"The Romans are often characterized as loving violent and cruel entertainment in the amphitheatre. It has been suggested that the games served the dual purpose of providing entertainment for the people and maintaining the political status quo." In today's society, the killing of humans and animals usually means a jail term, and seeing someone die is not something people go and see for fun. Violence was glorified in Rome hundreds of years ago. All the …showed first 75 words of 1821 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1821 total…death. The gladiator demonstrated the power to overcome death and instilled in those who witnessed it the Roman virtues of courage and discipline. Gladiatorial games in the amphitheatres and entertainment in Circus Maximus have major significance to the way the Romans ordered their lives. Like any other form of ritual, these contests were implicitly understood by the Romans to express a message important to their social order and that message involved violence, death, and power.