Flavian Amphitheater Analysis

Along with the comfort of the awning, audiences were protected with three safety features that were installed in the Flavian Amphitheater. The walls between spectators and the arena were three and a half meters high, which would have created a blind spot. To prevent either gladiators or animals from being in this blind spot but also to allow people to watch safely, posts were inserted into the arena floor and a sturdy, net barrier was strung between them. Ivory rollers were placed along the wall at the crest so any animals that crawled up the wall or net would be unable to gain traction and continue farther. Lastly, positioned along the front of the arena were crow’s nests in which archers were stationed in case anything attempted to escape

the arena. From the basement to the awning, the amphitheater was constructed with need, safety and luxury in mind.
History of the Games
Decades before the building of the Flavian Amphitheater in the later first century CE, Roman aristocrats would present shows in hopes of building popularity with the Roman people.

Before the imperial system came into place, it was tradition that these aristocrats would present gladiatorial combats or wild beast hunts to enormously help a man’s chances of winning prestige and public office. The beginning of these type of gladiatorial performances can be dated to 105 BC, in that year two consuls organized the earliest battles. However, the absolute earliest evidence for gladiatorial games in the Roman sphere is from the fourth century BC. A tomb painting was found depicting gladiators battling in southern Italy. By the time the Flavian Amphitheater opened, the games were nearly four hundred years

old.
Funerary Origins
It is believed that when the Romans conquered the ancient Etruscans in the sixth century BC, they adopted the practice of gladiatorial games.

These games were originally a form of human sacrifice associated with the solemn rites surrounding death for the Etruscan people. The Roman’s adapted the games not as a form of human sacrifice yet did keep them closely tied with their funerary origins. These gladiatorial games were not an exotic side show for the Romans but an entertainment that was integral to their culture. The games became a virtual symbol of what it meant to be Roman. From the very beginning of their history at Rome, gladiatorial games were closely associated with funerals. So much so that the presentation of gladiatorial combat was called a munus. This is a Latin word that means duty or gift and by extension funeral honors or an obligation performed for the dead. The first known gladiatorial combat held in Rome was at the funeral of a Roman aristocrat, D. Junius Brutus Pera. The combat was presented in 264 BC by two sons to honor their father. Pliny the Younger writes in the early second century CE to his friend Maximus:

you did perfectly right in promising a gladiatorial combat to our good friends the citizens of Verona, who have long loved, looked up to, and honored you; while it was from that city too you received that amiable object of your most tender affection, your late excellent wife. And since…. you were so unanimously pressed to do so that to have refused

would have looked more like hardness than resolution. The readiness too with which you granted their petition, and the magnificent manner in which you performed it, is very much to your honor.

