Gladiators are comparable to modern stars. Why is gladiatorial performance so popular in Rome?

By the end of the Republic, gladiatorial performances were very popular in the Roman world. By the time of the Empire, the gladiator performance had developed into the public entertainment of the Empire, which was very popular and became a popular fashion in the Roman Empire. The ancient Romans' obsession with gladiatorial performances can be said to be unprecedented, which is unimaginable for our contemporary people. Colosseum for gladiatorial performances are all over Rome. The scale of the gladiator performance is very grand, the performance content is rich and colorful, the scene is thrilling and fascinating, the scene is very active, and the cheers resound through the sky. Whenever a gladiator performance is held, the Romans flock to the arena to watch, forming an empty street scene.

From the supreme Roman emperor to the poor, men, women and children are fascinated by the bloody and exciting gladiator performance. In their view, witnessing the blood shed by gladiators in the arena is as happy, interesting and exciting as watching movies, acrobatics, football matches and NBA all-star basketball games. A gladiator performance can make the Romans unforgettable for a long time and become their most beautiful and frequent conversation after dinner. They not only talked about the performance of the gladiator, but even imitated it.

The whole Roman society is interested in gladiators. It is said that children played pretend gladiators at that time, and young people were keen to talk about gladiator stars at that time. Philosopher epiktetos warned his audience not to talk endlessly about gladiators, and Horace had long known that gladiators were the most popular topic in small talk. The general public, especially women, praised this famous gladiator, and even became the idol of Roman women and even the lover of aristocratic women. Portraits of famous gladiators are also painted on lamps, plates and flowerpots.

As Kovalev said? In the later period of the empire, beloved riders and swordsmen were very popular. Their portraits were painted on walls and utensils, and women were fascinated by them. Archaeologists found a bottle made of clay in Pompeii site with an image of a gladiator painted on it, which shows that the winning gladiator at that time was as admired by ordinary people as the sports stars now.

Gladiators are so popular with the public, which shows the popularity of gladiator performances. Even knights, nobles and even Roman emperors from noble backgrounds envied winning the glory of gladiators, and many BLACKPINK appeared and participated in gladiator performances. The infamous Nero, Ka Regula and Commodus are typical examples, especially Commodus' obsession with gladiator performance reached its peak. He even moved to the gladiator barracks and eventually died in the gladiator barracks.

In fact, with the expansion and conquest of the Romans for a long time, gladiator performances spread to areas where Roman culture could spread. During the Roman Empire, gladiatorial performances were everywhere in Rome.

Gladiator performance was so popular in the ancient Roman world, the author thinks there are several reasons: First, economic development, wealth accumulation, political stability and social prosperity. In the long-term expansion war of Rome, the increase of land, wealth and slaves made the Roman economy prosper gradually, and the social and economic nature of Rome changed profoundly. The original small-scale peasant economy and simple Rome slowly disappeared, and a large-scale slave economy Rome appeared. The long-term conquest war made Rome gain countless prisoners of war and slaves, which made it possible for the further development of slavery and the large-scale use of slave labor. The development and formation of slavery economy made Rome gather more social wealth.

After Augustus established the empire, Roman society was in a state of all-round political and economic development? Golden age? The leisurely and rich living environment provided the Romans with conditions for entertainment and competition. With the political stability, the economy presents a scene of prosperity. Rome built roads extending in all directions, wiped out pirates, ensured the water traffic in the Mediterranean, and promoted the rapid development of Rome's economy through technical exchanges and the improvement of the status of city-state and province.

In a word, economic development, rapid prosperity, political stability and social prosperity provide the necessary material foundation and social environment for competitions such as gladiatorial performances.

Second, moral decline, hedonism, Rome is originally a hardworking, simple, hardworking and brave nation, and the traditional virtues of the Romans are the common virtues of poor and diligent farmers. However, with the rapid growth of Roman wealth and the rapid development of slave economy, especially in the war of external expansion, the Romans came into contact with Greece and the eastern world, and found for the first time that people could live in such luxury, so some rich and powerful nobles bred the idea of enjoyment and began to imitate the corrupt lifestyle of eastern society, and the traditional concept of moral integrity began to be broken. The Romans gradually gave up their simple and serious lifestyle and pursued pleasure crazily. ? War? Plunder? Conquer? Rules? Pleasure became the law that the Romans tried to follow in this period? .

