Cigarette Card

Wills’s Cigarettes “Wonders of the Past” Cigarette Card #42 “The Colosseum”

Produced in 1926 by W. D. & H. O. Wills.

Issued by The Imperial Tobacco Company (of Great Britain & Ireland) Ltd.

Text on reverse of card reads:

“Although several earlier structures, mostly of wood, had existed at Rome, the Colosseum may be regarded as at once the largest and most elaborate of amphitheatres. It was intended for games, spectacles, and gladiatorial combats, and was begun in 72 A.D. by the Emperor Vespasian in the grounds of Nero’s “Golden House” at Rome. Built of limestone faced with marble, it rises 157 feet in four storeys, and its exterior dimensions are 195 by 156 yards. A complex cell system for wild beasts and gladiators lay beneath the arena, and the tiers of seats are estimated to have held 50,000 spectators.”