Ancient Rome and Byzantium: Meet Me at the Colosseum

What is the capital of Italy?

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What was the Colosseum used for in ancient Rome?

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Who were the gladiators that fought in the Colosseum?

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How did the Roman emperor let the crowds decide the fate of defeated gladiators?

• By using a thumbs up or thumbs down gesture

• By casting votes with stones

• By shouting their decision

• By writing on tablets

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What does a thumbs up mean in the context of gladiator battles?

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According to the text, who were forced to fight each other in the Colosseum?

• tourists

• gladiators

• spectators

• Roman emperors

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What does the author describe in the text?

• how sports arenas are built

• where people today visit for sports

• what happened in the Colosseum

• who the Roman emperors were

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What can you conclude from this information?

The Roman emperor would let the crowds decide what happened to defeated gladiators. They could be killed or have their life spared. The people would vote with their thumbs. Thumbs up meant the gladiators should live. Thumbs down meant they should die.

• The Roman emperor would often save his favorite gladiators from being killed.

• Gladiators who were younger were killed more often than old gladiators.

• Gladiators probably worked hard to make sure that the crowd liked them.

• Gladiators often sang and danced to win the crowd's approval.

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Based on the text, why might the crowd have given a gladiator thumbs up?

• because they wanted to see the gladiator die

• because they wanted to please the emperor

• because they wanted the gladiator to be set free

• because the gladiator had fought bravely and well

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What is the text mostly about?

• which capital cities had the best Colosseums

• directions to an ancient and famous building

• the best way to fight against a tiger

• a famous building and what happened there

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