"The great spectacles of ancient Rome were not merely casual entertainment, a matter of choice for the audience, like the modern theatre. Under the Empire, the games became a public opiate and gave the daily life of Rome its rhythm and lustre. From one year to the next, the Roma…
Roland Auguet examines the Roman taste for blood and considers what the games, that strange combination of Cruelty and Civilization, reveal about the Roman mentality. He shows how the great spectacles became a part of city life - they were awaited with impatience, everyone discu…
"The great spectacles of ancient Rome were not merely casual entertainment, a matter of choice for the audience, like the modern theatre. Under the Empire, the games became a public opiate and gave the daily life of Rome its rhythm and lustre. From one year to the next, the Roma…
"At the beginning of their 800-year existence in the 4th century BC, gladiatorial games served as a solemn funeral rite to honor high-born citizens. From the height of their popularity to their decline, they were the equivalent of a multi-billion dollar industry--run by entrepre…
The Roman Emperor Commodus wanted to kill a rhinoceros with a bow and arrow, and he wanted to do it in the Colosseum. For fourteen days near the end of AD 192, the emperor mounted one of the most lavish gladiatorial games Rome had ever seen. People rushed from all over Italy to …