While these American gladiators are getting ready to faceoff in a much anticipated – but unusually “deflated” – Super Bowl XLIX, we’re taking a moment to journey over to Rome, Italy where the world’s first gladiators took the “field” nearly two thousands years ago in the Roman Colosseum.

Built in A.D. 70-72, the Colosseum was a gift to the Roman people from Emperor Vespasian, who decreed the construction of a “new amphitheater where the public could enjoy gladiatorial combats and other forms of entertainment.” Read more