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ROME – The archaeological ruins of the Colosseum in Rome may be majestic, but they only give a vague sense of the marvel-inducing pageantry that ancient visitors would have experienced attending a spectacle at the ancient arena inaugurated in 80 A.D.

A bit of that showmanship was glimpsed on Friday when Italian officials presented a model of a complex lift and trap-door system used in ancient times to raise wild animals from their cages onto the arena floor. The model, which visitors to the underground areas of the Colosseum can see, “will help people understand what the Colosseum was,” Francesco Prosperetti, the government official in charge of Rome’s archaeological heritage, said at a news conference on Friday.

Some 28 lifts were used in the arena. The model is based on descriptions in ancient texts, as well as “traces in the walls” in the underground area of the arena where the machines would have been situated, said Heinz Beste, of the German Archaeological Institute in Rome, who worked on the design.

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The lift raises a cage from the bottom of the amphitheater to the floor of the arena 24 feet above, powered by eight men turning a wheel. As the cage rises, a trap door in the floor of the arena dropped so that the animals could emerge. On Friday, that honor went to a contemporary dance artist, who twisted and turned in animal-like fashion.

The model was created for a documentary, “Colosseum: Roman Death Trap,” which aired on PBS last February, and was donated by the producers.