Gladiatorial Combat essays

Gladiatorial Combat essays Munera gladitoria (gladiatorial contests) hold a central place in our perception of Roman behavior. They were also a big influence on how Romans themselves ordered their lives. Attending the games was one of the practices that went with being a Roman. The Etruscans, who introduced this type of contest in the sixth century BC, are credited with its development but it was the Romans who made it famous. A surviving feature of the Etruscan games in the Roman contests was when a gladiator fell he was hauled out of the arena by a slave dressed as the Etruscan death-demon Charun. The slave would carry a hammer, which was the demons attribute. Moreover, the Latin term for a trainer-manager of gladiators (lanista) was believed to be an Etruscan word (Hopkins 50). Gladiators of Ancient Rome lived their lives to the absolute fullest. Gladiatorial duels had originated from funeral games given in order to satisfy the dead mans need for blood, and for centuries their principle occasions were funerals. The first gladiatorial combats therefore took place at the graves of those being honored, but once they became public spectacles they moved into amphitheaters (Dining 83). As for the gladiators themselves, an aura of religious sacrifice continued to hang about their combats. Obviously most spectators just enjoyed the massacre without any remorseful reflections. Even ancient writers felt no pity, they were aware that gladiators had originated from these holocausts in honor of the dead. What was offered to appease the dead was counted as a funeral rite. It is called munus (a service) from being a service due. The belief was that the souls of the dead are appeased with human blood, they use to sacrifice captives or slaves of poor quality at funerals. Afterwards it seemed good to obscure their impiety by making it a plea sure (Hopkins 170). So after the acquired person had been trained to fight as best they can, their training was to learn t...