The building was undertaken by the emperor Vespasian, of the Flavian family, between A.D. 70 and 75 and was inaugurated by his son Titus in A.D. 80 with a series of shows that lasted for 100 days. It stood on the site where Nero had excavated a lake in the garden of his Golden House. The undertaking aroused tremendous enthusiasm among the citizens, who regarded the construction of its 45-50.000 seats as the restitution of public ground which had been usurped for private purposes by the tyrant Nero.

There were numerous entrances, broad corridors, stairways, carefully planned passages of access and six tiers of seats so that the spectators could go to the shows in comfort. The shows consisted essentially of gladiatorial combats and wild beasts nunts. An elaborate complex of passages and rooms underneath the arena provided storerooms for stage properties and cages for the animals which could be brought up to the arena, and produced the appropriate moment by ingenious device of trapdoors and pulleys.
An enormous awning drawn by ropes that were tied to beams fixed in the upper external cornice of the amphitheatre and were manoeuvred by a special service corps of sailors, provided shade for the spectators; and scents were sprayed into the auditorium to mask the smell of blood and the stench of rubbish.

Violent earthquakes, the worst of them in the 13th and 14th centuries, shook down a considerable part of the outer arcade and for many years the great heap of fallen material provided a quarry for the builders of the palaces and churches of Renaissance.
Beside the amphitheatre stood the Colossus of Nero, of gilt bronze, 30 metres high, representing the Sun with the features of Nero. The emperor Vespasian (A.D. 69-79) substituted a true head of the Sun, and the emperor Commodus (A.D. 180-192) one of the Hercules with his own features. In the 4th century the Colossus was generally considered the tutelary genius of the Empire and Christian were often led before it to take an oath of loyalty to the state and its pagan institutions.