The Roman Colosseum was a massive structure made of stone. The architects wanted the Colosseum to be attractive and a symbol of pride for Rome, so they used more ornamental stones for the outside. Marble and limestone were used for the outside walls. For the supportive materials they used concrete, brick, and other types of stone. These materials were more supportive and would hold the immense building up better than the decorative stones.

People would enter the Colosseum by walking through one of 80 arched doorways. People would match their ticket number with the gate number. Most of the gates were for public use, but the emperor had his own gates. Each of the outside floors had 80 arches. The first level was the only level that would be used for entering and exiting. The arches on the second and third levels were used for support and decoration. The arches were a Roman invention that could support a lot of weight without collapsing. The arch was used throughout Rome. The Flavian Amphitheater was only one of the places where the arch was used. The Colosseum was mainly constructed of arches and columns. This combination allowed for weight to be channeled down to the ground without causing any damage to the amphitheater itself.

From the outside of the building the Colosseum was a magnificent structure. In the empty arches on the second and third layers the Romans placed statues of divinities and gods. The statues were made of metal and marble. All the arches on the top layers were adorned with the large statues. Along with the statues the Romans put banners and torches made of paraffin on the outside walls. The torches would light the Colosseum on the outside for night events. The architects put half-columns on every level. Half-columns are decorative columns that are split in half and attached to the wall behind it. On the first level the architects put Doric columns. Doric columns are simple columns that have a plain square base. On the second level of the Colosseum there were ionic columns. Ionic columns are slightly fancier than Doric columns. Both ionic and Doric column s have the same base, but ionic columns traditionally have a carved curl at the top. Each curl would wrap around itself once and form a nice decorative shape. The most decorative type of column is the Corinthian column. Like the other types of columns; Corinthian columns have very simple bases. The top of the column was extremely intricate. Corinthian columns are usually decorated with vines and flowers. These are very elaborate columns and were specifically used for the third layer of the Colosseum. The top level of the Colosseum did not have decorative columns, but instead had pilasters. Pilasters are square columns. Each of these was separated by one of forty windows. Each pilaster was 45 feet tall. The pilasters were light and strong. They had to hold only a small amount of decorative stone. The final achievements of the Colosseum were the valeria and the chandelier. On the Colosseum there was a silk or canvas awning called the valeria that would shade people from the sun. There were 250 masts on the top of the stone pilasters. It would take over 1,000 sailors to put the awning up. This would help during the day, but the Romans also had a chandelier that they could put up for night events. The chandelier had to be very large to light the entire Colosseum.