Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Ancient Rome : Gladiatorial Games

Good Essays
510 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ancient Rome : Gladiatorial Games
1 Promt: What are gladiatorial games tells us about Ancient Rome society?
NON- SCIENCE FICTION: HUNGER GAMES OF REAL SOCIETY
Roman society which is a complex society remarkably emphasized on gladiatorial games. This popularity of gladiatorial exhibitions reveals some realities about ancient Roman society. One of these realities is that Romans was having good time while they were watching weaker creatures be dominated by stronger ones. This situation might have brought about expanding to the boundaries. “World civilizations “states that since, Rome was a military state which had achieved its huge empire by military violence (World civilizations p: 148). In fact, numbers of Roman soldiers died in Italy and other regions in countless battles. Additionally Roman soldiers did not kill only soldiers. They also killed the civilians. Use of power and violence to maintain order both inside and outside of the society are an crucial aspect of a state.( P. Crone, What Is a Complex Society). Whether there was not enough real battle, fake warfare would have to do for satisfaction of Roman citizens. In my personal point of view these fake warfare were gladiatorial exhibitions which clearly show us how much Romans did enjoy from the violence. Additionally according to Jonathan Edmondson Dpt. of History, York University, Toronto, Canada, the Roman arena had functioned on one level as a exhibition of the hierarchy ( Public spectacles and Roman social relations, p:10). Senators, judicial authorities and other important officials received privileged, segregated seating. Followed by separate enclosures for soldiers and patricians –aristocrats-, behind of them, another one for the ordinary Romans .And also women were allowed in the Colosseum. However they had sat separately from the men (spartacus.school.net.co.uk). The emperor had his own special lodge with a private stairwell that allowed him to go into just before the performance started. When he arrived the whole audience would usually give him a standing salvo. Surprisingly, when the emperor had done something undesirable, the crowd would give a whistle and sometimes even throw stuffs at him (Public spectacles and Roman social relations, p: 10).
With considering this knowledge we can reach straightforward conclusions. First of all is that Ancient Rome was inequality-based community in terms of duties, genetics and genders and even when they were having fun it was visible. One of them is that the emperor was not absolute ruler; community could judge him by their reactions. Finally their military success was not only good luck.

References
-World Civilizations: The Global experience, Combined Volume
-http://www.google.com.tr/books?hl=tr&lr=&id=clx_crun-VQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=p+crone+what+is+complex+society+ancient+rome&ots=4pLGgeKH4h&sig=4AKpA9h7nlT8trD928AIyU6DW3E&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=gladiatoral&f=false
-http://www.the-colosseum.net/around/Edmonson%20public%20spectacles.htm Edmondson J. Dpt. of History, York University, Toronto, Canada, Public spectacles and Roman social relations
-http://www.yorku.ca/uhistory/faculty/cv/Edmondson/edmondson-ludi%20romani%202002.pdf
-http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ROMgames.htm

References: -World Civilizations: The Global experience, Combined Volume -http://www.google.com.tr/books?hl=tr&lr=&id=clx_crun-VQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=p+crone+what+is+complex+society+ancient+rome&ots=4pLGgeKH4h&sig=4AKpA9h7nlT8trD928AIyU6DW3E&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=gladiatoral&f=false -http://www.the-colosseum.net/around/Edmonson%20public%20spectacles.htm Edmondson J. Dpt. of History, York University, Toronto, Canada, Public spectacles and Roman social relations -http://www.yorku.ca/uhistory/faculty/cv/Edmondson/edmondson-ludi%20romani%202002.pdf -http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ROMgames.htm

