Gladiator Research Paper

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From the TV series ‘Spartacus’ (2010-2013) to the hit movie ‘Gladiator’ (2000) everyone knows what a gladiator is; but do they know the real story - the story behind the screen? The European Magazine of Culture and Arts, Culturekiosque (2000), elaborates on the real story, the politics behind the games. Bread and circuses— panem et circenses— were what Romans demanded of their emperors. For more than five hundred years spectacular events in amphitheatres, circuses and theatres were the most important leisure activities of the masses throughout the Roman empire (Culturekiosque, 2000). Gladiatorial games (munera) were originally performed at funerary rituals in the Etruscan area of Italy and the Greek cities in the south. The shedding of blood beside a dead man's grave is an ancient practice common to many Mediterranean cultures (Culturekiosque, 2000). Gladiatorial combat was brought to Rome in the fourth century…show more content…
In the morning men are thrown to the lions and the bears: but it is the spectators they are thrown to in the lunch hour…..[They say] ‘Kill him! Flog him! Burn him! Why does he run at the other man’s weapon in such a cowardly way? Why isn’t he a bit more enthusiastic about dying? (Seneca, Epistles 7) In the movie Gladiator (2000), the amphitheatre is full of crowds cheering the gladiators on, which is further iterated by both senator Gracchus who, speaking about Commodus, says how “He will give them death and they will love him for it” and gladiator Maximus who, after a fight, proclaims to the crowd “Are you not entertained?!” Thus, the movie Gladiator (2000) depicts how the crowd chanting in gladiatorial games could affect the game and, historically, the games were extremely popular with the Roman populace and this crowd popularity could be exploited by

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