Can Gladiators Help Sell Romes Coliseum?
tweetmeme_url = ‘http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1871544,00.html’; tweetmeme_source = ‘time’; Share digg_url = ‘http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1871544,00.html’; digg_title = ‘Can+Gladiators+Help+Sell+Rome%27s+Coliseum%3F’; digg_window = ‘new’; They are oversized, under-shaven and badly mannered. Their outfits and body armor are off-the-rack (of a bad masquerade store). Their solicitations are proffered in barks and grunts. And if you get close enough without paying for the experience they might just bite your head off. For those who have visited the ancient Coliseum in recent years, you have probably run into these would-be modern-day Roman gladiators, or more precisely, they have run into you. Last I checked, they were demanding 20 euros to pose next to them for a photograph outside the Coliseum, holding-the-sword not included. (See 10 things to do in Rome.) Still, as tourist experiences go, it’s a pretty good gag. In their own way, these hefty and hairy c
They are oversized, under-shaven and badly mannered. Their outfits and body armor are off-the-rack (of a bad masquerade store). Their solicitations are proffered in barks and grunts. And if you get close enough without paying for the experience they might just bite your head off. For those who have visited the ancient Coliseum in recent years, you have probably run into these would-be modern-day Roman gladiators, or more precisely, they have run into you. Last I checked, they were demanding 20 euros to pose next to them for a photograph outside the Coliseum, holding-the-sword not included. (See 10 things to do in Rome.) Still, as tourist experiences go, it’s a pretty good gag. In their own way, these hefty and hairy characters are authentically unpleasant, and allow us to imagine that they might be direct descendants of true centurions whose gruff manners were a natural byproduct of a life spent avoiding a grisly death while entertaining the Caesar of the day. (See pictures of the Veni
