Today I learned that an arena is called an arena because when warriors were jousting in old amphitheaters like The Colosseum, they were fighting on a wooden floor with sand on top — likely because sand makes cleaning up blood a lot easier — and sand i...
-
Today I learned that an arena is called an arena because when warriors were jousting in old amphitheaters like The Colosseum, they were fighting on a wooden floor with sand on top — likely because sand makes cleaning up blood a lot easier — and sand in latin is “harena”, which later became “arena”.
So the next time you go to an arena to see a concert, you may be going to an amphitheater with a sandy floor… Or if not, the arena is really not an arena in the original sense of the word.
-
Today I learned that an arena is called an arena because when warriors were jousting in old amphitheaters like The Colosseum, they were fighting on a wooden floor with sand on top — likely because sand makes cleaning up blood a lot easier — and sand in latin is “harena”, which later became “arena”.
So the next time you go to an arena to see a concert, you may be going to an amphitheater with a sandy floor… Or if not, the arena is really not an arena in the original sense of the word.
@randahl Sand was also used in 20th century cirkus - other animal substances are also easier to remove from a sand floor.
