Can anyone help with the spelling of Coliseum or Colosseum? My spell check gives the former.

Coliseum is the correct spelling

According to the 'The Roman Empire' by Colin Wells & 'From the Gracchi to Nero' by H.H. Scullard it is Colosseum....perhaps both are correct?

A 'coliseum' is just a large building or stadium, built in the same fashion as the Colosseum, a certain amphitheatre in Rome.

Basically, 'coliseum' is general, Colosseum is specific.

Websters online defines coliseum
1 : capitalized : COLOSSEUM 1
2 : a large sports stadium or building designed like the Colosseum for public entertainments

and colosseum
1 : capitalized : an amphitheater built in Rome in the first century A.D.
2 : COLISEUM 2

so both spellings are correct and they appear to be interchangeable.

But wasn't the Colosseum named after the Colossus, originally a big statue of the Emperor Nero? On that basis, Coliseum is just an American spelling (you could say mis-spelling) of the original.

It looks to me that either spelling is correct. If capitalized, either refers to "the" Colosseum in Rome, but I would imagine the prefered spelling for that particular building is the Colossus-based one. That's the way the Websters definitions seem to steer you. "Coliseum" refers you to Colosseum if you are capitalizing it, and "colosseum" refers you to the second definition of coliseum if it is not capitalized.

I have just seen the programme I taped last night and it is spelt Colosseum; but I am not going to change it on my display for the moment.