The Cells Below The Arena

The cells below the sand-covered floor of the Colosseum, for example, are part of a two-level underground network. There the tunnels, chambers, and cages house the wild beasts, slaves, gladiators, and the prisoners awaiting execution. This backstage area featured 60 to 88 elevators and 36 trap doors, allowing for the dramatic appearances of gladiators, prisoners, and animals on the arena floor. The area was dark, hot, and noisy, filled with the smell of waste and the cries of the terrified.

And that’s why Miriam, in “Deadly Confrontation,” is so concerned when she learns that Fadil, a man she knows is innocent of murdering Katerina, is being held there:

The tightening began in my bowel and spread upward. I gripped the table until the professor’s face came back into focus and I could speak. “But that’s just it, professor, the magistrates have the wrong man.”

“Really? Then, my dear, there’s no time to lose. He’s been locked in a cell below the arena and will be thrown to the lions when the games resume next week.”

Fadil, of course, was not locked in the Colosseum but in a similar stadium in Alexandria. But the questions remain: Can Miriam save him from a gruesome death? Moreover, can she discover the real culprit, even at the risk of her very own life? Let Miriam show you the value of persistence. Just click here.