Games of Ancient Rome
"We who are about to die salute you!”
Contents
 Origins of games
 Height of popularity
 Culture of Violence
 Gladiators and associated roles
 Amphitheatres and arenas
 Decline in popularity
Map of Roman
Republic Italy
and its colonies
Origins of Games
 First gladiatorial contest took place at Rome in 264BC.
 The original Gladiatorial contest was called a munus meaning
‘a duty’ or munera meaning ‘duties’. They originated as
funeral games for families to pay ‘duty’ to the dead.
 Gladiatorial games gradually lost their exclusive connection
with the funerals of individuals and became an important part
of the public spectacles staged by politicians and emperors
and became known as ludi (games).
 The popularity of gladiatorial games is indicated by the large
number of wall paintings and mosaics depicting gladiators.
Floor mosaic in a Roman villa in Nennig
Mosaic found in Pompeii
Why do the people get angry at gladiators and so nastily that they think it an injury
because [the gladiators] do not perish willingly? [The people] believe that they
have been scorned and in facial expression, gesture, and passion are turned from
a spectator into an opponent.
- Seneca ...we despise gladiators if they are willing to do anything to preserve their life; we
favour them, if they give evidence of their contempt for it.
- Seneca -
Height of popularity
 Gladiatorial contests were highly popular during the late Roman
Republic (80-30 BCE) and throughout the Roman Empire (30
BCE- 350 CE)
 Often used by individuals for self-promotion. Games were often
used to please the population and to gain support for election to
public office.
 Ownership of gladiators or a gladiator school gave muscle and
flair to Roman politics.
 “Generous” Imperial ludi (games) might cost no less than 180,000
denarii ($3.6 million).
Culture of Violence
 Attending gladiatorial contests in the amphitheatre
was an essential part of being a Roman. Rome was a
warrior state that had achieved its large empire by
military violence:
Italian Wars, Samnite Wars, Pyrrhic Wars, Punic Wars,
Wars/Invasion in Gaul, Iberia, Britain etc etc...the list
goes on...Not to mention that Rome was founded on the
back of Roman rebellion and violence against the
Etruscans AND it collapsed into civil war thirteen times
between 133-30BCE!
 War was a high-stakes proposition, both for the Romans and
their opponents. Thousands of Roman soldiers died in Italy and
abroad in countless battles. Roman treatment of the enemy could
be very harsh, sometimes even involving the slaughter of
civilians.
‘In Spain, during the second Punic War, Scipio Africanus the Elder attacked
the city of Iliturgi, which had gone over to the enemy, and his soldiers killed
all armed and unarmed citizens alike, including women and infants’
(Livy – Roman Historian)
 In Rome, prisoners of war were often executed in public. In
order to ensure military discipline, Roman soldiers could be very
harsh on their own kind, as is evident in the practice of
decimation, in which one soldier out of every ten guilty of
cowardice or dereliction of duty was chosen by lot to be
bludgeoned to death by his fellow soldiers.
Gladiators and associated roles
 There are many different types of Gladiator, however listed
below are some well known types that were popular:
Equites (cavalryman) – lance and short sword
Thrax (Thracians) – curved swords, curve rimmed helmet
Retiarri – Fought with net, trident and dagger
Bestiarri – Beast/animal fighter
Venator (hunter) – specialised in live animal hunts and
entertainment (circus performers)
Lanista (owner/trainer) – owned and traded in slaves
which were trained as Gladiators
Editor (producer) – Sponsor who helped finance spectacles
Mosaic showing
a retiarius (net-fighter) named
Kalendio fighting
a secutor named Astyanax’ In
the bottom image, the
secutor is covered in
the retiarius's net, but doesn't
seem to be hindered. In the
later image, Kalendio is on
the ground, wounded, and
raises his dagger to surrender.
The arena employees await
his fate from the editor, not
pictured. The inscription
above it shows the sign for
"null" and the name of
Kalendio, implying that he
was killed.
A retiarius
gladiator stabs
at his secutor
opponent with
his trident.
Mosaic from the
villa at Nennig.
The Zliten mosaic is a
Roman floor mosaic from
about the 2nd century CE
(between 100-199), found in
the town of Zliten in Libya.
