Editing Colosseum (section)

==Name==

Originally, the building's Latin name was simply {{Langx|la|amphitheatrum|lit=amphitheatre|label=none}}.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |title=Colosseum, ''n.'' |work=[[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford English Dictionary Online]] |year=2011 |url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/36587 |edition=3rd, online}}.</ref> Though the modern name Flavian Amphitheatre ({{Langx|la|Amphitheatrum Flavium}}) is often used, there is no evidence it was used in [[classical antiquity]].<ref name=":0" /> This name refers to the patronage of the [[Flavian dynasty]], during whose reigns the building was constructed, but the structure is better known as the Colosseum.<ref name=":0" /> In antiquity, Romans may have referred to the Colosseum by the unofficial name ''Amphitheatrum Caesareum'' (with ''Caesareum'' an adjective pertaining to the title ''[[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]''), but this name may have been strictly poetic<ref name="edmondson-josephus">{{Cite book |author=Edmondson |first1=J. C. |title=Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome |last2=Mason |first2=Steve |last3=Rives |first3=J. B. |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-926212-0 |page=114 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="thecolosseum-history1">{{cite web|url=http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/h1.htm|title=The Colosseum – History 1|access-date=26 January 2008}}</ref> as it was not exclusive to the Colosseum; Vespasian and Titus, builders of the Colosseum, also constructed a [[Flavian Amphitheatre (Pozzuoli)|Flavian Amphitheatre]] in [[Puteoli]] (modern Pozzuoli).<ref>[[Amedeo Maiuri|Mairui, Amedeo]]. ''Studi e ricerche sull'Anfiteatro Flavio Puteolano''. [[Naples|Napoli]], Italia: G. Macchiaroli, 1955. OCLC {{OCLC search link|2078742}}.</ref>
[[File:Frith, Francis (1822-1898) - Roma - Interno del Colosseo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Interior of the Colosseum by late nineteenth century photographer [[Francis Frith]] ]]
The name ''Colosseum'' is believed to be derived from a [[Colossus of Nero|colossal statue of Nero]] on the model of the [[Colossus of Rhodes]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="roth" /> The giant bronze sculpture of Nero as a [[solar deity]] was moved to its position beside the amphitheatre by the emperor [[Hadrian]] ({{Reign|117|138}}).<ref name=":0" /> The word ''colosseum'' is a [[Neuter (grammar)|neuter]] [[Latin noun]] formed from the [[Latin adjective|adjective]] ''colosseus'', meaning "gigantic" or "colossean".<ref name=":0" /> By the year 1000 the Latin name "Colosseum" had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre from the nearby "Colossus Solis".<ref>{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=L. Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_qjo30tjHAC&pg=PA7 |title=A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome |publisher=[[JHU Press]] |year=1992 |isbn=9780801843006 |editor=Johns Hopkins University |editor-link=Johns Hopkins University |page=7 |language=en-us}}</ref>

In the 8th century, an epigram attributed to the [[Bede|Venerable Bede]] celebrated the symbolic significance of the statue in a prophecy that is variously quoted: ''Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus'' ("as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world").<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia| url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04101b.htm | title = The Coliseum | encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia | publisher=New Advent | access-date =2 August 2006}}; the form quoted from the Pseudo-Bede is that printed in [[Migne]], ''Pat. Lat'' '''94''' (Paris), 1862:543, noted in F. Schneider, ''Rom und Romgedanke im Mittelalter'' (Munich) 1926:66f, 251, and in Roberto Weiss, ''The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity'' (Oxford:Blackwell) 1973:8 and note 5.</ref> This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus (as in, for instance, [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Byron]]'s poem ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]''). However, at the time that the Pseudo-Bede wrote, the [[grammatical gender|masculine noun]] ''coliseus'' was applied to the statue rather than to the amphitheatre.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ensoli |first1=Serena |last2=La Rocca |first2=Eugenio |title=Aurea Roma: dalla città pagana alla città cristiana |date=2000 |publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider |location=Rome |isbn=978-88-8265-126-8 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USiAdRTlS6MC&dq=beda+%2B+colosseo&pg=PA67 |access-date=10 April 2022 |language=it}}</ref>

The spelling was sometimes altered in {{Langx|la-x-medieval|coloseum}} and ''coliseum'' are attested from the 12th and 14th centuries respectively.<ref name=":0" /> In the 12th century, the structure was recorded as the {{Langx|la|amphitheatrum colisei|lit=Amphitheatre of the Colossus|label=none}}.<ref name=":0" /> In the [[High Middle Ages]], the Flavian amphitheatre is attested as the late 13th-century {{Langx|fro|colosé}}, and in {{Langx|frm|colisée|label=[[Middle French]] as}} by the early 16th century, by which time the word could be applied to any amphitheatre.<ref name=":0" /> From {{Langx|frm|colisée|links=no}} derived the {{Langx|enm|colisee}}, in use by the middle of the 15th century and employed by [[John Capgrave]] in his ''Solace of Pilgrims'', in which he remarked: {{Langx|enm|collise eke is a meruelous place … þe moost part of it stant at þis day}}.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |title=† Colisee, ''n''. |work=[[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford English Dictionary Online]] |year=2011 |url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/36587 |edition=3rd, online}}.</ref> An English translation by [[John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners]], of [[Antonio de Guevara]]'s biography of [[Marcus Aurelius]] ({{Reign|161|180}}) in about 1533 referred to {{Langx|enm|this Emperour, beynge with the Senate at Collisee}} ....<ref name=":1" /> Similarly, the {{Langx|it|colosseo}}, or {{Langx|it|coliseo|label=none}}, are attested as referring first to the amphitheatre in Rome, and then to any amphitheatre (as {{Langx|it|culiseo}} in 1367).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> By 1460, an equivalent existed in {{Langx|ca|coliseu}}; by 1495 had appeared the {{Langx|es|coliseo}}, and by 1548 the {{Langx|pt|coliseu}}.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Rom (IT), Kolosseum -- 2024 -- 0610.jpg|thumb|left|The Colosseum at night in 2024]]
The earliest citation for the name Colosseum in [[Early Modern English]] is the 1600 translation, by [[Philemon Holland]], of the ''Urbis Romae topographia'' of [[Bartolomeo Marliani]], which he used in the preparation of his translation of [[Livy]]'s [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan era]] ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri]]''.<ref name=":0" /> The text states: "This Amphitheatre was commonly called Colosseum, of Neroes Colossus, which was set up in the porch of Neroes house."<ref name=":0" /> Similarly, [[John Evelyn]], translating the {{Langx|frm|le Colisée|label=Middle French name}} used by the architectural theorist [[Roland Fréart de Chambray]], wrote "And 'tis indeed a kind of miracle to see that the Colosseum … and innumerable other Structures which seemed to have been built for Eternity, should be at present so ruinous and dilapidated".<ref name=":0" />