Tertullian's "De Spectaculis" Essay

The gladiatorial games were an important part of the lives of those in Pompeii. But those in Herculaneum were most likely unable to enjoy the games as home as they did not have a place to hold them. Gladiators were POW’s, freedmen, criminals, slaves and some men who had fallen on hard times who would volunteer.

In the source “The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas,” the narrative of a few early Christians who died for their beliefs is told. The two martyred women, named Perpetua and Felicitas, along with a few other followers of the religion were imprisoned because they identified themselves as Christians and refused to offer sacrifice to the Roman Emperor. The Christians were sentenced to death by beast for this. The source illustrate the problems Christians had in navigating the cultural realities of life in the Roman empire. This can be observed along with the struggles involved in class, family, and gender.

Gladiatorial events were a token of the Roman civilization. A brutal form of sacrifice adapted from the earlier civilization of Etruscans, who believed when a person dies, his spirit relies on a blood sacrifice to survive in the afterlife. The first event to take place in Rome was in 264 BC, when Decimus Brutus held a sacrifice to honor his dead father (Roman Gladiator). Soon after these events became an undeniable part of the Romans lives, used for political power and general entertainment.

The document, The Passions of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, shows how brave the Christian faith was in Rome. During Diocletian’s ruling, Christianity was not a common religion. In fact, most Romans practiced polytheism. Under these circumstances, many Christian followers were publicly persecuted for their faith. The Roman government assumed that if the executions were public, it would discourage others from becoming Christians and shift away from the Roman life traditions, in which would guarantee wealth and prominence to the Roman elites. Shockingly, this did not bother the Christians that they were publicly sentenced to death because their faith in god was so strong they believed that by dying for their faith would bring them closer to god. Despite the cruelty and crudness of these executions however, it did not stop christianity from spreading. As a result, all persecutions were ended and it was declared leniency for the Christians. After such changes, Christianity became the official state religion of the Roman Empire. Such adjustments in policy spread Christian religion throughout every edge of the Empire. Although these legal orders ended a lifetime of Christian persecutions, they also could have shattered the traditional Roman values system. By this time, the Christians had only believed in one god, who was not the emperor. Due to the disregarding of the emperor, it weakened his authority and credibility. Lastly, another change was enacted which caused the fall

• Refers to rapid spread of Christianity among all classes of people, as well as Roman citizens that are sent to Rome for trial. “They have high ethical standards and if they repeatedly admit they honor Christ as God they are executed”.

The Flames of Rome by Paul Maier is a documentary-fiction that has not only brought to life the evolution of Christianity in Rome but has also painted a clear picture of what it was like to live in Rome at the time. Understanding the Roman’s way of life and reasoning behind their actions plays a major role in the reasoning for Maier writing this book. The Flames of Rome is equivalent to reading a textbook but Maier makes it much more enjoyable and intriguing by adding plausible details of his own. Maier’s portrayal of the death of Claudius Caesar, in chapter nine of the novel, closely follows the primary sources of Tacitus and Suetonius but also loosely follows that of the secondary sources. It is important to compare Maier’s version to other

In Ancient Rome, city life was chaotic and cluttered. Even through all this hustle and bustle, they still had leisure time to do things for fun. Live entertainment played a major role in their city lives; this was mostly because it was free (Williams). A popular pastime was watching Gladiator fights at the Coliseum. Gladiator fights were where two men would compete in matches against one another (Williams). Man pitted against man was common entertainment, but the gladiators would also battle against lions and tigers (Williams). Today’s society still enjoys adrenaline packed entertainment, but Coliseums have become movie theatres, and Gladiator fights have become action movies (Williams). Even tic-tac-toe, a common pastime game, has roots in the Roman Empire. Romans enjoyed watching

The gladiators where the pro football players of their time. They fought in arenas for the people of Rome’s entertainment. This research paper will tell you all about the gladiators of Rome, the names of the gladiators, their classes and who they are. We will also discuss how the gladiators obtained their freedom.

The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity 203 is an account of Perpetua’s story, a story in which she rejected her Roman identity in order to further pledge her Christian faith. At the time, Romans feared the spread of Christianity due to the conflicting interest in the worship of Gods and the circulating rumors that Christians were cannibals. Not only did Romans think Christianity was odd for those factors but also that Christians feared their potential experiences in the afterlife more than their experiences in their current life. The history of the Roman Empire provides that emperors would put Christians through a test in order to confirm their devotion to Christianity. If they confessed to being Christian, then they would be persecuted. However, Christians had the opportunity of denying their faith and making a sacrifice to the empire so that they could avoid persecution. Yet, there were many Christians that remained faithful rather than opting for the denial of their faith and avoiding persecution. This paper will discuss Perpetua’s rejection of her Roman identity in passages six and twenty in order to show the differences between the devout Christians of the roman empire and the pagans of the roman empire.

