THE ROLE OF GLADIATORS IN ANCIENT ROME

Gladiators, who were usually but not necessarily prisoners of wars and criminal convicts forced to play in
gladiator combats, served pivotal roles in both the Ancient and Republican Rome eras.

Influenced by Eustracian traditions, gladiator combats originally were parts of religious practice among
upper class to commemorate the death of important persons who were usually society leaders such as
senates or even emperors. However, this role then evolved in which gladiators and gladiator combats
affected and shaped Roman society in myriad aspects other than religious events.

Firstly, gladiator class or status was perceived by the rulers quite important since this conveyed
messages or warning to other classes to obey society or the leader’s rules because common people or
even people from upper class status could be convicted and forced to be gladiators when they disobeyed
or broke the society rules. This implied that during the time, gladiator combats served as one of the
method of public execution of prisoners of wars or criminal convicts and that the event was thought as an
effective mean to keep social stability from the rulers’ perspective.

Secondly since it turned out that the popularity of the games was skyrocketed among common people,
gladiator games evolved as a mass entertainment for the common people. It is assumed that the
popularity of gladiator combats was equivalent with popular sports today as soccer or football. As
consequences, it created business opportunities as organizing gladiator combats attracted economic
incentives to the gladiator school owners and combat organizers. The increased popularity of the games
then also attracted common people to voluntarily join the gladiator school for the sake of fame and
fortune. This suggested the evolvement of gladiator combats from religious practice to a mean for a
society stability then to a more practical role as one or the career choices among Romans.

Furthermore, during the era of the Republican Roman, gladiators and gladiator combats started to
influence political aspects of the Roman society. In the so called “democratic era” in which rulers were
elected based on public votes, many political candidates would use gladiator shows to increase their
popularity and electability. They would organize or sponsor gladiator games to win public votes.
Therefore, many gladiator games which were held close to the election date. To illustrate, Julius Caesar
was known to sponsor a quite festive gladiator combats to commemorate the death of his father who had
died 20 years earlier and handed out free food to spectators in order to win people’s vote. This method
was perceived as effective since usually the candidates who organized the most festive and extravagant
gladiatorial shows got the most votes from publics.

However, as the Christianity started to blossom, there were a gradual change in the society`s value which
perceived gladiator games as cruel and against Christianity’s values. This especially marked by the
incident of martyrdom by Saint Telemachus who tried to stop a gladiator fight in 391 AD. Since then, the
popularity of the games started to diminish and no longer a common practice in the Roman society.

In conclusion, there were significant roles served by gladiators and gladiators combats during both in the
Ancient and Republican Rome eras, in which it shaped Rome’s society intricately from a part of religious
practice, mean to achieve society stability, mass entertainment to a political mean to get public’s support
in elections.