Gladiators Blood Sport in the Roman Empire Tacitus on the gladiator “You could easily think that the city was running wild with insane.
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Transcript Gladiators Blood Sport in the Roman Empire Tacitus on the gladiator “You could easily think that the city was running wild with insane.
Gladiators
Blood Sport in the Roman Empire
Tacitus on the gladiator
“You could easily think that the city was
running wild with insane rage and
unharnessed pleasure.”
A quote from Tacitus’ Histories about the
city in Vespacian’s time
Disgust and Delight
Upper class sponsors gladiators and paints
pictures of them in murals in their homes,
but claims to hate the combat in public
Roman senate declares that people who
fight in gladitorial combat could lose their
high status . . . Yet they had mock-fights
themselves
The Rules According to
Claudius
If a gladiator fell down (even if by
accident), he had to be killed, so that the
emperor could see his face as he died.
Animals and Combat
Animal fights grew more popular as the
empire expanded and access to exotic
animals from conquered provinces grew
Emperor appears more powerful if he can
bring animal fights to the people
Animals are chained together to fight
Myth and Gladiators
Orpheus fights, but does not sing
Man who stole an apple = Hercules
Enemies of Jupiter represented by disabled
fighters
Why did Romans admire them?
Not in Roman society, but still were
famous
Courageous fighters
Got praise and were popular heroes
When the upper class plays
gladiator . . .
Fight prostitutes dressed up as animals
Fight tame animals that would not really
hurt them
Engage in mock arena fights in private
Fight to the death
An *intentional* fight to the death was more rare
than you might think
Gladiators would often fight until surrender or
injury
Often fought with dull weapons
Crowd could demand that the fight stop
Explaining death
Gladiators control their fate on their funeral
monuments
Say they were victims of Nemesis (revenge)
Opponent cheated
Never appear in death to be the victim of the
crowd or killed on a whim
All good things come to an end
Constantine publically declares his hatred
for gladiatorial combat, but does not stop it
His son, Constantius II, prevents members
of the imperial guard from fighting
By the 4th century, emperors no longer act
as sponsors
The result is a decline in gladiatorial
combat
Conclusions
This is a public spectacle
The Romans equated this experience with
going to the theater
For the gladiator, however, this was a
chance to overturn the social order of
things and receive fame and fortune