The Roman Gladiotrial games
Many people saw the roman gladiatorial games just as a public display of violence, but in actuality they were more. The original gladiatorial games were not to be used as a form of amusement they were originally used as a part of a funeral ritual. The original intention of the gladiatorial games was to honor the deceased whenever someone of special importance died. The men, and sometimes women, who took place in the gladiatorial games, were called gladiators. The word gladiator got its name from a type of Roman sword called the gladius. There were different types of gladiators along with different events which went on at the gladiatorial games. There were four types of gladiators, each type of gladiator was dressed a certain way and had certain types of weapons that went along with the type of gladiator he was. To fully understand the gladiatorial games a person must examine the origin of the games, the impact the games played on Roman culture, the elaborate setup of the games, and the participants in the games and why they participated in the games. The first gladiatorial games did not even have real gladiators. In 264 BC Decimus Junius Brutus held the first gladiatorial games in honor of . . .
Secutors carried oblong shields and short swords and wore plumed helmets with visors. Gladiators got three meals a day, medical care, if they survived could gain their freedom. All gladiators, no matter what kind of person they were or if they were male of female, swore an oath called the sacramentum gladiatorium. When the emperor started to sponsor the games the political importance of the games grew for the common people since they could not vote the people who attended the games used them as a means of expressing their political views about how the emperor governed them. The people who attended the games played a very important role in the games whenever a gladiator wished to be spared by the other gladiator. The munus was used to keep the memory of the deceased alive in an important manner whenever he or she died. Another part of the venationes was the execution of the people damnati ad bestias, condemned to the beasts. After looking back on what the gladiatorial games truly were a person will see that they were not just used a way of watching peole die, it was peole dying with honor and prisioners receiving what they earned. Rome was a warrior state that had achieved its large empire by military violence. The gladiators who were spared would walk through the Porta Sanivivaria, the Gate of Life. The gladiatorial games were not just a place to simply watch people kill eachother, they could be used for many things. Some women and a few upper class men participated in the games even though it was against the law. The common people used the gladiatorial games as a means of expressing their opinion on the emperor because they felt safer in the large group of common people who attended the gladiatorial games. The thraex also had a rectangular shield but it was smaller than that of the murmillo’s. After the public execution of convicted criminals was over the individual gladiatorial combat began.
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