The assassin was enthralled while standing at the Colosseum, the epicenter of Roman killing where four hundred thousand gladiators, slaves and convicts had died in the name of entertainment. When the Colosseum opened in 80 AD, Rome controlled two and a half million square miles, three continents and about one hundred million people. The world’s largest amphitheater had four levels with a 164-foot-high wall encircling its 1,788-foot elliptical shape. The Colosseum’s northern façade is seen from the elevated street called Via Nicola Salvi.
