Roman Empire

===Spectacles===
{{See also|Ludi|Chariot racing|Recitationes}}
[[File:Winner of a Roman chariot race.jpg|thumb|left|A victor in his [[quadriga|four-horse chariot]]]]
When [[Juvenal]] complained that the Roman people had exchanged their political liberty for "bread and circuses", he was referring to the state-provided grain dole and the ''circenses'', events held in the entertainment venue called a ''[[circus (building)|circus]]''. The largest such venue in Rome was the [[Circus Maximus]], the setting of [[horse racing|horse races]], [[chariot races]], the equestrian [[Lusus Troiae|Troy Game]], staged beast hunts (''[[venatio]]nes''), athletic contests, [[gladiator|gladiator combat]], and [[historical re-enactment]]s. From earliest times, several [[Roman festivals|religious festivals]] had featured games (''[[ludi]]''), primarily horse and chariot races (''ludi circenses'').<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beard |first1=Mary |title=Religions of Rome: A History |last2=North |first2=J.A. |last3=Price |first3=S.R.F. |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=66 |author-link=Mary Beard (classicist)}}</ref> The races retained religious significance in connection with agriculture, [[initiation ritual|initiation]], and the cycle of birth and death.{{Efn|Such as the [[Consualia]] and the [[October Horse]] sacrifice.<ref>{{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|pp=544, 558}}; {{Cite book |last=Bouché-Leclercq |first=Auguste |title=Manuel des Institutions Romaines |date=1886 |publisher=Hachette |page=549}}; {{Cite book |chapter=Purificazione |date=2004 |title=Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum |publisher=[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]] |page=83}}</ref>}}

Under Augustus, public entertainments were presented on 77 days of the year; by the reign of Marcus Aurelius, this had expanded to 135.{{Sfnp|Dyson|2010|p=240}} Circus games were preceded by an elaborate parade (''[[pompa circensis]]'') that ended at the venue.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Versnel |first=H.S. |title=Triumphus: An Inquiry into the Origin, Development and Meaning of the Roman Triumph |date=1971 |publisher=Brill |pages=96–97}}</ref> Competitive events were held also in smaller venues such as the [[Roman amphitheater|amphitheatre]], which became the characteristic Roman spectacle venue, and stadium. Greek-style athletics included [[Stadion (running race)|footraces]], [[Ancient Greek boxing|boxing]], [[Greek wrestling|wrestling]], and the [[Pankration|pancratium]].{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=242}} Aquatic displays, such as the mock sea battle (''[[naumachia]]'') and a form of "water ballet", were presented in engineered pools.{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|pp=235–236}} State-supported [[#Performing arts|theatrical events]] (''[[ludi scaenici]]'') took place on temple steps or in grand stone theatres, or in the smaller enclosed theatre called an ''[[Odeon (building)|odeon]]''.{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|pp=223–224}}

Circuses were the largest structure regularly built in the Roman world.{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=303}} The Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the [[Colosseum]], became the regular arena for blood sports in Rome.{{Sfnp|Humphrey|1986|pp=1–3}} Many [[list of Roman amphitheatres|Roman amphitheatres]], [[Circus (building)#List of Roman circuses|circuses]] and [[Roman theatre (structure)|theatres]] built in cities outside Italy are visible as ruins today.{{Sfnp|Humphrey|1986|pp=1–3}} The local ruling elite were responsible for sponsoring spectacles and arena events, which both enhanced their status and drained their resources.<ref name=fatal/> The physical arrangement of the amphitheatre represented the order of Roman society: the emperor in his opulent box; senators and equestrians in reserved advantageous seats; women seated at a remove from the action; slaves given the worst places, and everybody else in-between.<ref>{{Harvp|Edmondson|1996|pp=73–74, 106}}; {{Harvp|Auguet|2012|p=54}}; {{Cite book |last=McClelland |first=John |title=Body and Mind: Sport in Europe from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |page=67}}</ref> The crowd could call for an outcome by booing or cheering, but the emperor had the final say. Spectacles could quickly become sites of social and political protest, and emperors sometimes had to deploy force to put down crowd unrest, most notoriously at the [[Nika riots]] in 532.<ref>{{Harvp|Dyson|2010|pp=238–239}}; {{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|p=85}}; {{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|p=461}}; {{Harvp|McClelland|2007|p=61}}</ref>

