The Roman amphitheatre was the centre of entertainment in Rome, and the Roman Empire. Ruins of amphitheaters can be found all over the vast empire. The largest amphitheatre in the empire was the Colosseum. It could seat up to 50,000 people.
The amphitheatre was the place where people went to see fights. These fights were between slaves, prisoners of war or criminals, and sometimes wild animals. These fights were so popular that schools were set up to train ordinary men as special fighters known as Gladiators.
This idea once started out as a sacrifice at funerals. Two fighters would begin and the crowd would watch. Eventually the crowds got so big, they had to build a place to hold them.
This was not only the reason for building the amphitheatre. When the democratic system was changed to an imperial one, the emperors needed a way to keep the people happy, although they had lost the right to vote. The fights fulfilled this role.
From the ruins of the Colosseum, archaeologists have put together an idea of what happened at these fights. Underneath the floor of the main arena, there was a maze of passages containing cells and cages where the animals and prisoners were kept. There was even a lift to bring up the arena. The fights were bloody affairs. The gladiators were armed with daggers, swords, forks and nets. They fought with slaves and criminals who were often unarmed, or armed only with a net. They fought to the death. If a man was wounded, he would throw down his shield, and raise the index finger of his left hand.
This was a plea for mercy, from the crowd. The crowd would then decide whether he should live, by waving handkerchiefs, or die, pointing their thumbs downwards. If he had fought well, he may have been spared but more often then not he would have been killed.
When a gladiator was killed, an official would come on dressed as Charon - a god who brought dead bodies to the underworld. This official would then check the body to make sure he was actually dead. Then with trumpets playing, the body was taken out of the arena.
Other fights that took place were between men and animals - similar to modern day bullfighting. The more exotic the animal the more the crowd enjoyed the fight. Elephants, panthers, lions, tigers and any other animals that could be found were slaughtered in the arena.
This Roman entertainment did not appeal to everyone. Many philosophers and senators complained about the games. It for this reason that the games were banned in AD 325 by Constantine the Great.