Popular Gladiator Games

Of the many monumental constructions that the Romans built, one of the most well known is the Coliseum, where brave Gladiators would fight dangerous animals and even each other to entertain the people of Rome. When people see the great arena, it is easy for them to forget the countless men, women, and animals that died fighting each other for amusement. Most people don’t know what it took for them to fight and either win or die, or how many hours they must have spent training to have a chance at defeating their opponents. Who were these gladiators?

Keegan (2005) elaborates on the brutal events held within this structure, also questioning the morality of these civilized people who enjoyed viewing murderous games. He explains that these actions are a complex representation of their culture’s architectural achievement and human barbarism seen through gladiator combats. There was a large amount of effort and preparation put into organizing and maintenance, worth it as the Colosseum continued to be rigorously used for the next four centuries. Eventually, these activities were phased out and the site later turned into a ruin, to be scavenged for its materials. Natural phenomena such as lightning and earthquakes contributed also contributed to this. It’s impressive how although the Colosseum’s function drastically changed over time, it continues to provide benefit to people.

Throughout the film, gladiatorial games are shown to be one of the most important parts of the Roman society. Gladiatorial games and fights followed a strict procedure and ceremony. They arrived at the Colosseum through an underground tunnel. From there, they were able to access to the arena through a pair of gates reserved to them only. Additionally, the gladiators often marched in groups, with their distinctive uniform and equipment. This is displayed accurately when Maximus enters the arena through a pair of gates and works with a team of other gladiators with similar outfits. However, they did not wear fantasy helmets and bands wrapped around the lower arms and their armors are not always closely historically accurate. Moreover, Roman people loved to watch people battle to death and bloodthirsty violence as a form of entertainment. Spectators in the film cheered and chanted wildly in the Colosseum when their favorite, Maximus was battling with

Spartacus was captured and placed into slavery; where he was sold to a Gladiator training camp in Capua, Rome. He perfected the art of hand to hand combat to kill any opposing gladiator in the Arena all the while Spartacus devised a plan to escape with other gladiators. Spartacus escaped from slavery and defeated multiple waves of Roman Legions by conquering small towns and villages while gaining material and support, using his unconventional tactics thinking, and by training ordinary men in the art of warfare by his gladiators.

Guess why gladiator fights stopped in Ancient Rome. Gladiator fights started in 264 BC. They were free for all. People loved the fighting and death. Executions and gladiator fights would all go on in the arena. It would keep ancient Romans occupied all day. Why did gladiator fights stop in 404 AD? Gladiator fights stopped in 404 AD because of Telemachus, the social decline, and the Emperor.

Spartacus and the other gladiators successfully stole some of the Romans weapons. They escaped safely. They took the route to Mount Vesuvius bringing more slaves to fight for spartacus. Claudius Glaber, a military commander was brought under control of the 3,000 soldiers to fight the Spartans. When the Romans show up at Spartacus location, they surround them. Claudius decides that they should wait till the Spartans surrender. Claudius wanted them to starve. But Spartacus had a brilliant idea. The slaves used vines to swing behind the Romans. They killed majority of the Roman Army. But then the Romans brought 6,000 soldiers to fight the Spartans again… but the Spartans defeated

It was during the afternoon that the games would begin between the gladiators. The life of the losing participant would often depend on the emperor and audience. Once a gladiator was wounded and wished to finish the fight he would hold up an index finger. They crowd would indicate whether they wished for that fighter to be killed or spared. Depending on their hand gestures the sponsor of the games who was most often the emperor would make his decision.

In 79 AD Vespasian came to his final days, dying before the construction of the Colosseum was complete. His son, Titus, was to take over his role as emperor. Titus, new in his role, knew that he too must impress the people as his father had done, and so he announced the opening of the Colosseum would occur one year later. This seemed like an impossible goal for the constructers, and Titus had planned an extravagant opening to ensure that none would think he was less visionary than his father. Upon the opening of the great amphitheatre there were one hundred days of fighting. These one hundred days involved the slaughter of an unfathomable number of animals and men; one source tells us that five thousand animals were killed in the first day. The writer Cassius Dio tells us just how extravagant the opening may have been;

For thousands of years, the countries of the world created different activities to entertain their citizens. Some countries allowed for their citizens or their citizens’ slaves to dual each other to the death. Others found that art and music were much more appropriate than the gladiator games. For the Romans, the theater was an entertainment option that competed with the gladiator games. Even though it had competition with other forms of entertainment, it still made an impact on Roman history.