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Roman Coliseum is an amazing piece of architectural history and has played a significant role in history as well. Construction began in 72 AD under the rule of the Emperor Vespasian. It was completed in 80 AD in the very center of Rome. It is located east of the Roman forum, was built to hold 50,000 people, and has eighty entrances. It could easily hold a football field. There are many rooms and tunnels below the Coliseum. Some of them housed animals and gladiators, and some rooms also contained many pulleys and hand pulled elevators. The Coliseum had four floors and eighty arch ways for the people to enter. The Coliseum was covered with a massive awning, which was attached by poles at the top of the Coliseum that was known as “Velarium”.…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    When reading about the Roman gladiator games as well as the chariot races and theater events, it can be quite difficult to truly envision what it was like for the participants and the spectators of such events. The participants in such activities were overall viewed as low-class citizens. Gladiators, charioteers and actors in the theater all “had little more status than slaves.” The participants of the games were meant to entertain the spectators, and nothing else. Besides the fact that the participants were seen as low class, they also faced very brutal conditions in the games. The gladiators and charioteers were susceptible to violent, gory deaths. For gladiators, often times their throats were cut and the knives eventually made their way to the gladiator’s hearts. Another possible outcome for gladiators, was being ripped to pieces by various animals. Whether their death came by combat with another gladiator or by animal, it was nothing short of gruesome. This gruesomeness though, was enjoyed by many. Chariot…

    • 1517 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Classical Rome employed leisure time productively and incorporated many pleasurable activities such as public games, religious festivles, chariot racing...ect. Public entertainment in particular played an important role in Rome and to a large extent, in the province as well.14 Originally public games (ludi) were held at some religious festivals, but gradually the entertainment aspect became more important and the number of annual games increased.15 Chariot racing was the oldest and most popular entertainment of the Roman world, dating back to at least the monarchy and in legend to the foundation of Rome itself.16 Bathing became a recreational activity. As such, it was both a private and a public entertainment- most people used the public baths, but the wealthy often possessed private baths. As well as the baths, there were often associated facilities for various exercises, ball games, swimming and massage as well as gardens, meeting rooms…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People who could afford to watch plays and masques would attend events at the theatre of Marcellus. Theatres were quite expensive events, so when plays that were held were very pricy. The price of the theatre meant that the poorer Romans never attended these plays. This is why the rich went to the theatre of Marcellus and the poor did not.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gladiator Movie Analysis

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages

    By currently taking this History & Philosophy of Sports class, this film “Gladiator” establishes the whole scenery during the time period of ancient Rome. In the film, it introduced Gladiator battles. These Gladiator battles reflected as entertainment to society, as well as, being a survival setting between life and death. Not only they would compete for survival, but they would compete to become the best. By this time, Commodus, is the new Roman emperor and he fears that Maximus could use his heroic ability to dethrone him and become emperor himself. Maximus would use his fame and popularity as a gladiator to invoke further damage to Commodus' insecure dominance of the devoted Roman people, hoping to influence them to restore their lost values and overcome the corruption that…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A gladiator was a trained warrior who fought bloody battles to entertain the ancient romans. According to tradition, gladiators were introduced to Rome in 264 B.C., when Decimus Junius Brutus had three pairs of gladiators fight during his father's funeral. The games soon became very popular soon after. The gladiatorial games could be compared to that of a present day circus. Gladiators were usually prisoners of wars, prisoners who committed serious crimes, or slaves. The Romans built many structures and amphitheaters such as the Colosseum. The Colosseum could seat up to fifty thousand to eighty thousand, but usually had an average audience of approximately fifty thousand. The amphitheater had the most updated technology of the time. For…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The seating and thoughts on the entertainment of Roman gladiators is similar to the audience experience of the Hunger Games. The Capitol watched the Hunger Games happily while people in the Districts watched painfully as young people from their district died. The Capitol watched the Hunger Games from their homes, seated and in plazas, which was much more luxurious than the Districts sitting in their homes and outside on outdated televisions and the projector. Much like the seating at the Colosseum, the Districts did not have the privilege of comfortable seating compared to the people in the Capitol. The audience experience of Roman gladiators and the Hunger Games were similar because the admission fee for both was free. This was because the leaders wanted to control the people watching the gladiatorial…

