10 Facts About the Roman Games

The Ancient Romans loved their games. Roman leaders famously pacified the public by providing panem et circenses meaning ‘bread and circuses’. These circuses, or games, were more than just entertainment, they were also populist tools used to drum up political support.

Games also often featured at religious festivals, a typical Roman blending of state function and religion.

Here are 10 facts about the games of Ancient Rome.

1. Roman games, called ludi, were probably instituted as an annual event in 366 BC

It was a single-day festival in honour of the god Jupiter. Soon there were as many as eight ludi each year, some religious, some to commemorate military victories.

2. The Romans probably took gladiatorial games from the Etruscans or Campanians

Like the two rival Italian powers, the Romans first used these combats as private funeral celebrations.

The brutal arena sports of Ancient Rome are one of the most iconic images we have of this ancient culture. Gladiatorial combats and beast hunts have come to epitomise popular perceptions of ancient Rome, thanks to famous sword and sandal epics such as Spartacus and Gladiator.

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3. Trajan celebrated his final victory over the Dacians with games

10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals were used over 123 days.

4. Chariot racing remained the most popular sport in Rome

Drivers, who usually started out as slaves, could earn adulation and huge sums. Gaius Appuleius Diocles, survivor of 4,257 races and winner of 1,462, is supposed to have earned the equivalent of $15 billion in his 24-year career.

5. There were four factiones racing, each in their own colour

The red, white, green and blue teams inspired great loyalty, building clubhouses for their fans. In 532 AD in Constantinople rioting that destroyed half the city was sparked by chariot fans’ disputes.

6. Spartacus (111 – 71 BC) was an escaped gladiator who led a slave revolt in 73 BC

His powerful forces threatened Rome during the Third Servile War. He was a Thracian, but little is known about him beyond his military skill. There is no evidence his forces had a social, anti-slavery agenda. The defeated slaves were crucified.

7. Emperor Commodus was famous for his almost-mad devotion to fighting in games himself

Caligula, Hadrian, Titus, Caracalla, Geta, Didius Julianus and Lucius Verus are all reported to have fought in games of some sort.

8. Gladiator fans formed factions

Gladiator fans formed factions, favouring one type of fighter over others. Laws divided the gladiators into groups such as Secutors, with their large shields, or heavily-armed fighters with smaller shields called Thraex after their Thracian origin.

9. It’s not clear how often gladiatorial fights were to the death

The Anglo-Saxon period is vital for the formation of England and the UK as we know it but is a difficult era to fully understand. The departure of the Romans left a power vacuum that was filled by warlords with violence, foreign invasion, occupation and religious strife being endemic. But out of this turbulent period the foundation of what we now call England came into being. Dan is joined by Marc Morris one of the most distinguished medieval historians in the world and author of a new book called The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England. Marc guides us through these difficult centuries separating truth from legend and illuminating this dark period in history.

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The fact that fights were advertised as ‘sine missione’, or without mercy, suggests that often losers were allowed to live. Augustus banned fighting to the death to help tackle a shortage of gladiators.

10. Thousands died in the Coliseum

It has been estimated that 500,000 people and more than 1 million animals died in the Coliseum, Rome’s great gladiatorial arena