Roman Games

This is what I learned about the Roman games. Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was the first king to be a good promotor of the games. He outlined the area that would be the Circus Maximus, which was for foot races and chariot races. Later, he made the Colosseum and other amphitheaters for all the other games that were held. There were two different times that the games were held, there was the morning games and the afternoon games. The morning games consisted of, participants paraded in the amphitheater, and the animal “hunts” were held. Some of the time, animals fought against gladiators, other times they devoured defenseless criminals.

In the afternoon gladiators fought against each other, for the crowd’s entertainment! The gladiator fights were the focus of the games. The four most popular types of gladiators are the Samnite, the Thracian, the Retiarius, and the Murmillo. Most of the gladiators were slaves or criminals who were forced to fight. They often fought to the death but could appeal to the emperor for mercy if they had fought well. Some of the time the amphitheaters were flooded and the gladiators would fight each other on ships. That is what I learned about the Roman games.