The Importance Of Sports And Entertainment In Ancient Rome

In ancient Rome sports and entertainment played a major role in people’s lives. For instance, Romans were both entertained and participated in the sport of chariot racing. These types of races were originated by the Greeks and Etruscans. The Romans adapted the sport when they conquered Greece. Romans first use of the races began when Romulus wanted to distract the Sebine men. The purpose of distracting the men was to steal their wives. Romulus then took the women to Rome so Roman men could marry them. The people driving the chariots were slaves while their owners got the actual prize. Roman citizens used the races as a way to bet and also for entertainment. These races had seven laps with at most twelve chariots at a time. During the seven laps the racers often crashed into one another making it a very dangerous sport. Another sport the Romans were entertained by was gladiator fighting. This sport was originally started at a wealthy aristocrat’s funeral, where two slaves were made to fight to the death. The sport was held in big coliseums which could hold fifty thousand men. The participants were usually slaves
For example, many advances were made in astronomy. A mathematician named Ptolemy figure out that the stars and plants move in the universe. He also came up with the famous idea that earth was in the center of the solar system. The Romans had many advances in surgery as well. They created new surgical tools such as the scalpel and the bone saw. The main purpose of the tools was so a doctor could operate on a solider during was. In the city of Rome, Romans were able to improve on the Greeks pluming system. The Romans built gutters, sewers and drains which allowed them to have a very clean city. For bathing, Romans would have a public bath instead of individual bath tubes. Unlike the Greeks, Romans used warm water instead of cold water so they can be more conferrable. Need Sentence