Dan  

Social Studies

2-13-02

Gladiators & the Colisseum

    Gladiators kill each other for pure pleasure of the spectators.  They were a main source of entertainment back in the time of the ancient Roman Empire.  Slaves, criminals, and outlaws were driven from suicide to killing others.  Buildings were made, gems were carved, vases were painted, and holidays were held all for this horrible task.  I feel sorry for them.

  Back in 174 BC. 37 pairs of gladiators fought in a 3 day event. When gladiators first became popular, a funeral was held.  Emperor Trojan and his brother, Emperor Domitain attended their fathers funeral (Emperor Vespasian) which had gladiators as part of the ceremony.  They liked the idea of this sort of entertainment,  so they then built the Colisseum- a famous ancient building in the center of Rome made especially for gladiators, chariots and animal fights.

    The Colisseum was built on the         

lake of Nero, in AD.90 included with a drainage-system made out of marble, tufa, and concrete.  The design of the 48 meter/160foot high Colisseum was one of the most interesting ever.  Wooden floored passage ways were so cleverly designed, all 55,000 spectators in all four floors could leave there steep seats, and crowd their in the rain, all in three minutes.  The bonus of sitting up near the top of the buildings is that Velariums covered the spectators from rain.  80 arches on the first three floors plus the rectangular arches acted as entrances to the somewhat-rain-proof building.  The ones above ground all had statues in the center. Women either stood or sat on wooden benches.

    After 8 years of building, the Colisseum's grand opening was in AD 80 held by Emperor Titus.  Nets protected the uncontrollable audience from flying daggers and squirted blood.  The Emperor and the senate had their own box in the first row.  Archers stood on the catwalk nearby to kill loose animals.  The inside was decorated so elegantly with wooden floors and painted walls.  Bodies were decorated elaborately.  Sometimes bets were put on gladiators.  In the morning people watched plays, and in the afternoon people watched the gladiators ruthlessly kill each other with nets, daggers, swords, tridents, spears, and firebrands.  Nice animals were taken into captivity to be killed by the successful gladiators and their weapons at the Colisseum.  Chariots also fought gladiators. On the occasion the audience, and the Emperor would enter the arena. 

    Gladiators are trained at special gladiator schools.  There are three schools.  One of the schools is connected to the basement of the Colisseum.    When gladiators were ready to fight at the games, they just walked through the tunnel.  The fate of the fallen gladiator was decided by the emperor.  The crowd also helped the Emperor decide the fate of the fallen gladiator.  Thumbs up let the gladiator live.  Thumbs down meant death.  Depending on how well they fought determined your fate.  Successful gladiators were praised by poets, put on vases, and pampered by lovely young women. 

    So as you can see, gladiators were a very common source of entertainment back in AD. 90.  As gruesome as gladiators may seem,  gladiators are more disturbing than you could ever imagine.  Thankfully, in AD 135 gladiators were illegal.  Thanks for informing yourself with my work!

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