Gladiatorial Fights and Roman Emperors

Gladiatorial games are among the most famous spectacles of Ancient Rome. However, they originated even before Roman civilization as ritual battles closely linked to funerary rites: first in the Villanovan culture (900 – 700 BC), then spread among the Etruscans, who inhabited the northwest of the Apennine Peninsula, and through them reached the Romans.

The Etruscans held duels on the graves of noble people, where slaves or prisoners of war fought to the death – this was a kind of bloody offering to the spirits of the deceased, symbolizing their send-off to the afterlife. The ancient Roman historian Nicolaus of Damascus wrote that the Etruscans believed that the blood and death of warriors gave strength to the soul of the deceased in the afterlife.

The first officially recorded gladiatorial show in Republican Rome took place in 264 BC and was organized by the aristocratic Brutus family in memory of the high-ranking magistrate Junius Brutus Pera, when three pairs of slaves fought each other at the Forum Boarium.

Initially, such duels remained an element of private funerary ceremonies of noble Romans, but by the 1st century BC, the fights went beyond the memorial ritual and became a popular entertainment for the masses. In 105 BC, consuls for the first time organized gladiatorial games as an official public event to boost morale in the war against the Cimbri and Teutons. In the 1st century BC, politicians began to use the duels as a tool to gain popularity. At the same time, specialized structures for the fights – amphitheaters – began to be built.

In the imperial period, gladiatorial duels were established as a significant mechanism of social and political influence, with rulers using them to strengthen their own legitimacy. It was also in their interest to hinder the holding of tournaments by other subjects to prevent competition.

Octavian Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) made the first attempt to establish control over the gladiatorial games. Already in 22 BC, a law was passed limiting the holding of fights in Rome – now their organization required the approval of the Senate. Private individuals still had the right to organize games, but among magistrates, only emperors and praetors could do so, and the funding had to be exclusively at their expense, with the games held twice a year – in December and March, at the beginning of the winter and spring seasons. The number of gladiators could not exceed 120 people, and only the emperor had the right to expand this limit. Under Claudius, praetors lost the right to organize shows, and this privilege passed to quaestors.

In any case, under the empire, organizing spectacles for magistrates proved unprofitable, as vote-buying lost its meaning, and openly demonstrating popularity could be risky. The only magistrate who could still afford to organize a show was the emperor. Often, the games were timed to important events – anniversaries or celebrations. The preparation of the duels was entrusted to trusted persons – imperial freedmen or special curators "curatores munerum".

Augustus also introduced a strict classification of gladiators, assigning each type specific weaponry, and developed clear rules for conducting duels. Even the seating order of spectators in amphitheaters was regulated: senators occupied the front row, soldiers were separated from the civilian population, married men were allocated separate sectors, and teenagers sat next to their mentors. Wearing dark cloaks in the middle rows was prohibited. Women were only allowed to watch the fights from the upper tiers, although previously they could sit among men.

Augustus' successors continued to personally regulate the games either to prevent competition or out of a desire to win popular support.

Tiberius (14 – 37 AD) rarely organized shows and, moreover, further limited the permissible number of fighters. Under him, the inhabitants of the empire used any pretext to force wealthy citizens to spend on games. For example, in the city of Pollentia, an enraged crowd would not allow a funeral procession with the body of a senior centurion to move until the heirs of the deceased agreed to allocate money for gladiatorial games.

The short reign of Gaius Caligula (37 – 41 AD) was marked by the return of large-scale public entertainments. The emperor began building the first large amphitheater in Rome at the Saepta on the Campus Martius, demolishing many ancient structures for it, but the project remained unfinished.

This sphere is also associated with an episode intended to illustrate Caligula's cruelty. Angered by a tall and handsome gladiator named Aesius Proculus, nicknamed Colossus-erot, the emperor ordered him to be dragged from the audience box and pitted first against a lightly armed, then a heavily armed fighter. When the gladiator won both duels, Caligula ordered him to be chained, dressed in rags, paraded through the streets for the amusement of the crowd, and finally executed.

Claudius (41 – 54 AD), on the contrary, sought not to intimidate the people but to win their favor. He regularly organized carefully planned spectacles designed to affirm the greatness of imperial power.

In 52 AD, Claudius marked the completion of years-long work on draining Lake Fucine with the largest "naumachia" in history, a naval gladiatorial battle. It staged a battle between the Sicilian and Rhodian fleets, and 19,000 criminals sentenced to death were selected to participate. Crowds of spectators filled the shores, hills, and mountain peaks.

For another show, Claudius ordered a siege, sacking of a city, and subjugation of British kings to be staged on the Campus Martius, personally directing the performance in full military attire.

Nero (54 – 68 AD), striving to stand out with his own innovations, allowed free women to become gladiatrices, which even Roman noblewomen took advantage of. Subsequently, the emperor also sanctioned fights between women of Ethiopian origin.

