The amphitheater was an elliptical building with an arena in the center and with tiers of seats leading up all around. The Coliseum at Rome was the greatest of all, being computed to have contained 87,000 seats. In the amphitheater were held the gladiatorial fights. Just how these originated is unknown but the first public exhibition of gladiators at Rome was given in 264 B. C., by the brothers Marcus and Decimus Brutus at their father's funeral. Such continued at funerals and then they were given at other times, the number of days and number of fighters gradually increasing, till Trajan, upon his return after a victorious campaign on the Danube, gave gladiatorial games for 123 days, in which 10,000 fighters took part. The gladiators were captives, slaves, and criminals, and under the empire knights and senators and even women were enrolled among them. There were schools for the training of gladiators. Emperors, senators, and all classes of people attended these fights and although women at first were excluded, later they were admitted freely. The gladiators wore helmets and had leather coverings for their legs and they carried shields. Their weapons were the lance, dagger, sword, and rapier. There were others who used the trident and the net for entangling their opponents. They were usually matched by pairs and when one was overcome his life depended upon the people, who would turn down their thumbs for his life to be spared and upon the turning up of their thumbs the wounded gladiator was slain by his opponent. The victor received a palm crown, sometimes money, and he might be given his freedom.
"These gladiatorial exhibitions proclaim the true nature of the Roman character. When the vestal virgin, the Roman matron, and the young lady could find amusement in such scenes of human slaughter, it can certainly surprise no one that the Roman character, in its constituent elements, possessed so much hardihood, and could remain such firm proof against every tender feeling of humanity. The school of blood in which the young were reared, and the old matured, was eminently calculated to form precisely the character which the Roman possessed. It is thus that the manners and customs of a people are influenced by, and in their turn, influence the character from which they originate."[197]
Another great amusement of the Romans was the venatio, or exhibit of wild animals. The first known display of wild animals at Rome was given by Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, the conqueror of Ætolia, in 186 B. C., eighty years after the first gladiatorial exhibit. These displays grew until all parts of the world were searched to find animals. There were bears, elephants, deer, hares, stags, boars, bulls, crocodiles, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, lynxes, apes, giraffes, tigers, ostriches, hyenas. They were made to fight with one another. They were starved to make them fierce with hunger and then driven into the arena against one another with whips, pricked with lances, burnt with hot irons, and in other ways tormented to make them extremely angry. There were also fights between men and beasts. These were often captives and criminals compelled to fight, but there were others, bestiarii, who were trained, as the gladiators, in schools to fight against animals. These men sometimes were assisted by dogs trained to hunt and to fight wild animals. In some exhibits, captives and criminals were bound to stakes and animals set upon them or they were sent unarmed or poorly armed against the wild animals. There were, too, exhibits of trained animals and animal-training became a regular profession under Augustus.
Another form of the spectacle for the entertainment of the Roman public was the naumachia, or naval battle. As in the other contests, usually the combatants were captives and criminals. These were held in the amphitheater, in which case the arena was flooded with water, or great ponds were dug for the purpose. The first naval battle on a large scale was given by Julius Cæsar in 46 B. C., the two sides having biremes, triremes, and quadriremes, with 1,000 marines and 2,000 oarsmen on each side. Claudius in 52 A. D. gave a naval contest in which there were 100 triremes and quadriremes and 19,000 warriors and oarsmen. Other large naumachiæ were produced by Augustus, Nero, Titus, and Domitian. In these conflicts real fighting took place and large numbers were killed.
There were no theatrical entertainments in the early times of Rome. In 364 B. C., during a plague which could not be stopped, to appease the wrath of the gods scenic performances were first introduced into Rome. Actors from Etruria were brought to Rome, who gave mimic dances to the accompaniment of a flute. For a long time there were no theaters erected at Rome, a temporary wooden stage being erected for the occasion. Later wooden theaters were built and then torn down after the performances were over, being used but one time. The first stone theater was built on the Campus Martius in 55 B. C. by Pompey, and which was large enough to hold 40,000 people. Comedies, tragedies, and pantomimes were given. Tragedy was never popular with the masses as they were too much used to seeing real tragedies enacted in the arena for any great impression to be made upon them by the imitations of the stage. Pantomime attained to the most significance of all performances upon the Roman stage and especially under the empire. The professional actors were mostly slaves and freedmen or natives of other countries, as there was a prejudice against the profession in Rome. Noted actors were paid high fees for their performances. Many of the most famous actors belonged to the imperial households.
The last of the great spectacles were the athletic, literary and musical contests. These contests were not common under the republic but they grew on the people till they became popular under the empire. Athletic contests were first introduced into Rome at the same time as the exhibit of wild animals and by the same person, in 186 B. C., by Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, who brought athletes from Greece for the purpose. These contests continued to be given and they increased in popularity till a stadium for them was built in 28 B. C. on the Campus Martius and the demand from the people became so great that the officials who provided the state games included athletic contests with the other games. The Capitoline Agon was instituted by Domitian in 86 A. D., and it took rank with the Olympian. For these contests he built a stadium large enough to accommodate 30,000 or more spectators. There were contests in oratory and poetry, in music, and in athletics. The oratorical contests ceased in later times, but those in poetry increased in importance and the most talented poets in the empire competed for the prize of oak-wreath, bestowed by the emperor upon the winner after the decision of the judges. The gymnastic contests for men and boys were the same as in Greece. The Spartan custom of races for girls was introduced but soon discontinued because of the feeling against it.
Other Amusements.
Walking was used as a means of exercise and as a pastime. This was done in the open air and also there were covered walks built at different places and in particular about the Campus Martius and the Forum. There were also places provided for horseback riding and for pleasure driving in vehicles.
There was a game similar to chess in which the chess men were glass, ivory or metal colored. Dice were in great use and gambling with dice prospered in spite of laws against it. Under the empire there arose an entertainment similar to a lottery, in which tickets were distributed free to the guests or sold to them and a drawing was made for the prizes. At their banquets and elsewhere the guests were entertained with musicians, mimics, dancers, jugglers, acrobats, rope-dancers, and other kinds of performers.