After its debut in America on May 5th of 2000, the movie Gladiator has been a nationwide symbol of heroism(Imdb). The film was directed by Ridley Scott and the lead roles of the film were carried out by Russell Crowe as Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus(Imdb). The movie takes place during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire in the year 180 A.D. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is dying and wishes to leave the Roman Empire under the control of Roman General Maximus Meridius. The Emperor’s son Commodus betrays Maximus, kills his father, and takes control of Rome. In betraying Maximus, Commodus has his family killed. Maximus knowing this returns to Rome as a gladiator under the alias “Spaniard” in search of revenge(Imdb). According to

How could Hollywood lie to me like that?! Films like Gladiator, Hercules and Pompeii all lead me to believe that arenas contained things like animals, pits that warriors could fall into at anytime, and even were able to house full armies fighting each other to the death, but instead the reality was far different. Although there were venatores who hunted animals, in gladiatorial combat animals were never used. They also generally fought in flat arenas, with no “fancy” things like pits to fall into. Gladiatorial combat also typically only occurred man to man. Everything shown in the movies is hyper exaggerated in comparison to what actually occurred because Hollywood cares more about keeping the viewers interested, and dazzling them with wondrous images of Ancient Rome, then being accurate. Even things like the armour many of the gladiators wore was not accurately depicted. In the movies some of them were shirtless and did not wear helmets, which was definitely not the reality because they generally always wore helmets, armour and tunics. They would wear these things for protection because, contrary to the movies, gladiators did not fight to the death. They were actually highly valuable for entertainment, and cost a lot of money to train, so their lives mattered to the sponsors, therefore it was rare that they were killed in combat. Finding out this information really has changed my perspective on all movies regarding Ancient Rome, but specifically the ones that include gladiatorial combat, because next time I see a new film I will be aware of what is real or fake and this will force me to make others aware of these inaccuracies as

Romans were huge fans of sports events. This building came to be known as the “Colosseum”, because a gigantic statue of Nero, called the Colossus, stood next to it. The construction of the Colosseum was begun sometime between AD 70 and 72 during the reign of Vespasian; the structure was officially dedicated in AD 80 by Titus in a ceremony that included 100 days of games. The Colosseum was the largest amphitheater in the Roman Empire, seating 50,000 to 75,000 spectators. Its construction finally gave Rome a venue for its gladiatorial games and wild beast hunts worthy of the imperial capital. Audiences watched blood sports and spectacles including animal hunts, fights to the death between gladiators or between gladiators and wild animals,

Introduced in around 250BC, gladiators were well-trained individuals who fought against each other to entertain the civilians of Rome. The gladiators fought in the Colosseum, which had a height of about 160 feet and capacity of up to 50,000 people. The Colosseum was also designed to be able to flood and hold ships. The term gladiator comes from the Latin word: "gladius" meaning sword. The profession of being a fighter brought great fame to the individual. The theme of death brought people together to see many young men die in battle. The crowd loved vicious shows that were gory and gruesome. Many gladiators who fought in the Colosseum went on to become tremendous war heroes, due to the intense training provided by the emperor. Gladiators always wore clothing that resembled other nations that the Roman army seized. They were also given unorthodox weapons to fight with and their battles usually illustrated famous ones fought by the Roman army. Sometimes, the ‘damnati ad mortem’, individuals who committed ruthless crimes, went into the arena without a weapon. Gladiators were mostly captives of war or slaves of the rich. Some people saw the fighting as a hobby and spent much time and money picking and choosing from the best of the gladiators. A fanatic of fighting was called a "lanista", or an owner of gladiators. Keeping these gladiators in good health became very expensive over time. Different gladiators were allowed to use different weapons based on their past life. For

Roman emperor Honorius finally banned the games after a Christian monk. He then eventually, eliminated all gladiator combats since they were no longer seen in the same way to many people.

In the movie Gladiator, Russell Crowe plays a battle hardened Roman General who, through a series of unfortunate events, becomes a gladiator. He starts out on the front lines of a battle against barbarians. The war against them has been going on for some time however this is the final battle that will end the war. The battle rages and the Romans come out victorious. The Caesar then emerges and praises Maximus (Russell Crowe) for his leadership. The Caesar then asks him if he will become Caesar after his death because his son Commodus is not fit to rule. Commodus hates his father’s decision and kills him so his wish will die with him. Commodus then orders Maximus to be killed, he escapes and rides as fast as he can back home but is too late. He comes home to find his wife and son burned alive. He is then captured and sold into slavery where he becomes a gladiator and moves up in the ranks as a skilled fighter. He makes friends with a black slave and they both move together up to larger arenas. He makes it to the Coliseum where he reveals himself to Commodus declaring he will have his vengence. Commodus accepts Maximus’ challenge after delivering a fatal wound to his back. He fights Commodus despite the injury and kills him but then dies himself.