The Roman Games (IIe-IIIe s)

• The Venatio (animal hunts);
• The executions;
• The Gladiator combats.

The Venatio

The term Venatio referred to a hunt, during which wild animals (some very dangerous, some less so) were released into the arena to be fought by men.
Lions, tigers and panthers provided the entertainment alongside elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes, bulls and bears. And, in order to relax the overexcited nerves of the people, rabbits and hares would be released into the ring, where they would flee frantically from the dogs in hot pursuit, causing roars of laughter in the crowd. Another form of hunt consisted of opposing different sorts of animals considered to be equally dangerous. Occasionally they did not want to fight, and were forced to do so through the use of chains.

The executions of condemned to death

The term ‘hunt’ was also given to loathsome spectacles that were in fact nothing more than executions. According to Roman law, citizens condemned to death would die by the sword. The unlucky ones, however (i.e. those without the support of a powerful family), would be thrown to the wild animals in the amphitheatre to entertain the crowds.
The form of these executions varied according to who was in charge. Sometimes, the condemned man was forced towards the animal whilst being whipped by a servant of the amphitheatre. He would then be mauled or killed. At other times, the condemned man was tied to a post and placed on a chariot before being driven towards the beast.

The Gladiator combats

The gladiator combats, however, were the Romans’ favourite form of entertainment.
The perception that we have of these combats is often totally deformed by the cinema. In films, the gladiators are shown as slaves, condemned to death merely to please a bloodthirsty public. Recent historical research shows that this popular misconception needs to be totally revised. It now seems that the gladiatorial combats were in fact a genuine sport fought by highly trained volunteers. Despite the fact that death was always present, it was never a systematic outcome.
During the era of the Nîmes amphitheatre (i.e. in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD), the gladiators were almost exclusively free men who chose this high-risk profession. The motivations behind this choice were glory, money and the integration into a world which fascinated all Romans, from the richest to the poorest. New gladiators signed a contract via which they abandoned their status as free men (for the period covered by the commitment), and consequently submitted to the authority of the owner of a company of gladiators (a “lanista”).
Once recruited, the new gladiator would not immediately go into the arena. At this stage he would not be able to offer anything more than a miserable spectacle, the public would demand his death and this would harm the reputation of his company. If he was to offer a real show and fight in an entertaining and technical manner, he had to attend a school known as a “ludus”. At this school, he was entrusted to the care of a doctor or trainer. This trainer, who was often a former gladiator, would teach him a large number of skills in different areas (i.e. technical, physical and mental), whilst incorporating a fundamental component of the sport, the entertainment value. The skill and knowledge of the doctor would make all the difference between the gladiator becoming a star or sooner or later being condemned to death. Municipal “ludi” existed in large towns such as Capoue, Pompeii or Cordoba. Nîmes also had its own school, as illustrated by the existence of the doctor Latinus, who was famous for offering a grave stone to one of his pupils. “Imperial” schools were also set up as early as during Caesar’s era. These imperial gladiators, trained in Rome or in other cities, were particularly sought-after stars.