Реферат: The Rise Of Gladiatorial Combat In Rome

regions.(10:167)

If a fighter’s performance had not given satisfaction, or if he was a

criminal whose survival was not desired, his life was sometimes risked again on

the same day by orders for a repeat performance, against specially introduced

understudies. When neither party won and both were spared, each was described

as stans missus, and such a result was often recorded on inscriptions. The

victorious gladiators were presented with palm branches as a prize, and in Greek

lands of the Empire they were given a wreath or crown in addition or instead.

Both palms and crowns are often shown on funeral monuments. The giver of the

games also provided prize money, according to scales stipulated in the

gladiators’ contracts. (10:169)

The Arenas

In early times gladiators’ duels took place in whatever public places a

town might posses. But then , under the emperors, the characteristic place for

such a contest was the amphitheater. This was an oval auditorium surrounded by

rows of seats facing on to the arena, as in modern bull rings, absorbing the

blood of slaughtered men and beasts. The first permanent amphitheater known to

us is not in Rome but in Campania, the country which inherited the gladiatorial

games from Eturia and passed them on to the Romans. (13:225) The largest and

most famous of all such buildings was initiated by the Flavian dynasty. Opened

by Titus in AD 80, this Colosseum is one of the most marvelous buildings in the

world. Its massive overall measurements are 187 by 155 meters, of which the

space for the arena itself comprises 86 by 54 meters. There was accommodation

for perhaps 45,000 sitting spectators and at least 5,000 more willing to stand.

Underneath the arena is a labyrinth of passages for stage effects, pens for wild

beasts, storage rooms and the mechanism by which scenery and other apparatus

were hoisted into the arena. The emperor’s platform was at the center of one of

the long sides, facing across to the portion of the auditorium reserved for

magistrates and the holder of the games. There were also places for priests,