The inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheatre were held in 80 AD, on the orders of the Roman Emperor Titus, to celebrate the completion of the Colosseum, then known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. Vespasian began construction of the amphitheatre around 70 AD, and it was completed by Titus soon after Vespasian's death in 79 AD. After Titus' reign began with months of disasters, including the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a fire in Rome, and an outbreak of plague, he inaugurated the building with lavish games which lasted for more than a hundred days, perhaps partially in an attempt to appease the Roman public and the gods. Little documentary evidence of the nature of the games remains. They appear to have followed the standard format of the Roman games: animal entertainments in the morning session, followed by the executions of criminals around midday, with the afternoon session reserved for gladiatorial combats and recreations of famous battles. Only three contemporary or near-contemporary accounts of the games survive. The works of Suetonius and Cassius Dio focus on major events, while Martial provides some fragments of information on individual entertainments and the only detailed record of a gladiatorial combat in the arena to survive to the present day: the fight between Verus and Priscus.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inaugural_games_of_the_Flavian_Amphitheatre

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1066: Harold Godwinson of England defeated Harald Hardråde of Norway in Yorkshire at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, marking the end of Viking invasion of England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stamford_Bridge)

1396: Ottoman wars in Europe: Ottoman forces under Bayezid I defeated a Christian alliance led by Sigismund of Hungary in the Battle of Nicopolis near present-day Nikopol, Bulgaria. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nicopolis)

1513: Conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa, upon a peak in present-day Darién, Panama, became the first European known to have seen the Pacific Ocean from the New World, naming it Mar del Sur, or South Sea, a few days later. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_de_Balboa)

1962: The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria was formally proclaimed. Ferhat Abbas was elected President of the provisional government, with Ahmed Ben Bella as Prime Minister. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Algeria_since_1962)

1996: The last Magdalene Asylum, an institution to rehabilitate so-called "fallen" women, in Ireland was closed. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_Asylum)

_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:

ochlocracy: Mob rule; government by the masses. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ochlocracy)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

We live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable are no longer part of the scientific community's vocabulary. Each day we move closer to trials that will not just minimize the symptoms of disease and injury but eliminate them. -- Christopher Reeve (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Reeve)