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===A Lingering Colossus===
[[File: Severus_Alexander_Medallion_90070183.jpg |thumbnail|left|300px| Third century coin of Emperor Severus Alexander with a reverse depicting the Colossus adjacent to the Flavian Amphitheater, 222-235 CE; image courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group]]
Work progressed on the amphitheater for the following eight years and thus stretched across several of Vespasian's successors, known to history as the Flavian dynasty. It is because of the sharing of this project that the amphitheater took the name of the "Flavian Amphitheater," and the citizens of Rome received its debut joyously. With a capacity for tens of thousands of audience members and novel features that allows for feats as fantastical as mock naval battles in the main arena, the amphitheater became a hub for Roman entertainment.
While Vespasian and his successors received the favor of the Romans for this monumental contribution, a lasting remnant of Nero's disastrous rule still stood close by. That colossal sculpture of Sol had been preserved by Vespasian and moved closer to the main entrance of the Flavian Amphitheater. As time passed, this prominent Colossus became so inextricably connected to the amphitheater that soon after the name of "Colosseum" came into common parlance.
So, while the efforts to manifest the impressive amphitheater was the work of the Flavian emperors, it some regards one could suggest that the legacy of Nero also lives on with this connection to his Colossus. This massive statue, though, has long since disappeared. Last mentioned in an illuminated manuscript from the fourth century CE, it is unclear what happened to the Sol sculpture. <ref> <i>Calendar of 354</i> http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Chronography_of_354</ref>. It was most likely destroyed or melted down; its pedestal adjacent to the Colosseum, however, still stands today.
