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