Pliny the Younger says that so many requested this man to put on a gladiator show for his deceased wife that it would have been rude to say no and therefore a spectacle was planned to honor his wife’s memory and for the people of Verona. A giver of a munus, like Maximus, would have been under a great deal of pressure to give a worthy show. Stinginess in presenting such a combat would have ruined his reputation among fellow citizens. Even though Pliny the Younger’s letter is describing a munus for Verona, in Rome the conditions would have been similar. Hosting a munus would have been to honor the dead, but show appreciation to the community as well. For at least two centuries, gladiatorial spectacles were only tied to funeral honors with an underlying nature that one could not skimp on such events in fear of reputation. It was not until the late first century BC that these events were given in a two-fold manner, for honor and reputation. Two and a half centuries after the first duels in Rome, gladiatorial games were offered with no other excuse than their entertainment value.
The Building of a Permanent Structure
After the Flavian Amphitheater was completed, it became an archetype of “Roman-ness” across the empire. The building of a permanent structure for these spectacles was a break from tradition. Before the Flavian Amphitheater, citizens watched gladiatorial shows in temporary structures. The standard practice was to build a temporary wooden amphitheater and disassemble it when the shows were over or to use public buildings that were designed with other purposes in mind. More often though, gladiators performed in the Forum itself with audiences watching from wooden benches that were dismantled at the end of the day. The reasoning behind the use of temporary structures for such events lay in the hands of the Roman elite. The Roman elite was wary of building a permanent monument to pleasure. Such a venue would have provided a place where the mass citizens could express their views collectively and loudly. Other cities did have amphitheaters, however when a riot broke out in Pompeii Nero punished the city with a ten year ban of gladiator shows. Nevertheless, it did not matter what other cities did. In Rome, the citizens had more of a direct influence of the passage of laws and the election of senators. For this reason, mass gatherings would have been seen as dangerous in the eyes of the elite. Yet, this republic system of government imploded and there was a turn to a more hereditary monarchy with emperors and elections turned from the citizens to the senate. So with the implosion of the Republic, a permanent structure to pleasure became less scary. Having gladiatorial combat held in the amphitheater, among other activities, also aimed at keeping the urban proletariat safely occupied and entertained , lest there be something unwanted that they could get their hands on. The Flavian Amphitheater played a key role in Roman history and politics. This monument signaled the pleasures of popular entertainment yet symbolized a particular type of interaction between the Roman emperor and the people of Rome. This edifice became an arena where the emperor came face to face with his people and a symbol of the encounter between the autocrat and those he ruled.
Timeline of Events at the Games
Once the games moved away from their funerary origin and especially with the construction of a permanent monument to them, the development of a more consistent and regular schedule began to emerge. There is a problem, though, with scholars attempting to put together information from first century CE sources with that of second century CE sources , a general schedule has developed. In the morning, animal hunts were put on. Animal hunts signified the Roman view that nature was savage and needed to be tamed. Wild beasts were considered wicked, stupid and lacking the superior qualities of humans. This opinion of animals allowed Romans to kill them for fun, without much guilt. Animals were captured in a variety of manners, traps, pits and sometimes even the crafty use of human decoys dressed in sheepskins , and then transported to the empire. In fact, due to this event at games it is thought that hippopotami died out in Egypt, lions were exterminated from the Middle East and the elephant population in North Africa was severely depleted. With so many animals entering the arena, they were a higher source of death in the Flavian Amphitheater than humans. Seneca, a first century CE philosopher, wrote about these executions. He wrote that at noon men were thrown into the arena, yet he was expecting wit and humor. Before the mid-first century CE, the typical lunchtime entertainment was expected to be some form of burlesque or comedic production. Although the chief pleasure was in the slaughter of animals or by them, there were human deaths as well. During the ‘lunch-break’ or mid-day spectacle, public executions took place. With the construction of the Flavian Amphitheater, these executions began to take shape in a new form of entertainment. These elaborately staged executions started to be presented in the guise of Greek dramas. Martial describes such an execution:
as Prometheus, bound on Scythian crag, fed the tireless bird with his too abundant breast, so did Laureolus, hanging on no sham cross, give his naked flesh to a Caledonian bear. His lacerated limbs lived on, dripping gore, and in all his body, body there was none. Finally he met with the punishment he deserved; the guilty wretch had plunged a sword into his father’s throat or his master’s, or in his madness had robbed a temple of its secret gold, or laid a cruel torch to Rome. The criminal had outdone the misdeeds of ancient story; in him, what had been a play became an execution.

The afternoon was reserved for proper gladiatorial bouts. After battle, the dead were taken to a special store room where the gladiator was stripped of his armor and it was repaired and returned to the storeroom for use by someone else. Victors were presented with palm branches signaling their victory among other gifts, such as money, from the emperor. At the end of shows, lists were prepared of the gladiators that had taken part in the spectacle. A ‘P’ meant a man had perished, a ‘V’ meant that he had vanquished his foe and an ‘M’ indicated he had lost his duel but been allowed to depart at the emperor’s mercy. Large and flashy spectacles such as those of Titus and Trajan were infrequent, individual emperors had varying enthusiasm for such events. During Trajan’s big spectacle the Flavian Amphitheater was used as much as one of every five days. Some emperors held games infrequently and only for very special occasions. Others would only put on special games to celebrate a birthday, victory over a foreign enemy or even the anniversary of their succession.