Ever go to a college football game with nearly 80,000 crazy fans
ready to tear the stands apart? Just imagine going to an event
where players routinely died before your eyes, in a culture with
a strictly stratified value of life — one where your life might
be absolutely worthless to the person sitting next to you. That
could be awkward. Thankfully, a ticket system arose for entrance
into many events in the Roman Empire, so that you didn't have to
sit next to the wrong sort of people. Pottery shards, emblazoned
with writing, became the first tickets, imposing order on a
chaotic situation. These shards provide exceptional insight into
the organizational abilities of the Romans — and many of their
ticketing techniques are still in use today. Get your tickets!
Over 50,000 individuals from all walks of Roman life poured into
the Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Roman Colosseum,
for events ranging from concerts to wild animal displays to
gladiator bouts. Controlled chaos is the definition of my mental
imag