In this social background, Roman nobles held various competitive competitions including gladiatorial performances on a large scale, in fact, in order to show ostentation and extravagance and shine brilliantly. In Rome, the common people also despise labor, doing nothing all day and idling about. What is their slogan in life? Bread and competition? . On the sidewalk of a small town in the Roman Empire, there is a saying "Hunting, bathing, playing and having fun"-this is life. Eat, drink and be merry, and live a happy life from now on has become a vivid portrayal of the Romans. During the imperial period, watching gladiators was one of the important lifestyles for the Romans to pursue luxurious life and show off ostentation and extravagance.

Third, political needs? Government support, popular will? Roman rulers spared no expense in manpower, material resources and financial resources to build many public entertainment facilities such as theatres, arenas and baths, which was also the need of imperial politics.

The prevalence of gladiator performances cannot be separated from the advocacy and support of the government. Cheap goods from other provinces and groups of slaves poured into Rome, and a large number of cheap slave labor excluded Roman civilians. They were unwilling to engage in slave labor, so most of them became unemployed vagrants, known as? Rogue proletarians? They live a poor and semi-hungry life, relying on the charity of nobles, politicians and the government. However, these rogue proletarians have the right to engage in political struggle, and the government has to provide them with it? Bread and competition? , so as not to cause commotion.

As Kovalev said? After the empire abolished the People's Assembly, the poor in Rome lost a major source of livelihood? Selling votes in elections. However, the senior officials of the city, the remnants of the Republican system, believe that their obligation is to maintain the Republican tradition and hold exhibitions and entertainment activities for the people. It is still a political need to cultivate and entertain the rogue proletariat. The Fuehrer himself understood this necessity, so he set up special officials to organize various audiences. ?

Roman rulers held various competitions for Roman civilians, including gladiatorial performances, which were generally free of charge. Even if they charge, it is symbolic and very cheap. In the arena, Roman civilians can see Roman rulers, even Roman emperors, and Roman rulers take this opportunity to gain public favor. The emperor occasionally ordered a full meal for all the audience, or distributed gifts to the audience. The strong support of Roman rulers and the entertainment needs of civilians made gladiatorial performances popular.

4. Why did the slaves have a low social status and the Romans loved the gladiatorial performance? Slavery and unreasonable social stratification certainly help to illustrate this point? .

Like other slave societies, in Roman law, slaves are not people, but just another kind of livestock. Roman slave owners regarded slaves not as people, but as talking tools or animals, their own property, goods or commodities. Slaves can not only be bought and sold as commodities and livestock, but also be farmed in large quantities like livestock and then sold. Just like aquaculture now, just like Valov said? Roman slave owners even organized special slave breeding grounds. Diodor Roth talked about the existence of such a breeding ground in Sicily in the second century. Slaves are raised and sold here, and slave owners buy the labor they need in bulk there. ?

It can be seen that slaves not only have no civil rights, but even the most basic human rights. Slave owners have the right to kill slaves, and they can dispose of their slaves at will, and even kill them at will. Slave owners can punch, whip, iron or crucify their slaves at will. When slaves have bled to death, are sick and senile, slave owners abandon them like old cows, scrap iron and broken cars on the farm and let them die. In the eyes of the Romans, the life of the slaves at the bottom of Roman society is not worthy of pity at all. As long as they are happy, they don't care about the lives of slaves, and they get unlimited excitement, happiness and satisfaction from the bloody death of gladiator slaves. Gladiator slaves became the entertainment tools of the whole Roman society.

Fifth, the national psychological and cultural background, the Romans are a brave nation. Cicero said? The Romans were a bloodthirsty people. The Roman empire was won by the victory of the citizen army, and slaughter was the second nature of the Romans. Therefore, in peacetime, the Romans' thirst for blood must be satisfied somewhere, and the Romans seek satisfaction in large-scale competitions such as the Colosseum. ? Perhaps it is an exaggeration to say that the Romans are bloodthirsty, but most Romans are really obsessed with bloody gladiators, fighting animals and even executing people.

As a desperate people, the Romans are a people who advocate violence. As Turner said, violence has negative moral significance for us contemporary people, but for the Romans, violence has no negative moral significance. In fact, violence is not an accidental result, nor is it an annoying means. Violence is the Roman Empire itself. Violence represents an obvious display of power, which makes mainstream social thoughts stand out.

For the Romans, bloodshed, violence and death were what they urgently needed. On the one hand, the Romans faced terrible death. Because of war, disease and other factors, the mortality rate of the Romans was quite high at that time, and the average life expectancy of people was very short. Many Romans died before the age of 30, and some Romans didn't want to die meaningless and mediocre, but wanted to die with honor and dignity. This is what gladiators do in the arena.

