The Gladiators' Ring in Sicily

Really pushed for time at the moment, so I must be short and sweet.  When I was in Sicily a few years ago, I saw many impressive buildings, especially churches (e.g. Palermo Cathedral), but, for me, the place with the most 'presence' was the Gladiators' Ring (remains of a small coliseum) below:

Here, my camera has zoomed in on the pit in the centre, where I think that the bodies of the vanquished where thrown.  You can't really see it from the picture, but the small coliseum was shrouded with (surrounded by) trees which blocked out a lot of the blistering heat.  Yes, with this special atmosphere of a lot of sunlight being blocked out, you could almost sense the Gladiators meeting their grisly ends all those centuries ago.

Below is the famous scene from the film 'Gladiator', where Russell Crowe comes out with the Clint Eastwood-type reply "My name is Gladiator" to the Emperor's request for his name. 

The film 'Gladiator' was released back in the year 2000 (how time flies!), and at the time, I remember many people saying that it had a special quality that they couldn't quite put their finger on.  Over the years, I've thought about this, and believe that this special quality is that 'Gladiator' is a Classical film made in the modern era with a clear (religious-type) distinction between good and bad.  Yes, 'Gladiator' has a Classical hero with no politically-'correct' interference or censorship, and for this alone, the film must be applauded.

Finally, I'll leave you with the soundtrack from the film 'Now We Are Free' by Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance live in Milan (many thanks to the person  who kindly put this on Youtube)