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Slavery in the Roman Republic
Slavery in the Roman Republic
Slavery in the Roman Republic
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There were only a few different ways that the survivors could cope with what they had just been through. Most just focused on the fact that they were the survivor of said battle and kept on fighting to survive. Some, on the other hand, couldn’t deal with what they had just experienced and thought the only reasonable solution to their emotional pain was suicide. One such gladiator, a German slave and beast fighter, while preparing himself for his morning exhibition went to use the bathroom. While no one was watching, he shoved a Roman bog brush down his throat, thus clogging his windpipe, leading him to suffocate and die. Those gladiators who did not take this route found themselves again in the arena, facing death, which many of them suffered. Though there are not many well preserved paper writing sources to tell us of the life and death of these men, the inscriptions and illustrations of their tombstone, made by friends and family, tell us of some of the awful ways they perished. The tombstone of one gladiator, Diodorus, details his battle against another man named Demetrius. After Diodorus had …show more content…
An example of this is the First Battle of Bedriacum in 69 AD. Marcus Salvius Otho, who was the Emperor of Rome at the time, mustard up an army consisting of parts of his legion, the Praetorian Guard and around 2,000 gladiators. Due to heavy losses, the Othonian army surrendered and Emperor Otho committed suicide. Gladiators were not only used then, however. In 167 AD, the number of troops that were depleted by plague and desertion forced Emperor Marcus Aurelias to draft gladiators as soldier, and even then they were still treated as slaves. Though there were only a handful of times when the Emperor enlisted slaves into the army, he should have more often as most gladiators were better trained than the
The Trojan War veterans of The Odyssey succeeded in defeating their enemies on the battlefield. The end of combat did not mean relief from burdens for them. War is cruel, but in it these men see a glory they cannot find outside. Achilleus’ death in war is treated with ceremony and respect. Agamemnon, having survived that same war, dies a pitiful death and Klytaimestra “was so hard that her hands would not/ press shut [his] eyes and mouth though [he] was going to Hades” (XI, 425-426). Dying at home meant being denied even simple acts of dignity. Reflecting back on it Hades, Agamemnon characterizes the veteran’s struggles when he asks, “What pleasure was there for me when I had wound up the fighting?” (XXIV, 95).
The story of Gladiator takes place in Ancient Rome and contains intense action, great acting, and fantastic storytelling. Although most of this action drama is mostly fictitious, some certain events and characters appear in the history books.
There are two important matters that the "Funeral Oration of Pericles" proves, these two matters are, the great respect that Athenians have for their warrior class and how the Athenians were exceedingly proud of their city and its customs. The following paper discusses the way of life of Athenians and how the Funeral Oration of Pericles influenced it.
In conclusion, Thucydides work on the Peloponnesians war employs the theme of warfare and death. There are many instances that Death is experienced in Athens, the major being discussed earlier are war and the plague. These two phenomena claimed lives of many people in Athens. Death as a theme is therefore brought out clearly in this context. One can learn a great deal about the way the Athenians looked at death and war from the text. Different types of deaths were treated differently; some glorified, some shameful and others just neglected. To the Athenian the way a person died was extremely significant for their legacy. Finally, I believe that death is death no matter what form it comes in. It always causes agony and despair.
The citizens of Rome loved to go to these bloody warfares. In the city of Rome, these events were held in the Colosseum. An arena so large that it could hold 50,000 spectators and host fights between men and animals.
Gladiatorial events were a token of the Roman civilization. A brutal form of sacrifice adapted from the earlier civilization of Etruscans, who believed when a person dies, his spirit relies on a blood sacrifice to survive in the afterlife. The first event to take place in Rome was in 264 BC, when Decimus Brutus held a sacrifice to honor his dead father (Roman Gladiator). Soon after these events became an undeniable part of the Romans lives, used for political power and general entertainment.
After its debut in America on May 5th of 2000, the movie Gladiator has been a nationwide symbol of heroism(Imdb). The film was directed by Ridley Scott and the lead roles of the film were carried out by Russell Crowe as Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus(Imdb). The movie takes place during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire in the year 180 A.D. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is dying and wishes to leave the Roman Empire under the control of Roman General Maximus Meridius. The Emperor’s son Commodus betrays Maximus, kills his father, and takes control of Rome. In betraying Maximus, Commodus has his family killed. Maximus knowing this returns to Rome as a gladiator under the alias “Spaniard” in search of revenge(Imdb). According to Aristotle, “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude”(Kwheeler). In order for someone to be considered a tragic hero, the person must meet the criteria of high social status, suffer from a hamartia, face a catastrophe, invoke catharsis, and experience anagnorisis and peripeteia(Kwheeler).
