If only stones could talk.

These ancient ruins of the Colloseum in Rome are   spectacular. We shouldered our way through a crowd of tourists- just like us,  and a bunch of hawkers and beggars to look at it. We alternated between standing in front staring at the amazing feat of engineering and construction and then posing with our backs to it, smiling at our camera on a selfie stick. 

Each year 4 million tourists, just like us visit this ancient Roman site. The arena’s original visitors did not have to pay to enter unlike the tourists who enter today.

Some of the stones are crumbling and a big chunk of the ampitheatre has collapsed due to an  earthquake over 700 years ago. Even so, it stands proudly atop the city of Rome. 

If those stones could talk I wonder what they would say? Would they tell us what the 60,000 Jewish slaves had to bear as they laboured for nearly eight years to build it?

Could they name the 40,000 people who lost their life in the arena? What would they tell us about the 1,000,000 animals that shed their blood on the stadium floor? I wonder if they thought it entertainment or barbaric?

If only those stones could talk. 

Colosseum in Rome, Italy