Tacitus believes that Roman Imperialism has a variety of attributes that include prosperity, cruelty, and jealousy. Imperialism can be a two-edged sword, bringing peace and prosperity during one reign, and fear the next. Tacitus is a great source of the Roman imperialist results as he lived through emperor’s who were thought to be effective and others who were unsatisfactory to say the least. He favored the Trajanic regime that he was serving under while criticized Domitian’s reign undoubtedly. Overall, his opinion on imperial rule was mostly negative since it promoted the corruption of the ruler and the ruled, increased secrecy, paranoia, cruelty and moral downgrades in the emperors, and an increase in greed, hypocrisy, and cowardice in the subjects. While he talks positively of Agricola’s victories over the Britanni, he has mixed opinions on other Roman conquests. He describes his father-in-;aw’s positive effect on integrating conquered peoples into society. Meanwhile, other talks of Roman greed and lust combined with extreme contempt for barbarian culture fills the pages of Agricola. Tacitus includes an enumeration of possible barbarian complaints of Roman rule with a declamation by a renowned Britanni leader, Calagus, that both describe the expansion of Roman influence as destructive rather than the spread of peace.

By comparing the following primary sources, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas” and “The Rape of Lucretia,” historians can learn about the archetypes of Roman society. The former text, written in 202 or 203 CE, is a prison diary of a young martyr in Carthage. The protagonist, Perpetua, is arrested and sentenced to death because she refused to renounce her Christian faith. Despite having a newborn and hearing consistent outcry from her father to renounce her faith, Perpetua refused to absolve from Christianity. Prior to her execution, she and her comrades experience visions of entering Heaven and specifics of how their deaths would be bestowed upon them. These visions provided comfort to the prisoners because they legitimized the belief in God, as well as sanctioned the power of God to perform miracles. As God willed it, Perpetua, the “most valiant and blessed martyrs”, was ultimately executed in the arena. The latter text, written in 17 AD by Roman historian, Livy, is a story of propaganda about the rape of a honorable woman named Lucretia. Lucretia, Tarquinius Conlatinus’s wife, was the quintessential example of a Roman martyr. She was applauded for her modest, hospitable, and dutiful nature. Tragically, she was forcibly raped by the emperor’s son, Sextus Tarquinius. Consequently, Brutus, Tarquinius, and Lucretia’s father, did not object while witnessing Lucretia commit suicide in order to preserve her and her family’s

After the defeat of Carthage, Romans were thirsty for violence. In ancient Rome, gladiators were of the most notorious people on the planet. Deranked from society, they still managed to maintain a high charisma and attained significant amounts of glory. While at camps, they underwent intense training, were treated like animals, and had all their rights stripped from them. But despite the cruelties, they were highly honored and were gifted various rewards and ceremonial banquets on the days before their gruesome battles. Also, the owners of gladiators or people involved in the trade, ensured that they were treated with at least some hospitality and ensured the well being of the fighters. Gladiators were depicted on artifacts throughout all of Rome. Women viewed gladiators as sexually attractive idols because of the bravery and strength they displayed in the arena. Even though a lot of women wanted to have children with those men because of their strength, but were not allowed to because gladiators were still characterized as nothing more than criminals and slaves; the lowest rank in society.

In his work, On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura), Lucretius sought to address “superstitious fears and unscientific notions” that were embedded in his state’s (Rome) religion (450). He recalls the story of King Agamemnon having to sacrifice his daughter to appease Artemis. Upon this recollection, he makes the claim that religion is wicked. However, unlike Lucretius’s belief, true religious faithfulness, as it relates to the Biblical God, does not lead to wickedness, but rather offers redemption from the wicked.

The emperors and the rich homeowners of Rome would choose their best slave to become a gladiator and fight in the arena. The masters of these slaves would train the gladiators to become better fighters, thus better representing the strength of their household. (Augustus) In the Capitol, if someone liked a contestant better than another, they would buy gifts to send in aid of the contestant. These people were called sponsors. The people of the Capitol would also place bets on the contestant they wanted to win. (Collins) Ancient Rome’s gladiatorial games shape how Collins wrote about the contestants and the role they played in the arena throughout her novel.

Is there such thing as being in between a male and a female? Don Kulick clears up this question through his field study in his book Travesti, which is about Brazilian male prostitutes who feminize themselves in order to obtain not only customers, but boyfriends as well as a sense of femininity. I have come to the conclusion that the overall main argument presented in this book is the identity because the travesti identify themselves in a unique way compared to what most other people would identify them as.