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Everything Everywhere Daily

Gladiators

Everything Everywhere Daily

Gary Arndt

History, Education

4.81.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2023

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You’ve probably seen a movie or a TV show that took place in ancient Rome where gladiators fought in the coliseum or an amphitheater. At the end of the fight, the emperor or some other official would extend their thumb to see if the defeated gladiator would live or would die. But how accurate is that depiction of gladiatorial contests? Did gladiators always die in the arena? Did the emperor determine their fate? How exactly did the entire system work, and perhaps most important, why in the world did they do this in the first palace? Learn more about gladiators and gladiatorial contests, what was fact and what was fiction, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Newspapers.com Newspapers.com is like a time machine. Dive into their extensive online archives to explore history as it happened. With over 800 million digitized newspaper pages spanning three centuries, Newspapers.com provides an unparalleled gateway to the past, with papers from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and beyond. Use the code “EverythingEverywhere” at checkout to get 20% off a publisher extra subscription at newspapers.com. Noom Noom is not just another diet or fitness app. It’s a comprehensive lifestyle program designed to empower you to make lasting changes and achieve your health goals. With Noom, you’ll embark on a personalized journey that considers your unique needs, preferences, and challenges. Their innovative approach combines cutting-edge technology with the support of a dedicated team of experts, including registered dietitians, nutritionists, and behavior change specialists. Noom’s changing how the world thinks about weight loss. Go to noom.com to sign up for your trial today! Rocket Money Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps you lower your bills—all in one place. It will quickly and easily find your subscriptions for you –and for any you don’t want to pay for anymore, just hit “cancel,” and Rocket Money will cancel it for you. It’s that easy. Stop throwing your money away. Cancel unwanted subscriptions – and manage your expenses the easy way – by going to RocketMoney.com/daily Subscribe to the podcast! https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You've probably seen a movie or TV show that took place in ancient Rome where Gladiators fought in the Coliseum or in an amphitheatre.

0:06.5

At the end of the fight, the Emperor or some other official would extend their thumb to see if the defeated Gladiator would live or die.

0:13.0

But how accurate is that depiction of gladiatorial contests?

0:16.0

Did Gladiators always die in the arena?

0:19.0

Did the Emperor determine their fate?

0:21.0

And how exactly did the entire system work and perhaps most importantly why in the

0:25.3

world do they do this in the first place. Learn more about gladiators and

0:29.2

gladiatorial contests what was fact and what was fiction on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Gladiatorial contests were a very popular form of public entertainment in ancient Rome.

0:54.4

As I mentioned in previous episodes, they probably weren't the most popular form of entertainment,

0:59.1

as that distinction was held by Cherry Racing.

1:01.4

Gladiatorial games were something that was pretty unique to Roman culture.

1:06.0

Other cultures did have blood sports where competitors could be injured and possibly killed,

1:10.0

although not usually on purpose.

1:12.0

The Mayans and the Aztecs also had competitions where the losers could be killed, but they weren't necessarily engaged in combat. They were usually engaging in some sort of violent ballgame.

1:22.0

So why did the Romans engage in this uniquely brutal form of

1:26.1

entertainment? The origin of gladiatorial games is shrouded in the midst of

1:30.2

ancient history. The Greek historian Nicholas of Damascus believed that they were

1:34.2

actually adopted from earlier Atruscan funeral rights. The Atrusans were a people

1:38.7

who inhabited the Italian peninsula before the Romans and from whom many Roman traditions originated.

1:44.6

They supposedly fought in honor of a deceased person, but it wasn't necessarily to the death.

1:50.6

Another theory is that the tradition came from the companions, who were another Italian tribe.

1:55.0

The Roman historian Livy actually gave a very specific origin and said that gladiatorial games were first held in 310 BC

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