Vespasian did not live to see his amphitheater completed. After he died in 79, his oldest son Titus continued construction on the Colosseum. Titus opened it to the public in AD 80. During the dedication of the Flavian Amphitheater 9,000 animals and hundreds of gladiators were participating in a hundred days of games on an unparalleled scale. After Titus’s untimely death the following year, Domitian, Vespasian’s youngest son and Titus’s young brother, built the underground caverns and finished the decorative work.