Games in colosseum

The morning session would come to a stop at about mid day when the sun was at its highest and shining directly through the oval window left by the roof sails. As has already been mentioned everything was free, so the spectators would have their free lunch and wine mixed with water at this point, probably entertained by music and other entertainments.

Some even brought pass-times along like dice. Music was played on a number of different instruments amongst which we remark a water powered organ. A similar sort of instrument may now be heard at the Tivoli gardens near Rome although this one was designed during the Renaissance and only recently restored.

A fanfare of trumpets would announce the first fights, which as a sort of warm-up act were fictitious and not dissimilar in concept to the modern wrestling bouts.

They were fought with blunt blades or even the wooden training swords. These preliminaries would then be followed by the proper Gladiatorial fights where amidst loud cheering and shouting pairs of fighters would melee to the death. More is said about the form of Gladiatorial fights below. The shows would last well into the evening and possibly into the night.

Once they arrived at their destination, they may not behave the way the organisers had hoped — a huge crocodile brought to Rome by Augustus simply refused to play ball.

Leopards are shy, solitary animals afraid of humans so they had to be trained to kill in grizzly ways, Lions too — they do not play with their prey they just sit on them and eat — no fun for the crowd! We have to remember when we read about spectacular games using thousands of animals these were mentioned in the sources precisely because they were so extravagant. The spotlight was placed on the organiser, who had pulled off this exotic display — in most cases the Emperor. Forty years later Trajan held days of games in which 11, animals died.

He had a huge platform built across the arena of the colosseum so that he could run backwards and forwards picking off animals with his bow and arrow the thrill of his show must have been somewhat muted even farcical.

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It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Venationes — Animal Hunts at the Colosseum. A Stage show Forget the film Gladiator or the glitzy series Spartacus. What kind of animals? Logistical nightmare Organising animals for the games was a logistical nightmare, they had to be sourced, caught and transported which meant keeping them alive on the long journey home. How did the Romans catch animals for the games?

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Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. In the afternoon the beloved gladiator fights took place.

Roman executions of those sentenced to death were staged publicly as a deterrent, so that everyone including youngsters — whose presence in the Colosseum was encouraged could see the consequences of committing serious crimes. The experience of a Roman execution was unspeakable, as depicted in this painting by Valdemar Irminger.

Public domain. Initially, the majority of people convicted to death were deserters, rebels, and fugitives, but later this punishment was extended to war prisoners as well as other types of crimes.

The list of crimes punishable by death was quite long. Treason, rebellion against the authority, destruction of crops, night theft, setting fire to a house, rape , deception of a customer, profanation of a temple, violation of a promise, theft of cattle or crops, perjury, changing the borders of a field arbitrarily, and many more were reasons for a capital sentence.

There was also a difference if the convicted person was a Roman citizen or not. If the sentenced person had Roman citizenship, the Roman method of execution was through decapitation. Surprisingly enough, this was an honorable way to die, as it avoided a slow or particularly brutal death or public humiliation.

Alternatively, those who did not possess Roman citizenship were killed in various other ways, depending on the the crime they had committed and their social status.

Christian martyrs in the Colosseum as depicted by Konstantin Flavitsky. One of the primary sources of information about Roman executions comes from Christian writers, a religious group persecuted by the Romans. There was a wide range of Roman methods of execution. Some people were burned alive crematio or ad flammas or killed with a sword ad gladium.

Others were crucified crucifixio , thrown to wild animals ad bestias , obliged to impersonate characters of myth doomed to die, or even tortured and then killed in an attempt to re-enact bloody historical events related to the origins of Rome.

It was not rare for those sentenced to death to kill themselves before the show to avoid the grisly death that awaited them in the arena. To prevent this, prisoners who awaited their fate in the underground rooms of the Colosseum were always closely watched by the staff working there. Legally speaking, Roman law did not determine which execution had to be inflicted and the judge was free to choose the death penalty at his own discretion.

Sentences ad gladium could result in beheadings, but also in one-sided fights with a foregone conclusion. Often, two sentenced people were pushed onto the arena together. One carried a sword and the other one was unarmed. The latter had to run all around the arena, while the one holding the sword had to catch and kill him. The last one standing was normally finished off by a hunter. Sentences ad bestias involved criminals being eaten alive by wild and ferocious beasts.

This vile punishment was most frequently inflicted on those whose social background was low, such as slaves or prisoners.

When it came to the shows programming, executions with animals had to meet specific requirements. Convicts were not supposed to take too long to die to avoid slowing down the planned schedule, although they were not to die too quickly either as this would mean an unsatisfactory experience for the audience. The two most common ways to stage the damnatio ad bestias were to tie the naked criminal to a pole and leave him for the animals or to let him or her run around the arena being chased by the wild beast.

The final result did not change, but the audience preferred the latter because it was considered to be more spectacular. Damnatio ad bestias was a form of execution whereby criminals were tied to a pole for savage animals to kill, or to let the convict run around the arena pursued by wild beasts.

Grace was very rare for those convicted either ad gladium or ad bestias and it was almost impossible to escape a Roman execution once judgment had been passed. Crucifixion was also common and was a punishment much more ancient than the Romans. This could result in an agonizing and terrible death - by suffocation, because the thorax was compressed by asphyxiation, by bleeding, or by cardiovascular collapse through pain.

Because the agony might last for several hours and the program could not be delayed, to accelerate the process of death of the crucified criminal, the legs of the convicts were broken. Alternately, leopards, tigers or lions, were released to maul the wretched victim. Undoubtedly, this was the cruelest sentence staged in the arena of the Colosseum. However, those sentenced by crematio or ad flammas did certainly not have a much more pleasant time.

The convicts sentenced to be burned alive were made to wear beautifully decorated clothes soaked with flammable substances and then they were made to dance as their clothes were ignited. At the end of the execution segment of the lively program, and before the gladiatorial combats began, an attendant dressed as Charon , the ferryman of souls across the Styx, the river of hell, entered the arena to remove the corpses.

This character was based on that of Charun, Etruscan god of death, who always entered the stage together with a representation of the god Mercury, who accompanied the souls. What Mercury actually did at the Colosseum was to pierce the tip of a large red-hot spear into the flesh of the victims to make sure they were really dead. If they were, Charon would hit the victims with a hammer; thus symbolically taking possession of them.

After this further macabre ritual, regular attendants cleaned up the arena of all the corpses. Everything had to be ready so that the next show could begin.