    • 1198 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lost Letters of Pergamum

    • 2257 Words
    • 10 Pages

    * The Greek and Roman gods were a center of the lives of the noblemen, providing them with topics for conversation and reasons to donate money for the “good of Rome” in the form of temples and statues in their honor. Although it would seem that the Romans are fiercely committed to their religion, it is obvious in scenes like the dinner services at the house of Kalandion that they do this only for political gain or attention.…

    • 2257 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Remember, Roman, that it is for thee to rule the nations. This shall be thy task, to impose the ways of peace, to spare the vanquished, and to tame the proud by war."…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ancient Rome DBQ

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Because of the size, Rome had a lot of space to protect, but little protection. In Doc 5, “young men in military declined, the army faced a serious threat...the Roman government recruited foreigners...this ‘new breed’ of Roman soldiers had very little loyalty to the empire.” (Doc 5). After conquering civilization after civilization, Rome seemed powerful because of its large size, but also made them a serious target. Without any military support, Rome had no other choice, but to recruit from civilizations they had taken over. Because Rome had taken over their home, the new soldiers were not exactly sympathetic to Rome. Following this, in Doc 6 a chart shows all the invasions of the Roman Empire from 100-500 CE. Arrows and line and written on the chart to show the paths and entrances they came through. By showing all the invaders shows how Rome’s fall was enviable. Also to mention, there was six invaders that had tried to make their was into the civilization. If there had been one, Rome could have easily taken care of the enemy, but there was more than one to worry about. In addition, because this happened within the span of 500 years, these attacks must have weakened borders more before they were completely destroyed. As the big and strong Rome, became less big and strong, outsiders used this to their advantage to finally over rule…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Roman Gladiators

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Rome started in 753 B.C. and ended in 476 A.D. Rome is most likely the reason why the United States is like today. Trade was vital to Rome and the city of Rome itself has tremendous environmental advantages. They had Gladiators, horse racing and theater. Rome’s government was the most helpful.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of The Colosseum

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As of less than ten years ago this great triumphal monument has been voted as one of the New Seven Wonder of the World, which explains why the analysis of this structure is of great significance. Throughout my paper I will focus on issues including gladiatorial battles that were once fought in the Colosseum, I will provide my own in-depth analysis of the hypogeum, and will elaborate on the restoration of this notable architectural structure, which will shed light on the complex history and ethical issues related to the Colosseum. I will argue that the financial reconstruction and renovation are necessary actions with respect to the monument’s preservation, and must be considered a main priority, despite the recent economic concerns throughout the country of…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Gladiators

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rome’s military might have been small but it was mighty, it had excellent military tactics and strong military generals. This contributes to why they kept on winning many battles. The fights that were won prisoners of war were taken. Many of the prisoners were then sold into the gladiatorial school and tried to earn their freedom, fighting in the gladiator games.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unlike earlier amphitheatres that were semi-circular and built into hillsides, the Flavian amphitheatre is an ellipsoid and still stands free. The name Colosseum, as known conventionally, came from the massive bronze statue of Nero (Colossus Neronis) that stood next to it in the Region IV Templum Pacis, East of the Roman Forum.The Amphitheatre at Pompeii and the Circus Maximus served as Rome’s entertainment venues prior to the construction of the Colosseum.…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Zero Tolerance

    • 1707 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The punishment does not always fit the crime. Zero tolerance was initially defined as a policy that enforces automatic suspensions and expulsions in response to weapons, drugs, and violent acts in school. Today these policies have changed to include a range of less serious offenses such as violation of dress code, writing on the desk, and tardiness. Zero tolerance policies began as a way to protect children from potentially violent situations. Over the years, these policies designed to protect are now doing more harm than good. Children are being punished for simply being children. Zero tolerance policies need to be replaced because these harsh policies have resulted in an increasing number of suspensions,…

    • 1707 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics