The first gladiators were made in 264 BC, at the funeral of a Roman nobleman called Junius Brutus. They fought because the people thought that they would please the gods that way. This kind of entertainment became increasingly popular among Rome’s elite, and also became a way for people to enhance their social status and power. Julius Caesar used grand gladiatorial games to gain the favor of the people. By 46 BC, Caesar staged extravagant spectacles, including battles between armies and naval reenactments, solidifying the gladiator games as a key component of Roman political life. Augustus later monopolized these games, recognizing their immense political power. Over centuries, the Roman empire became increasingly unstable, and coupled with the rise of Christianity, which preached of a compassion and dignity for all lives, made gladiatorial combat less and less popular. As the religion grew in popularity, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made a verdict preventing gladiator fights in 323 AD, but it wasn’t really followed. In 404 AD, a Christian monk, Telemachus, was killed by the crowd for attempting to stop a fight. This tragedy led Emperor Honorius to permanently ban gladiator games.
Noblemen resurrected the custom of fighting upon the death of a significant person, which exploded the popularity of gladiators. The earliest examples of these gladiatorial battles were actually slave fights, which occurred at the funeral of a man named Junius Brutus. As such, slave sacrifices in these insurrections were a prominent feature of Roman funerary rituals as the conviction that pleasing the gods would not only come to pass by the death of the slaves in these struggles, but such were also make for gods show names and concentrate in the presence of slaves. These initial battles, often to the death and held in locations such as the Forum Boarium, were savage, with slaves pitted against each other. Gradually, as the number of fighters grew. Article says, “If a family’s reputation could be enhanced by these displays, then so could a politician’s chance of election or a general’s popularity” (Watkins, Chapter II) By 216 B.C., twenty two pairs of slaves were fighting at the funeral of Marcus Lepidus, and by 183 B.C., this figure had risen to sixty pairs at the funeral of Publicus Licinius. These scenes of battle spread, and not only as a religious tradition or at funerals but as a form of social demonstration. Men often used these to demonstrate their wealth and power. Julius Caesar is an important figure in the history of gladiatorial combat. His popularity with the Roman people was due to his cash disbursement policy, in the form of extravagant gladiatorial games, generous banquets and free spectacles. Caesar, who relied on these games to consolidate power and keep public support, sponsored extravagant spectacles such as the naval battle in 46 B.C. involving 1,000 sailors and 2,000 oarsmen, as well as a major battle on an artificial lake. His extravagant events reinforced his image as a powerful leader and helped him solidify his control over Rome.
Emperors found it increasingly difficult to sustain the massive resources needed to host the gladiator contests as the Roman Empire waned. The empire struggled to govern its enormous lands and was beset by political unrest and corruption. Roman attitudes toward violence and gladiatorial combat are said to have changed significantly as a result of the spread of Christianity. The text says, “Christianity gained its more powerful convert in a.d. 312 when the emperor Constantine the Great adopted the faith and declared Christianity the state religion.” The spread of Christianity is emphasized as a major factor in altering Roman attitudes towards violence and gladiatorial fighting. Early Christians, persecuted and forced to death in the arena for failing to worship Roman gods or the emperor, preached mercy and peace values, values which stood in stark contrast to the murderous violence of the games. These people who were Christian often opposed the games, wanting a dignity for every human life. Despite persecution, Christianity spread, and as more converts saw the incongruity between gladiatorial violence and Christian values, opinion began to change in public. Constantine made Christian religion official and issued an edict in A.D. 323 to discontinue gladiatorial combat, suggesting that the condemned be relegated to working in mines. Emperor Valentinian I ended the practice of sending Christians to gladiator schools in A.D. 367, and Emperor Honorius had closed the schools altogether by A.D. 399. The final stimulus for putting an end to the gladiator games came with the martyrdom of Christian monk Telemachus in A.D. 404. His attempt at preventing the combat in the arena led to a riotous crowd reaction, and this ultimately compelled Emperor Honorius to put out a permanent ban on the games. Christianity was the driving force behind the prohibition of the gladiator games.
Initially, gladiatorial combat was primarily used in religion but through the course of time it became a tool of politics and gladiators became entertainers for the upper classes. These violent spectacles served to display might, foster political alliances, and titillate the masses. Gladiatorial spectacles were popular tools for people such as Julius Caesar to gain acceptance from the masses while reinforcing their leadership status thereafter. He believed that the sacrifices in gold, money, and lives were worth his domination over the empire of Rome. However, with time given to the empire, as it faced civil strife and rising Christianity, the values of mercy, peace, and compassion were raised against values that glorified cruelty and blood. After Telemachus's martyrdom in 404 AD, Christianity's driving force behind the banning was the real end of this dark chapter in Roman history. The demise of gladiatorial combat reflects social changes within the empire and revolutionizes the role that religion and morality have played in framing social values. They have not only stopped gladiator games, but also stopped the bloodshed of innocent men that were killed for fun.
Sources Cited
Watkins, Richard. Gladiator. Baker & Taylor, CATS, 2008
Comentários