part in the Roman invasion of Britain, fighting battles in what are now Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Rossella Rea, the Rome archaeologist in charge of the Colosseum, said that, in addition to events celebrating the reign of Vespasian, she intended to recreate the stage machinery used at the end of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century, when games involving animals were put on "which are the origin of the modern circus". The devices to be recreated include "The Hedgehog", a giant rolling wooden sphere with spikes containing one or two men inside which was used to taunt bears, and the "contobolon", a pole hung with baskets from which acrobats emerged to fight wild animals.The displays would use lifelike models, however, rather than actors.
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