Gladiator is a popular entertainment in the Roman Empire within armed combatant, which is between armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. This is quite a popular event among the people from a sacrifice ceremony to the god on funerals that link to religions, then changing into a stage show for entertainment during the Roman Empire. However, due to the collapse of the regime, the ceremony of gladiator began to be rejected and finally kicked out and abolished from people’s life. Gladiators usually volunteers risk their lives, also are mostly despised as slaves and under harsh conditions since if they lose, they may lose their social standing, being marginalized, and even ending up dead.
Christianity has significantly influenced the beliefs of people, which unconsciously changes people’s view on gladiator combat, but did not actually lead to the end of gladiator. The rise of Christianity had changed the attitude among people, which had led to the reflection on what the fight in the arena brings them, that secretly pushed the opposition of gladiators. “These converts began to realize that the pain and terror inflicted in the arena was at odds with the gentle and merciful words of their new religion.” (Gladiator ch11) The converts had already realized that the terror and death that often happens in the arena is not what they want for preaching of peace and love. As this kind of new faith gained followers, especially among the poor and powerless, it helped to shift the social values towards mercy, compassion, and love, rather than bloodshed and violence. For those who struggle for living and those who suffer from long oppresses, they found out the difference between Christianity and Paganism, which their lives may be better according to Christianity. As the Christian writer Tertullian had condemned the attendance of Christians in the early 3rd century AD, “the combats, he said, were murder, their witnessing spiritually and morally harmful and the gladiator an instrument of pagan human sacrifice.” (Wikipedia) His claim for gladiators as for pagan human sacrifice had further explained the view on gladiators from the Christians’ view, with the threat of persecution and death, more and more people began to follow this new belief. Therefore, the popularity of gladiator combat appreciably declines amongst the public, which promotes the end of this cruel way of entertainment.
The influence of gladiator after its developing for hundreds of years is quite enjoy popular support, even it is somehow against the Christianity believes, the Roman Emperors had tried a lot to restrict the developing of gladiator, but they fail to insist this themselves. With the increased attractiveness in Christianity over the citizens, its begins to influence the leaders. "The emperor Constantine the Great adopted the faith and declared Christianity the state religion." (Gladiator ch11) The rise in status of Christianity has better spread the ideology of this religion, which had supported its followers to revolt against the hold of gladiators. Not only just among the civilians, but the emperors also take actions to avoid the growth of gladiators, including forbidding fighting to death as gladiators in legal terms. However, every emperor enacts laws about limiting gladiator’s expenses and evolution, which that “in 384 attempted, like most of his predecessors, to limit the expenses of gladiatora munera.” (Wikipedia) is a good example proving the many emperors had already tried to prevent this by outlawing the games, while it’s useless, and even sometimes themselves are granting people the right to celebrate these games. Thus, the contrast between the decisions and the practical actions of the Roman emperors has further demonstrated the profound influence the gladiator combats had on people’s lives.
Everything came to an end when gladiators really touched the interest of the Christians yet is also due to the influence of Christianity among the Roman emperors. The final of the era of gladiators is due to a tragic event, “According to Theodoret, the ban was in consequence of Saint Telemachus' martyrdom by spectators at a gladiator munus.” (Wikipedia) The death of the Christian monk Telemachus is just because of his behavior of jumping into the arena to separate the two combatants, which angers the crowd that they were all berserk that tore him limb from limb. His destiny must be terrible and tragic, that his start is not erroneous to stop the cruelty and ferocity, nevertheless, he’s not completely innocent that his process mode is not the best way of stopping people from gathering in the arena to watch these “sports”. What he had done is quite extreme and dreadful, that being torn by the audiences to death is not surprising and is even within expectation. However, the martyr of Telemachus has implied the refusal to worship Roman emperors or gods from the converts, with their belief that true power is not from destruction of life, but sacrifice. Since Christianity had already become the state religion, “the emperor Honorius immediately and permanently banned all gladiator combats” (Gladiator ch11), in which this spectacle of death for entertainment is fully rejected by society, and people no longer gathered together to watch men killing each other for recreation.
All in all, gladiator in the essence is a ceremony by sacrificing people’s life with the cover of pleasing the gods then a popular entertainment that acts as a culture, its end is inevitable, that this kind of violence and devilry combat will always be forbidden as people’s values changed over time. Christianity is a typical example of how the shift in values affects a popular cultural event’s decline. This alteration in people’s value, covered all people at all different status, the cruelty and injustice of gladiator combat has made the Christians more steadfast in non-violent world with love and peace, which had then influenced the emperors to believe in this religion, and at last turn the era of gladiator over. Even though the end of gladiator may not only be because of the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, but the adoption of the faith in the empire is a meaningfully and primarily reason for bringing this inhumane combat to the end.
Works cited
Watkins, Richard, “Gladiator”
“Gladiator”, Wikipedia
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