Ancient Roman Entertainment

and Recreation
By: Jibran Diab and Sami Hakim
 Intro
• Ancient Roman entertainment was almost always aggressive and resulted in injury
and/or death.
• All entertainment was public and free although the rich enjoyed comfort while
watching.
• All ancient roman citizens enjoyed these performances/games and thanked their
emperor for them.
• There were three main types of entertainment.
• Augustus Caesar the first emperor of Rome established these games for the
people.
• The Games were adopted from Etruria to please roman citizens.
 Gladiatorial matches
• Gladiators were either slaves, war-prisoners, trained fighters, or volunteers to gain
money.
• Gladiators were trained in ludus’ or gladiatorial training facility which would be under
the dominus’ or masters villa.
• A doctore or gladiatorial trainer would train the gladiators harshly and the best gladiator
would be the champion of the house, who was gifted with money, amusement, and wine.
• The ludus would be past on from generation to generation in the family.
• Gladiators fought in amphitheaters and later on coliseums where the rich or politically
valued people decided their fates.
• They fought on sand which would soak up blood from a wound and look like it was
sands of blood.
• Gladiator matches were free and the public adored them, also the public cheered on the
most succesful gladiators.
• The “missio” sign was when a gladiator held up their index and middle finger to signify
their defeat and ask for dismissal. It was up to the rich or politically valued people to
accept.
• Revolts by gladiators were common and a famous revolt was lead by a famous gladiator
called Spartacus who eventually was killed after killing many soldiers and his own
dominus.
Gladiator Pictures
 Chariot Races
• Chariot Races are the oldest roman game.
• It consists of four teams: blue, white, red, and green. A charioteer rides in U shaped
vessel while commanding 4 horses to complete 7 laps around the Spina or U
shaped center of the Circus Maximus.
• The green and blue teams were the most favored among the crowds because they
were the winning ones and the ones who put on the best show.
• The Circus Maximus is where the chariot racers raced to win, it could seat 200,000
spectators and was a favorite among the crowds.
• These races could get quite aggressive with the charioteers holding a weapon in
hand like a club or axe.
• A lot of charioteers got trampled either by inexperience or not being able to control
their chariot, while they went down they took several other charioteers with them
only to get trampled by horses and get severally injured.
Chariot racing pictures
 Theater
• Theater was also appreciated by the romans although it was adopted from Greek settlers
in nearby south of themselves and on the island of Sicily.
• There were two genres to the plays that were put on: Comedy and Tragedy.
• The audience appreciated comedy more because of the happy endings and the laughter it
brought after a hard days work.
• In tragedies there were sad endings and dull sad masks were worn, and in the end a
plagued or sick person was brought in to actually die in place of the actor.
• In comedies there were happy endings and bright colorful happy masks were worn.
• Masks were worn to show the characters of the actors from a distance
• The plays were held in a half circle shaped stage that could seat 7000 people and were
also public and free. T he reason the stage was shaped this was is because the actors’
voices bounced off the half circle shaped walls and all the people sitting in the audience
no matter if they were near or far could hear them.
Ancient Roman Theatrical pictures
 Conclusion
Ancient Rome was admired for their public buildings and architectural style.
Their style of entertainment was also admirable although it was as harsh as it
could possibly be. Although it was up to rich and politically valued people to
make the final decisions it was ultimately the audiences choice because it was
for their entertainment and without them the games and plays would have no
values. Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Ancient Rome, said, “ We must
give them bread and circuses.” Which means we must give the people jobs
and entertainment because he knew that was how his empire would strive and
he was right.
 Citations
• Daniel, Claudia, and Noah. "Ancient Roman:: Roman Entertainment."
Library.thinquest.org. 1999. Web. 12 May 2011.
<http://library.thinkquest.org/26602/entertainment.htm>.
• Bower, Bert, and Jim Lobdell. History Alive! Palo Alto, CA: Teachers' Curriculum
Institute, 2005. Print.
• "Ancient Rome:: Entertainment." Library.thinquest.org. Oracle Thinkquest, 1999.
Web. 14 May 2011.
<http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210200/ancient_rome/entertainment.htm>.
Thanks for watching hope we got
into your brain and you are now
hardwired for Ancient Roman
Entertainment =D