The mosaic depicts different
types of games:
1. Referees/musicians and
combat between equites
2. a retiarius and secutor, a
Thraex and murmillo, a
hoplomachus and murmillo
in battle
3. Venationes (animal hunts)
4. Damnatio ad bestias
(condemnation to beasts)
Zliten mosaic
(full version)
You can see the images
from the previous slide
around the edge of the
mosaic.
Much of the mosaic is
damaged however it does
give us (as historians) an
insight into the attitude of
Romans about Gladiatorial
combat and games. They
enjoyed it so much that
they honoured their
sporting heroes in mosaics
throughout their homes.
Amphitheatres and arenas
 There are numerous examples of Roman arenas and amphitheatres
most famously the Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre) in Rome.
 The Colosseum represents an important aspect of Roman society
– public entertainment and more importantly Imperial respect for
the power of the public.
 The Colosseum is built to entertain the people and promote
Imperial leadership. However, there are many arenas, larage and
small, throughout the Roman Empire.
 The amphitheatre was a microcosm of Roman society. The seating
arrangements reflected the stratification of Roman society: the
seating was divided between Senators, the wealthy and poor, slaves
and freedmen. Of course the Emperor had his own seating area.
The order of the day – The Colosseum
 Morning – Wild Animal Hunts also known as Venationes
 Midday (noon) – Public Executions
 Afternoon –Gladiatorial Contests
 In the noon time event, condemned criminals fought each other as if they
were gladiators. Each combat was literally a "sudden death" contest, the
winner of which had to fight other criminals until he himself was killed.
In this way the condemned executed each other. What happened to the
ultimate winner is not known; perhaps he was pardoned or at least
allowed to live to fight another day.
Seneca took a practical and judicial view of these contests:
 “[The purpose of executing criminals in public] is that they serve as a warning to all,
and because in life they did not wish to be useful citizens, certainly the state benefits by
their death.”
An interesting case study:
Riot at Pompeii 59CE
“About this time [AD 59] there was a serious fight
between the inhabitants of two Roman
settlements, Nuceria and Pompeii. It arose out
of a trifling incident at a gladiatorial
show....During an exchange of taunts—
characteristic of these disorderly country
towns—abuse led to stone-throwing, and then
swords were drawn. The people of Pompeii,
where the show was held, came off best. Many
wounded and mutilated Nucerians were taken to
the capital. Many bereavements, too, were
suffered by parents and children. The emperor
instructed the senate to investigate the affair. The
senate passed it to the consuls. When they
reported back, the senate debarred Pompeii
from holding any similar gathering for ten years.
Illegal associations in the town were dissolved;
and the sponsor of the show and his fellowinstigators of the disorders were exiled.”
- Tacitus -
Riot at Pompeii
 The riot at Pompeii indicates the passion people had for games.
 However, it is unlikely that the riot was provoked simply by the
games that day. During the Social War (91-88 BCE), a century and
a half earlier, Rome's Italian allies had fought to acquire the
benefits of citizenship. Pompeii joined the revolt but fell to Sulla
(Dictator), who settled a colony of legionary veterans there. The
amphitheatre, itself, was constructed about 70 BCE for the benefit
of these new colonists, both because of its association with the
Roman military and as a monumental reminder of their
dominance over the local Samnite population. Nuceria had not
rebelled and subsequently was awarded territory confiscated from
a neighbouring town that had been destroyed during the fighting.
Less than two years before the riot, Nero settled a veteran colony
at Nuceria (Annals), which no doubt inflamed old resentments,
especially if assigned lands were disputed by the Pompeians.
Decline in popularity
 Started to become a financial burden on the Empire and Imperial
purse.
 The spreading of Christianity throughout the Empire (encouraged
by Emperor Constantine I Edict of Milan in 313 promoting
religious tolerance) changed the populations attitude to public
killings and pagan human sacrifice.
 According to Christians at the time the combats were murder,
their witnessing spiritually and morally harmful and the gladiator
an instrument of pagan human sacrifice.
 However, it was not until 4th and 5th Century CE that ludi and
munus were made illegal and were phased out, at least in the
Western Roman Empire.