What Role Did Gladiators Play In Roman Society

Gladiatorial competitions in Roman society was very important to the Romans and it was a big part of their entertainment and was even a public holiday for the different games that were being held. Gladiator competitions had different roles in roman society including the social and political roles at the time. This essay is to point out the different roles that the gladiator competitions had in Roman society and how it was a big source of entrainment for them. To do so this essay will have different sources about the gladiatorial competitions and will discuss the different roles.

The games were a big part of the Roman society and culture that they had. The Roman games was so big that they made it into a holiday, so everyone can join and watch

the games. The Roman games was so big that everyone in the empire joined in on the fun. The games included gladiatorial competitions, chariot racing, ball games and many more that included money into the mix. The one game that was most frequent and popular was the chariot races. The games were this big and elaborate public festivals that got everyone all over the empire excited for the public holidays. Once the colosseum was made the games went for 100 days. The games were a part of their calendar and it was on at least once a year and some years they will have the games on more throughout the year. The games were for fun and celebration but originally the games were in honour of the gods but throughout the years it wasn’t the main thought of the games. The games did have a theatrical performance with the chariot-racing and that would get the audience excited for all the games. The games were in fact free because they believed that the games were a citizens’ rights and not a luxury. You can see this in source 1.
Source 1: Tacitus, Dial. 29
And indeed, there are characteristic and specific vices in this city, which seem to me to be practically born in the womb: the obsession with actors and the passion for gladiatorial shows and horse racing. How much room does a mind preoccupied with such things have for the noble arts?
Gladiatorial competitions were one of the biggest part of the Roman games.

There were different types of gladiators and it was one of the biggest sources of entertainment for the Romans. Gladiators was first for private funerals and it was to show how important and the high status of the dead person. The gladiatorial competitions were for the higher-class people and the people that participated were slaves, criminals and some even volunteer to be a gladiator. Gladiators were mainly slaves and criminals and they were groomed to fight other gladiators and a lot of them die for pure entrainment for the Romans. Pretty much everyone loved to watch the gladiators fight and they got to decided if the gladiator dies or lives for another day. Gladiators had their different types and how it was assigned was through their build and how they could fight with that equipment. Even though the gladiators had equipment to fight back it was mainly about the techniques that they use and most of them had their chest exposed and other easily targeted areas of the body and the point of that was to make their deaths involve a lot of blood and to make the death quick and straight to the

point.
Source 2: Valerius Maximus, nine books of memorable actions and speeches 2.3.2
implanted in the legions a more sophisticated method of avoiding and dealing a blow and mixed bravery with skill and skill back again with virtue so that skill became stronger by bravery's passion and passion became more wary with the knowledge of this art
Gladiatorial competitions had a big role in the social role of Roman.

The gladiators were seen as sex objects and every lady in the empire wanted to get with a gladiator. A lot of woman would have an affair with their husband with a gladiator. Gladiators were very popular but was still considered to be of no status like the same as a prostitutes, mimes and actor which you can see in source 3 and this is because they use their body for their job or just to entertain people. Even though they were considered to have no status, they still were very successful and very popular with everyone mainly the ladies. The start of gladiators was for funerals and it was to show how important the dead person was which shows that gladiators was just there to show another person’s status. Some people believe that gladiators was there because they owed it to the dead. Gladiatorial competitions were also a social event for pretty much everyone in Rome and it did bring the empire together for the

games.
Source 3: Ulpian. Digest. 3.1.1.6
“…those who fight in the arena for the sake of demonstrating their manly courage, doing this without pay, men of old held not to acquire infamia’ “
Gladiatorial competitions did have a political role mainly with the liking of the emperor of Rome at the time. The bigger the games were the likelihood of the emperor being well liked. The Roman games was one of the biggest part of the year and one of the biggest roles for the emperor. Everything had to be perfect and with the gladiator competitions at least one gladiator would die. The better the games were the bigger the following will get for the emperor which will make him have greater power.
Source 4: Marcus Tullius Cicero. De Officiis
And yet I realize that in our country, even in the good old times, it had become a settled custom to expect magnificent entertainments from the very best men in their year of aedileship.
Overall the gladiatorial competitions were one of the biggest events for the Roman games. With all the different proofs from the previous paragraphs you can see that this game was a big role for the Roman society. Everyone loved it and it was for the Roman empire to get together at least once a year. It was entertainment and it helped the emperors to get popular with their people.