On the other hand, as social members of the culture of despair, the Romans evaluated the art of killing in a way that we simply could not understand, and killing was a means of national survival. In fact, the success or failure of the Roman campaign often depends on the courage of individual soldiers to dare to fight. In this way, the ability of ordinary citizens to kill a person with their bare hands has become a skill that the whole empire relies on to preserve.

Many scholars believe that the Romans' love for gladiatorial performances is inseparable from Rome's national character of being brave in fighting. The Romans fought bravely for survival and expansion. Over time, the Romans formed a national character that was not afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice. When Rome gradually developed into a powerful Roman empire through external expansion, gladiatorial performances gradually developed and became popular. The gladiatorial performance clearly conforms to the bellicose nature of the Romans. The fact and practice that the Roman people have been conquering and fighting for a long time show that the Romans need this cruel and experimental gladiatorial activity. Even in peacetime, the Roman rulers tried their best to maintain the fighting spirit of the Romans, and they achieved this goal by bloody and cruel fighting, which was one of the reasons for the prevalence of ancient Roman fighting.

In peacetime, gladiatorial performance has become a by-product of war, discipline and death, and war has evolved into a performance to maintain order in a cruel, violent, bloody and dead way.

During the period when Roman gladiatorial performances were popular, watching gladiatorial performances was not only considered as a vulgar behavior, but also considered as a noble behavior. Ordinary people in Rome, including people from all walks of life, from emperors and senators to knights, ordinary Roman freemen, slaves and even? Including single nuns, like to watch gladiators die. ? . It can be seen that the Romans recognized this kind of entertainment at that time.

Generally speaking, the Romans are a fearless, violent and helpless people. Their lives are always associated with war, and Roman culture can be said to be a kind of war culture to some extent. This national characteristic and cultural background made them naturally introduce the gladiator performance, and made it develop to an unparalleled degree.

Sixth, it has something to do with the urbanization and romanization of Rome. Many scholars believe that the prevalence of gladiatorial performances is the manifestation of urbanization and romanization in ancient Rome. By the end of the Republic, Rome was already a highly urbanized country. According to statistics, there were more than 300 towns in Italy at the end of the Republic. With the prosperity of the city, recreational activities with bloody viewing, sports, horse racing and sexual pleasure as the main contents have developed rapidly among urban citizens.

Gladiator performances are mainly held in Roman cities. The construction of the arena undoubtedly promoted the development of Roman architecture, and the development of Roman architecture undoubtedly further promoted the urbanization of Rome. Roman architecture is not only a kind of architectural structure, but also a symbol of the strength of the Roman Empire.

Gladiator performance is not a simple bloody and exciting game or competition, but also a demonstration of the strength of the Roman Empire. Gladiator performance strengthened the national consciousness of Roman citizens, consolidated and promoted the Romanization of Roman provinces.

Seventh, the charm of gladiator performance is bloody and cruel, which is terrible and dehumanizing for contemporary people. But for the ancient Romans, it had irresistible charm, high appreciation and strong stimulation. Death is one of the highlights of gladiator performance, right? Without death, gladiators are not attractive? .

The following examples can better illustrate the extraordinary charm of gladiator performance. In BC 170, the Syrian king Antioch Ocuss IV Epiphanes claimed to be? Supernatural? He dreamed of conquering the civilized world all day. At first, he achieved some success, but he was soon defeated by the Romans. He became a hostage of the Romans, and in Rome, he liked to perform gladiatorial performances.

When he returned to the Syrian capital, he began to hold a gladiatorial performance. At first, people didn't like this strange and bloody killing. Later, Syrians gradually became fond of fighting performances. Moreover, some volunteers enthusiastically signed up for the performance. Soon, there was a craze for gladiatorial performances in Syria.

100 years later, Roman general Lu corpus callosum performed gladiatorial performances in major cities in Asian provinces and in Greece, and held irregular gladiatorial performances in various cities. As a result, except Greece, rectangular Romanesque squares appeared all over the world in Rome, and arenas were built to hold gladiatorial competitions, leaving traces to this day. For example, as early as Augustus' time, there were amphitheaters in the Nisapatia settlement in Caria and Alexandria in Egypt.

Corinthian potters in ancient Greece were good at depicting gladiatorial performances, so they became popular workers in many markets in East Asia and other places, which is enough to explain the spread and prevalence of gladiatorial activities in other regions. This fully shows the unique charm of gladiator performance.

It can be seen that the popularity of Roman gladiatorial performance is the result of the interaction of many factors, and it is by no means a simple and isolated bloody entertainment. It is closely related to Rome's economy, politics, culture and national psychology.