Transcript Roman Entertainment - Hale

“Are you not entertained?!”
CHW3M
History
It is believed that the first gladiators
were slaves who were made to fight
to the death at the funeral of a Roman
patrician in 264 BCE
The tradition was copied at other
funerals and then became staged
events put on by rich locals for the
benefit of their local population
Let the games begin
The majority of gladiators were slaves
who were taught how to fight in
special schools
trained to fight with daggers, swords,
tridents, and nets
Fought other slaves (or criminals or
POWs) who were either unarmed, or
armed only with the net
Let the games begin
The fight ended when one man died
If a man was wounded and unable to
fight on, he could ask for mercy
The crowd would voice their opinion,
and the emperor would indicate his
decision with either a “thumbs up” or
“thumbs down” gesture
To the victors go the spoils
For slaves, winning could get you
your freedom
If you were free to begin with, you
could earn lots of money (and fame,
and women)
The Colosseum
The largest and most spectacular gladiator
fights were those staged in Colosseum in
Rome
huge
circular
amphitheatre
that could
seat up to
500,000
people
The Colosseum Today
Rome around 300 CE
Other entertainment
Pitting animals
against each other
in the Colosseum
Chariot races in the
Circus Maximus
Could hold about
250,000 spectators
7 laps around a
550m track
Pretty dangerous
How would you characterize
Roman entertainment?
How would you characterize
Roman entertainment?
Violent
Thrilling
Visceral
Why?
Violence as Entertainment
Romans were at war for most of their
history
Invaded by other peoples
Invading other peoples
Violence is part of everyday life
Holding special events is a way to distract
people from their daily troubles
Makes the emperor seem like a good guy
Work
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