Nero, in principle, allowed people from noble families into the arena, not only women but also men from the senatorial and equestrian orders, who became gladiators or venatores – hunters of wild animals. The emperor himself did not shy away from performing in public. Once, armed with a spear, he fought a lion, although the predator had been previously deprived of its teeth and had its muscles damaged to ensure Nero's "heroic" victory.

The peak of gladiatorial games occurred during the reign of Trajan (98 – 117 AD). In 107 AD, he celebrated his triumph over the Dacians with a grand spectacle that lasted 124 days. During this time, 10,000 gladiators entered the arena – as many as during the entire reign of Augustus, and 11,000 wild animals were killed.

These data are confirmed by a stone slab from Ostia, according to which the games were held with intervals, not continuously. This approach allowed maintaining public interest and avoiding oversaturation. The first stage took place at the turn of 107 – 108 AD and lasted about two weeks, during which daily duels between 300 pairs of gladiators took place. The main battles occurred from June 108 to November 109 AD with intervals of about five days. Such generosity could not be repeated by any of Trajan's successors.

The philosopher on the throne, Marcus Aurelius (161 – 180 AD), was a "white crow" among emperors – to the displeasure of the public, he did not hide his indifference to the shows, considering the games boring and tiresome. In contrast, his co-ruler Lucius Verus (161 – 169 AD) was so fond of the fights that he held them during feasts, prolonging the entertainment all night.

Even greater fanaticism, in contrast to Marcus Aurelius, was shown by Commodus (180 – 192 AD). His attraction to the arena was so great that he personally participated in duels and fought against other gladiators. However, despite his physical attributes, virtuoso weapon skills, and rumors that the emperor was capable of striking down a hundred lions, spending only one throw on each, the Romans did not appreciate his presence in the arena, as many still considered the gladiator's craft "unworthy" of an emperor.

Commodus regularly participated in exhibition duels, performing in the armor of a secutor and fighting against the traditional opponents of this type of gladiator – the retiarii. Ancient authors claim that the emperor won about a thousand victories, 620 times being awarded the title of "first-class secutor". He also met his death at the hands of a gladiator, but not in combat, as he was strangled by his own trainer named Narcissus in a palace conspiracy.

Under Septimius Severus (193 – 211 AD), there is a described case where a huge artificial whale figure was brought into the arena, from whose open mouth fifty bears suddenly ran out. Later, from a model ship supposedly "wrecked" on the arena's sand, dozens of wild animals emerged, which the venatores were to overcome.

In the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was struck by a deep crisis. Rome plunged into a vortex of civil wars, barbarian invasions, and economic decline. In these conditions, it was more important for contenders for the imperial title to spend money on their own army rather than on paying for costly spectacles for the crowd's amusement. Lower magistrates held the same opinion.

Nevertheless, even in times of crisis, some emperors tried to use gladiatorial performances to increase their popularity. For example, in 238 AD, co-rulers Pupienus and Balbinus did so, although they ruled for 99 days before being killed. In 248 AD, Emperor Philip the Arab organized grand celebrations for the millennium of Rome, involving thousands of gladiators and many exotic animals, including hippos, leopards, lions, giraffes, and rhinos. The following year, the emperor was killed along with his son.

The last major gladiatorial games were organized by Emperor Diocletian (284 – 305 AD), who led Rome out of the 3rd-century crisis. Soon, the games faced another obstacle, besides the rational unwillingness to spend limited resources amid internal turmoil and barbarian invasions. Christianity was gaining strength in the empire, remembering the pagan roots of gladiatorial battles and generally condemning such bloody spectacles for indulging the basest passions.

Constantine the Great (306 – 337 AD), who made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire, prohibited sentencing criminals to fights in the arena, thus limiting the number of potential fighters. At the same time, it is known that Constantine allowed the inhabitants of the city of Hispellum (modern Spello in Umbria) to continue holding gladiatorial games within the framework of a pagan cult.

Throughout the 4th century, subsequent Christian emperors confirmed Constantine the Great's decrees on the inadmissibility of condemning criminals to the fate of gladiators and also limited the allowable amount of expenses that could be spent on organizing fights. In 399 AD, Emperor Honorius closed the last gladiatorial schools, and in 404 AD, he finally banned the duels.

It is believed that the martyrdom of the monk Telemachus in the arena served as the reason. Allegedly, he came from somewhere in the East to Rome and burst into the Colosseum in the midst of a fight to stop it. As a result, the enraged crowd stoned Telemachus to death, although, according to another version, the martyr was stabbed by the fighters themselves. In any case, this is considered the end of gladiatorial games in history.

Nevertheless, the inhabitants of the Roman cultural space could still observe beast hunts for several more centuries, including public executions when condemned criminals were given to wild animals. The last hunt in the Colosseum took place in 523 AD. Besides this, the inhabitants of the Roman cultural space could still follow sports competitions, theatrical performances, and chariot races.