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Roman Gladiator Fights Essay

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Gladiator fights were viewed as a major form of entertainment in the early Roman culture. If an individual from the 21st century hears or sees anything like the gladiatorial games, this person might call these games barbaric or uncivilized. While there were some Romans that loved this form of entertainment, there were others who viewed these games, as the modern culture would do today. The hierarchy began to lose its focus due to these games. The men in the hierarchy spent more time at the games than focusing on things of greater importance. The Romans also lost focus in what they held dear, which was the liberal arts. There are many other things that the Romans declined in due to these games. There are various entities that take place within this ancient custom that not very many people know. Though the gladiatorial fights were apart of the Roman culture it was not accepted by the entire society. Funeral Games One would think that the …show more content…

Donald Kyle in, Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World, provides us with an explanation for this custom by stating something along the lines of, “The number and value of prizes represented the respect afforded the memory of the dead hero.” These prizes and games were not mandatory. The prizes and the way the funeral games were run all depended on how generous the organizer was, and the social status of the dead person. The prizes were normally a redistribution of a dead man’s or the renewal of social ties. The funeral games were often referred to as munus, which Fik Meijer defines as, “a task that had to be performed, an obligation towards the dead person.” As one can assume, the prizes and the funeral games in general was a ploy to get people to come to the funeral to glorify their lost one. The Romans thought that they were preforming an act of service by giving away these gifts and putting on these shows for those who had passed

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