During the gladiatorial era humans were not only involved in battles, to keep the crowds and emperors entertainment factor high animals were introduced. This was called the hum (Venatio). This Venatio acted as a warm up during the morning followed by the gladiatorial combats in the afternoon.
A venatio consisted of hunters stalking and killing ferocious and some not so ferocious wild animals in the arena. In 79BC Pompey gave games in which expert hunters were imported to kill twenty African elephants.
As a form of capital punishment for criminals during the morning venatio these criminals were made to face the wild beasts without any form of weapon or armour.
Roman emperor Septimius Severus ruled from 193 to 211CE that women could enter the arena and take part in combat, this did not go without controversy. Due to all this controversy women performing was banned in 200CE.
There is evidence that Roman women especially idolized gladiators, sometimes to the dismay of their husbands.
From all the research put into this assignment I can draw to the discussion that Roman gladiatorial combat is like modern day football as it seemed to attract both genders mainly because the women were attracted to the young, strong and hansom gladiators and the men because it was a game with opposition that had to end in one side winning. It also appealed to all classes from the equivalent to today’s royalty and politicians to the lower classes as football does.
Gladiatorial combats appealed to the whole of the Roman society but for different reasons. The higher classes like emperors attended them because they could listen to people to gain their votes.
Due to such violence and brutality gladiatorial combats appealed more to adults as this extent of violence would not be suitable for children to whiteness.
To begin with gladiatorial combats took place in the Forum, the Circus Maximus and at other sites. In 53BC the politician Curio had an idea of two semi circular wooden stands built upon a pivot, when these stands were back-to-back the spectators during the morning watched theatrical performances and during the afternoon the stands were moved around that formed an oval, this was the birth of the Amphitheatre.
The first permanent stone amphitheatre to be made in Rome was built by Statilius Taurus in 29BC named The Colosseum; over nine thousand animals were killed the day the Colosseum opened and this amphitheatre has continued to be a tourist attraction from the first century AD to the present day. Formerly the Colosseum was known as Flavian Amphitheatre as it was built by the Flavian dynasty (Vespasian, Titus and Domitian). The name Colosseum came from an immense statue (120ft. high) of Nero that was situated near to this amphitheatre; this name was added in the middle ages. The underground known as hypogeum was used for to storage of paraphernalia and to contain wild animals; elevated cages raised these animals so that they could enter the stadium by a trap door.
Gladiatorial games also had a political implication. In the Republic, gladiatorial contests bought great popularity to the philanthropist of the games, which paid off in votes at election time. Political competition between aristocrats was an important factor in the spectacular growth of gladiatorial games. There was great pressure to make their munus more impressive than anything else. Julius Caesar in 65BC planned to give a gladiatorial exhibition consisting of 320 pairs of fighters. This exhibition was in memory of his farther but behind this he was also no doubt seeking to win political votes.
Although the common people had lost the right to vote the amphitheatre provided them with an opportunity to communicate their feelings ad desires directly to their ruler. Additionally since there were safety in numbers it was not necessary for them to suppress their true feelings in the emperor’s presence. They could loudly complain of the price of wheat, or call for the death of an unpopular official, or even criticize the emperor himself. Public demonstrations in the amphitheatre on one occasion indirectly led to the assassination of an emperor. Caligula’s refusal to listen to the crowd and attempt to have soldiers execute noisy members of the crowd inflamed the crowd and conspirators to kill him. An emperor could use his position to an advantage and profit politically from his appearance in the amphitheatre by showing that he had the same interests as his people.
To gain popularity Julius Caesar held five days of wild beast chases, lots of people were killed during this period not due to the games but due to overcrowding of the stadium. During the year of 44BC Julius Caesar was assassinated. His son Augustus was named emperor and in his forty-year reign he boasted ten thousand gladiators paraded.
