Endnote 3 – Financing the Colosseum

The first appearance of this name is in the Liber Pontificalis, the life of Stephen III (Pope 768–772), 1.472. On the debate as to whether the word Colisaeus as used by Bede refers to the huge bronze statue (Colossus) of Nero or whether it refers to the Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum), see Howard V. Canter, “The Venerable Bede and the Colosseum,” Transactions of the American Philological Association 61 (1930), pp. 150–164, who argues convincingly for the latter view.