[[File:Bestiarii.jpg|thumb|The [[Zliten mosaic]], from a dining room in present-day Libya, depicts a series of arena scenes: from top, musicians; gladiators; [[bestiarii|beast fighters]]; and convicts [[damnatio ad bestias|condemned to the beasts]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiedemann |first=Thomas |title=Emperors and Gladiators |date=1995 |publisher=Routledge |page=15 |author-link=Thomas Ernst Josef Wiedemann |orig-date=1992}}</ref>]]
The chariot teams were known by the [[Chariot racing#Factions|colours they wore]]. Fan loyalty was fierce and at times erupted into [[sports riots]].<ref>{{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|p=85}}; {{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|pp=459, 461, 512, 630–631}}; {{Harvp|Dyson|2010|p=237}}</ref> Racing was perilous, but charioteers were among the most celebrated and well-compensated athletes.{{Sfnp|Dyson|2010|p=238}} Circuses were designed to ensure that no team had an unfair advantage and to minimize collisions (''naufragia''),<ref>{{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|pp=18–21}}; {{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|p=84}}</ref> which were nonetheless frequent and satisfying to the crowd.<ref>{{Harvp|Auguet|2012|pp=131–132}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=237}}</ref> The races retained a magical aura through their early association with [[chthonic]] rituals: circus images were considered protective or lucky, [[curse tablet]]s have been found buried at the site of racetracks, and charioteers were often suspected of sorcery.<ref>{{Harvp|Dyson|2010|pp=238–239}}; {{Harvp|Auguet|2012|p=144}}; {{Cite book |last=Dickie |first=Matthew |title=Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World |date=2001 |publisher=Routledge |pages=282–287}}; {{Cite book |last=D'Ambra |first=Eva |chapter=Racing with Death: Circus Sarcophagi and the Commemoration of Children in Roman Italy |date=2007 |title=Constructions of Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy |publisher=American School of Classical Studies at Athens |pages=348–349}}; {{Harvp|Rüpke|2007|p=289}}</ref> Chariot racing continued into the Byzantine period under imperial sponsorship, but the decline of cities in the 6th and 7th centuries led to its eventual demise.{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=303}}

The Romans thought gladiator contests had originated with [[Funeral games (antiquity)|funeral games]] and [[Sacrifice in ancient Roman religion|sacrifices]]. Some of the earliest [[List of Roman gladiator types|styles of gladiator fighting]] had ethnic designations such as "[[Thraex|Thracian]]" or "Gallic".<ref>{{Harvp|Potter|2009|p=354}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=59}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=305}}</ref> The staged combats were considered {{lang|la|munera}}, "services, offerings, benefactions", initially distinct from the festival games (''ludi'').<ref>{{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=59}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=305}}</ref> To mark the opening of the Colosseum, [[Titus]] presented [[Inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheatre|100 days of arena events]], with 3,000 gladiators competing on a single day.<ref>{{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|pp=1–3}}; Cassius Dio 66.25; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=55}}</ref> Roman fascination with gladiators is indicated by how widely they are depicted on mosaics, wall paintings, lamps, and in graffiti.{{Sfnp|Edwards|2007|p=49}} Gladiators were trained combatants who might be slaves, convicts, or free volunteers.{{Sfnp|Edwards|2007|p=50}} Death was not a necessary or even desirable outcome in matches between these highly skilled fighters, whose training was costly and time-consuming.<ref>{{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=55}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=307}}; {{Harvp|McClelland|2007|p=66|loc=citing also [[Marcus Junkelmann]]}}</ref> By contrast, ''noxii'' were convicts sentenced to the arena with little or no training, often unarmed, and with no expectation of survival; physical suffering and humiliation were considered appropriate [[retributive justice]].<ref name=fatal/> These executions were sometimes staged or ritualized as re-enactments of [[Greek mythology|myths]], and amphitheatres were equipped with elaborate [[stagecraft|stage machinery]] to create special effects.<ref name=fatal/><ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Suetonius]] |title=Nero |page=12.2}}; {{Harvp|Edmondson|1996|p=73}}</ref>

Modern scholars have found the pleasure Romans took in the "theatre of life and death"<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McDonald |first1=Marianne |title=Introduction to ''The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre'' |last2=Walton |first2=J. Michael |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=8}}</ref> difficult to understand.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kyle |first=Donald G. |title=Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome |date=1998 |publisher=Routledge |page=81}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=63}}</ref> [[Pliny the Younger]] rationalized gladiator spectacles as good for the people, "to inspire them to face honourable wounds and despise death, by exhibiting love of glory and desire for victory".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pliny |title=Panegyric |page=33.1}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=52}}</ref> Some Romans such as [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] were critical of the brutal spectacles, but found virtue in the courage and dignity of the defeated fighter{{Sfnp|Edwards|2007|pp=66–67, 72}}—an attitude that finds its fullest expression with the [[Christian martyr|Christians martyred]] in the arena. Tertullian considered deaths in the arena to be nothing more than a dressed-up form of [[human sacrifice]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Tertullian]] |title=De spectaculis |page=12}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|pp=59–60}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=224}}</ref> Even [[acts of the martyrs|martyr literature]], however, offers "detailed, indeed luxuriant, descriptions of bodily suffering",{{Sfnp|Edwards|2007|p=212}} and became a popular genre at times indistinguishable from fiction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bowersock |first=G.W. |title=Martyrdom and Rome |date=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=25–26 |author-link=Glen Bowersock}}; {{Harvp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|p=79}}; {{Cite book |last=Huber-Rebenich |first=Gerlinde |chapter=Hagiographic Fiction as Entertainment |date=1999 |title=Latin Fiction: The Latin Novel in Context |publisher=Routledge |pages=158–178 |author-link=Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich}}; {{Cite book |last1=Llewelyn |first1=S.R. |chapter=The Earliest Dated Reference to Sunday in the Papyri |last2=Nobbs |first2=A.M. |date=2002 |title=New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |page=109}}; {{Cite book |last=Hildebrandt |first=Henrik |chapter=Early Christianity in Roman Pannonia – Fact or Fiction? |date=2006 |title=Studia Patristica: Papers Presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies Held in Oxford 2003 |publisher=Peeters |pages=59–64}}; {{Harvp|Ando|2000|p=382}}</ref>