The seating arrangements reflected the stratification of Roman Society at that time. The emperor had a special box on a large podium. The senators sat on marble seating divided into fourteen sections. The members of the equestrian order sat in the lowest tier known as ima cavea consisting of twelve rows of marble seating divided into 16 sections. Roman citizens prosperous enough to afford a toga sat on marble seats in the middle of the seated area known as media cavea. Above this area were the less fortunate (Slaves) the seats were made of limestone. Women from these groups probably sat amongst the men. At the top of the stadium was wooden seating (summum maenianum in ligneis); these seats were occupied by senators wives and equestrians protected by sun and rain. Subdivisions of each group sat together.
To the Romans amphitheatre was a place of significant symbolic meaning. It was a place of civilized order where from the Roman point of view the victory of civilization over lawlessness, chaos, barbarism and savagery was regularly enacted. It was also considered as a place of justice as certain criminals were executed there by being given the wild beasts or were forced to fight to their death with gladiators.
There was a lot of war in Ancient Rome. The government needed a lot of people to be in their army. In order to accomplish this they needed to keep the people of Rome bloodthirsty and willing to fight.
According to Karl Marx, power is concentrated in the hands of those who have economic control within a society. This means that power lies in the hands of those who are higher up in the economic infrastructure. So therefore the ruling classes should have more economic control. He also says that in a capitalist society the ruling-class power is used to exploit, and oppress the subject class. This is apparent in Ancient Rome because the lower classes were not allowed to vote.
As the time passed and Christianity spread into Roman territories, the ludi began to be reduced. In the years of Constantine The Great and under his mother Helen’s influence who was Christian, he announced an exclusion law in 324AD; the result was a reduction of gladiatorial contests. They finally stopped in 404AD while Honorius was emperor; ending what is now seen as a barbarian custom which for almost seven centuries cost the life of many people and animals.
There were amphitheatres all over Italy. Many amphitheatres in southern France have been very well maintained and are used for bullfights. Bullfighting has derived from gladiatorial activities and is now classed as a modern sport to many people.
The spirit of ancient Roman gladiatorial combat survives in such contests cockfights and bullfighting, but in these contests except for animals no humans are killed. The only legal modern sport involving humans that has as its purpose physical harm is boxing.
Charles Dickens wrote:
"It is no fiction, but plain, sober, honest truth, to say: so suggestive is it at this hour: that, for a moment -- actually in passing in -- they who will, may have the whole great pile before them, as it used to be, with thousands of eager faces staring down into the arena, and such a whirl of strife, and blood, and dust, going on there, as no language can describe. Its solitude, its awful beauty, and its utter desolation, strike upon the stranger, the next moment, like a softened sorrow; and never in his life, perhaps, will he be so moved and overcome by any sight, not immediately connected with his own affections and afflictions."
There are four major Similarities between the sports of Ancient Rome and our modern equivalents:
- The stadiums.
- The supporting of teams.
- Crowd violence.
- The use of sport for political purposes.
Today for example in football the stadiums are similar in structure and like the Colosseum they had different areas of seating for different classes; it cant be that obvious due to equal opportunities, if you want to go and see a football match a standard ticket will be of average price and restricted viewing seats will be cheaper, but they also have boxes that could be compared to an emperors box; higher classes will pay more for these.
Also like gladiatorial games football has its supporters; the only difference is that football supporters are split into two sections of the arena to show which team they are supporting.
Crowd violence in football is renowned and in the news almost every week of the football season. Due to football hooliganism football was banned over thirty times during the 1300’s.
Bibliography
- The true story of The Roman Arena (Horizon, BBC2, 1995)
- Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome, Donald G, Kyle
- M. Harlambos & M. Holborn
- www.the-colosseum.net/idx-en.htm
- www.ablemedia.com
- www.fortunecity.com/underworld/straif/69/enqqladiat.htm
- http://www.ehs.pvt.k12.ca.us/ehs/projects/9798/AnCiv6/Rome/ACnoah
- www.kent.k12.wa.us/curriculum/soc_studies/rome/colosseum.thml
Words = 2,123
