Superbly detailed—with cutaway views of not only the magnificent Colosseum but also Roman houses and apartment buildings, roads and sewers—this visual history for readers' to 12 explores ancient Rome through the construction and use of the greatest amphitheater ever built. Captioned and labeled color drawings on every page illustrate architectural technologies like columns and archways, concrete and cast bronze, while highlighting topics like why the Colosseum was built in the first century AD, who paid for it, and how thousands of wild animals, soldiers, professional gladiators, and prisoners were brought there to fight and die for the crowds.