Реферат: The Rise Of Gladiatorial Combat In Rome

Criminals sentenced to forced labor were often obliged to serve as gladiators,

and were sentenced to three years of combat and two years in the schools.

Sometimes penalties were differentiated according to social class, thus for

certain crimes which in the case of slaves would involve execution, free men or

freedmen (ex-slaves) were condemned to fight in the arena instead. This did not

of course make them gladiators, unless they were trained first, as those

required to provide this sort of sport not always were. And indeed as

gladiators became more expensive in the second century AD the use of untrained

criminals in the amphitheater increased.(7:537) Most gladiators, at Rome and

elsewhere were slaves, but in addition there were always some free men who

became gladiators because they wanted to. The profession was an alternative to

being a social outcast. They were generally derived from the lowest ranking

category of free persons, namely the freedman who had themselves been slaves or

were the son of slaves. Free fighters were more sought after than slaves,

presumably because they shower greater enthusiasm in the arena. Such a

volunteer was offered a bonus if he survived the term of his contract, yet he

still had to swear the terrible oath of submission to be burnt with fire,

shackled with chains, whipped with rods and killed with steel like the rest of

the gladiators. For the period of his engagement, he had become no more than a

slave. (7:539)

Majestic Exhibitions and Schools

There seemed no end to public entertainment’s of one sort or another at Rome.

First there were the regular functions. The number of days in each year given up

to annual games and spectacles of one sort or another in the city was

startlingly large, and increased continually. Already 66 in the time of

Augustus, it had risen to 135 under Marcus Aurelius, and 175 or more in the

fourth century. Gladiatorial amusement had become an essential feature of the

services a ruler had to provide, in order to maintain his popularity and his job.

Emperors themselves had to attend the shows. Emperors watching the shows were