Main Functions of the Games in Ancient Rome
The 2 main kinds of games that took place in ancient Rome were those
of ludi scaenici (theatre and plays) and those of ludi circenses
(sports). This evaluation of Roman games will concentrate on the
sports side of Roman entertainment due to their much higher popularity
i.e. chariot racing and the gladiators.
Chariot racing is one of the oldest spectator sports in Rome dating
back to at least 6BC. The races started to celebrate religious
festivals, the very first recorded one was the festival of to consus,
this festival known as the Consualia was celebrated on the 21st August
in Rome, which happened to be the local Derby Day, the main event of
the racing calendar. The underground granary where the shrine to
Consus where the opening sacrifices took place was located in the
center of the Circus Maximus where the racing took place.
Like racing, gladiators probably originated as funeral games, with
religious significance attached to what in affect was the ritual
sacrifice of the gladiators themselves. The first recorded gladiator
fight was in 264BC, when 3 pairs of gladiators fought to the death
during the funeral of Junius Brutus. The gladiator fights were known
as munera as they were originally 'duties' paid to dead ancestors.
They gradually lost their connection to funerals under the Roman
Empire and became an important stage for emperors and leaders to put
on spectacles for their own reasons.
The games in ancient Rome have a long and colorful history, and were
an incredibly large part of the culture of the great empire. For the
purposes of this essay, 3 main functions of the games w...
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... the games could be effective by proving the armies
absolute power and to divert political opinions. Quote (p 169)'
[A]ttendance at munera subjected emperors to pressure from the people,
rather than diverting potential expressions of political will in other
directions.' This book explains how Tiberius tried to keep away from
the games to escape the pressures, but it was so unpopular that later
Emperors didn't make the same mistake. Quote (p 169)' When an emperor
was at Rome, then his personal presence at munera was expected. An
emperor who was unpopular might be criticized either for being too
interested in these games, or not interested enough: the tightrope
which each emperor had to walk was a necessary consequence of the
ambiguous position of the emperor as both autocrat and servant of the
Roman people. . . .'
Types of entertainment is something we share with the Romans. Document 6 shows a fresco of young men playing with a ball. Today, we have many sports like basketball and soccer that we play just to pass time or competitively. Document 4 shows the Colosseum and its uses such as gladiator and animal fights. Although gladiator and animal fights are illegal today we go to massive stadiums for spectacles like concerts and soccer
The Political Decay of the Roman Republic The fall of the Western Roman Empire was the first example in history on the collapse of a constitutional system which was caused by the internal decay in political, military, economics, and sociological issues. The government was becoming corrupt with bribery. Commanders of the Roman army turned their own army inward towards their own Constitutional systems, fueled by their own ruthless ambition. This paper will talk about how the violence and internal turmoil in 133 B.C.-27 B.C. was what provoked the economic stagnation in the city of Rome and to the end of the Republic and the many corrupt politicians and generals who only thought of nothing more than personal gains and glory. The senate lost control of the Roman military and the reason they rose against the senate was because the senate were no longer able to help manage the social problems or the military and administrative problems of the empire.
Question : Who were the spectators at Roman games? Discuss the relationship between them and the performers they watched.
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.
On top of justice is being done, we need to look at the functions of
entertainment was cruel and brutal it satisfied the Roman's need for excitment and relaxation. In
... Roman morals in the eyes of early Roman Christians. By convincing them to repent and turn their back from the games he believes they can all be forgiven by god. While it is still up for debate whether his debates made any change on the views of the games, it is clear the Tertullian was strongly opposed to them. In his eyes “True” Christians would turn their backs to the games and try to turn non-Christian Romans with them as to save them from Judgement.
Scott, Foreman and Company, 1903. Kohne, Eckhart and Cornelia Ewigleben, eds., pp. 113-117. Gladiators and Caesars: The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Meijer, Fik (Liz Waters, trans.).
The Circus Maximus was a large place in Greece. The Circus Maximus was a horse chariot race running around a track. Almost like our NASCAR races today, these races where the biggest attraction in the day of the Greece. The citizens were greatly involved in the racing of the Circus Maximus.("Circus Maximus princeton.edu") Because so many people were involved with these races, they had to find a way to seat all of these people. ("Circus Maximus aviewoncities.com”) This was the first time they invented stadiums. There were also other events held in the Circus Maximus. These events were held for a long time and were eventually ended around 549 BC. The Circus Maximus reflected the values of ancient Rome for entertainment and competition in ancient Roman culture.
The first time I went to Italy the taxi driver that picked my parents and I up at Rome’s Fiumicino airport had his radio turned to a station playing a Serie A soccer match between two Italian powerhouse teams, AS Roma and Turin’s Juventus FC. At first I just assumed the low-level, even sound of the announcers voice was merely a talk radio show, but as I heard the excitement in his voice build as each team became closer to scoring, and the background sounds of the crowds chanting and singing for their teams I began to understand the phenomenon that calico, the Italian word for soccer, was in Italy. Literally the heartbeat of a nation whose history has been tumultuous to say the least, soccer has been a mainstay in Italian culture for generations.
The Ancient Greek Olympics were not only sporting events, it was a celebration to honor the great and powerful Zeus. The Ancient Olympics were held every four years at the famous Olympia, a district of Elis, here all free Greek men were allowed to compete. The first record of the Olympic Games was held in 776 B.C. The main sports were the Pentathlon, the Equestrian Events, Pankration, and Boxing.
Dr. Donald Kyle, in his book Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient world, makes the argument that ancient Greek athletic participation was technically open to all male Greek citizens, but not all male Greeks could or did participate. Dr. Kyle asserts that because all male Greeks had access to athletics from youth that sport in ancient Greece was democratic. But, when it comes to spectacle or what would more modernly be seen as professional sport, it was often aristocratic athletes performing in front of a crowd of lower-class people. The way lower-class people would have perceived sport is much different than how an aristocratic athlete would have viewed sport. Sport in ancient Greece was not democratic; every male Greek citizen had the opportunity
The story of Gladiator takes place in Ancient Rome and contains intense action, great acting, and fantastic storytelling. Although most of this action drama is mostly fictitious, some certain events and characters appear in the history books.
Gladiatorial combat originated as a religious event to honor the dead, victory of an important battle, a sacrifice to the gods, or to honor the death of someone in a high standing position. The first Roman gladiatorial games were held in 246 BCE to honor Marcus and Decimus Brutus. ("Life of a Gladiator") These games started an era of gladiatorial events that would last for nearly a century to come. Much like today’s athletes, gladiators compete with one another to decide a victor and is a form of entertainment for people spectating.
There were four different genres of such entertainment in the games held in amphitheatres (Amphi-theatres are outdoor arenas. "theatres in the round": Amphi- meaning "round" in Greek.) : Gladiatorial combat, the theatrical execution of foreigners, beast shows, as well as chariot racing. Watching someone or a beast kill another was applauded for the method, skill, or artistry used in the slaughter. The games themselves provided ways for Rome to demonstrate the power of their empire, as huge investments of wealth, time, and emotion was put into the games. Death became a spectator sport with the viewers and the viewed both contributing to a wild and gory performance. Already by the late Republic magistrates were spending huge amounts of money on these games. The Latin word for gladiatorial games is Munus which means obligatory offering. This reflects the origin of these games as funerary offerings to the dead. While magistrates in the Republic may well have put on games to gain popular favour, this was in their private capacity and not as magistrates. Only gradually did the gladiatorial shows come to be assimilated with the games put on by magistrates.