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
The type of gladiator a person was depended on the armor he wore, the weapons he possessed or the style of fighting he used. The four types of gladiators are secutor, retiarius, murmillo, and thraex. Secutors carried oblong shields and short swords and wore plumed helmets with visors. Retiarii, also called net men, carried nets to trip their opponents or capture them and also possessed a trident to finish them off. The murmillo received his name because the high crest on his helmet resembled a fish, he possessed a large rectangular shield. The thraex also had a rectangular shield but it was smaller than that of the murmillo's. his deceased father. The first gladiatorial games were held at the Forum Boarium, which was a commercial area named after the Roman cattle market. The Romans called the gladiatorial games a munus, a duty, from the people who were honoring a deceased relative. The munus was used to keep the memory of the deceased alive in an important manner whenever he or she died. The first gladiators were three pair of slaves, gladiatorial games were not held in public view until the late first century. The use of the gladiatorial games as a means of honoring the dead was soon viewed as public spectacles by politicians and emperors. Politicians used the gladiatorial games as a means of bringing people together to gain the popularity of the people, and their votes at election time. When elections were no longer held the emperor did not want anyone else to gain popularity from the people so he started sponsoring the games. 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 common people used the gladiatorial games as a means of expressing their opinion on the emperor because they felt safer in the larg
Some common words found in the essay are:
Gate Death, Forum Boarium, Gladiatorial Games, Roman Empire, gladiatorial games, Junius Brutus, Gate Life, games means, gladiatorial games means, people attended, type gladiator, ad bestias, types gladiators, common people, roman culture, gladiatorial games honor, people attended games, people gladiatorial, rectangular shield, games honor deceased, damnatio ad bestias,
Approximate Word count = 1315
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