There were four different genres of such entertainment in the games held in amphitheatres (Amphi-theatres are outdoor arenas. "theatres in the round": Amphi- meaning "round" in Greek.) : Gladiatorial combat, the theatrical execution of foreigners, beast shows, as well as chariot racing. Watching someone or a beast kill another was applauded for the method, skill, or artistry used in the slaughter. The games themselves provided ways for Rome to demonstrate the power of their empire, as huge investments of wealth, time, and emotion was put into the games. Death became a spectator sport with the viewers and the viewed both contributing to a wild and gory performance. Already by the late Republic magistrates were spending huge amounts of money on these games. The Latin word for gladiatorial games is Munus which means obligatory offering. This reflects the origin of these games as funerary offerings to the dead. While magistrates in the Republic may well have put on games to gain popular favour, this was in their private capacity and not as magistrates. Only gradually did the gladiatorial shows come to be assimilated with the games put on by magistrates.
The author Michael Crawford wrote the book The Roman Republic to offer an interpretation about the Roman Empire. This was done to educate the reader about how Rome gained its greatness and became the military and cultural center of the world at that time. He wanted to inform the readers about how the Roman Empire grew from one city tribe, to dominate the Italian peninsula, and finally to conquer the Mediterranean coast. This conquest led to what was then the great Greek and Egyptian Empires. He also suggests the want and desire of the Roman people to acquire education, artifacts, and philosophy from the Greek cities. Furthermore, how the Roman people took this culture and molded it to make their own style and customs.
During the middle and late third century, the Roman republic era gave rise to the arena games and became a great phenomenon for the Romans. An amphitheater, also known as a coliseum, housed these dangerous games that potentially harmed the audience as well as those who participated in them. Gladiatorial combat originated as part of funerals for deceased influential Romans. These large gladiatorial games were held by emperors during funerals of important roman officials, but were also included during other occasions. Over time the connection among the gladiator games and funerals decreased, and the upper class put on the games mainly to raise their social standing and gain favor with the public.
But Gladiators competed much differently than professional athletes do today. Gladiators were forced to fight for the entertainment of others and were considered slaves. (“The Roman Gladiator”). Gladiators did not just fight for friendly sport either, they had to fight to the death. This made the gladiatorial games so exciting for the people watching.
When it came to suicide, ancient Greeks often regarded male suicide as honorable and female suicide as disgraceful. The ancient Greek culture regarded war as one of the most important aspects of the society and could not stand dishonor. As a result, most ancient Greek warriors committed suicide out of valor. If all other fellow warriors were killed in battle and one warrior returned home, that warrior would be viewed as pusillanimous and ignominious for not dying in battle or fighting to the death with his fellow warriors.3 Such was the case in the suicides of Orthydas and Pantities. “Fearing the charge of cowardice, the Spartan Orthrydas committed suicide out of shame at being the lone survivor among three hundred of his fellow warriors in a battle against the Argives.”3 Like Orthydas, “Pantites, a Spartan survivor of the battle of Thermopylae, took his life when he returned home.”3 Honorable suicides like these could also be seen throughout the entirety of the Peloponnesian War. Honorable death by suicide was so significant that there were consequences if the warriors did not
Many gladiators were prisoners of war and/or criminals being brought to justice through the games but, on the very slim chance that they survived, they would be free. Cartwright (2012) explains that, “a gladiator was a professional fighter who specialized with particular weapons and fought before in large purpose-built arenas throughout the Roman Empire…” The games did not only have gladiators fight but also other people being punished by death. Hopkins (1983) adds that those who participated in the games were professional gladiators, prisoners of war, and criminals condemned to death. There were many kinds of gladiators, all specializing with different weapons and techniques. There were more than 30 kinds of gladiators, from beast fighters and horseback riders to spear fighters and mounted bowmen, indicates Alchin (2015). Men were not the only ones who could be gladiators. Andrews (2014) reveals that there were women gladiators, though rarely, and that the Roman emperors sometimes engaged in fights that took place with blunt weapons. The contestants of the games were not always men or slaves and many played in the games by
The ancient Roman Masterpiece, The Dying Gaul (also known as The Dying Gladiator) symbolizes more than just heroism; it represents stressful situations and events that soldiers went through whilst dealing with an opposing army. The sculpture is well known for its realistic depiction of human emotions and for capturing sentiments displayed in the battlefield.
The Roman army was unbeatable for approximately 300 years, so they must have perfected the art of war at the time. The Roman army’s skill, effective chain of command, discipline, organization, and extensive training enabled it to fight its way to victory. As a matter of a fact, the Roman army’s tactics were so brilliant that they are similar to modern military tactics today. The organization of the Roman army was imperative to its success as a whole.