[HN Gopher] The Surprising Roots of Ancient Rome's Gladiator Fights
___________________________________________________________________
The Surprising Roots of Ancient Rome's Gladiator Fights
Author : diodorus
Score : 16 points
Date : 2024-01-12 04:28 UTC (18 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.atlasobscura.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.atlasobscura.com)
| mcbishop wrote:
| I wonder if there were combat-training camps for at least some of
| the slaves (and political dissidents).
| nemo wrote:
| There were a number of gladiator schools that trained
| gladiators for combat, there's interesting ruins of Ludus
| Magnus, the largest of them:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludus_Magnus
| brabel wrote:
| > Julius Caesar, wishing to further his political career in 65
| B.C., staged a munus for his father (who had been dead for 20
| years), during which 640 gladiators fought wearing armor made of
| solid silver.
|
| How can people be so blood-thirsty that it's ok to sacrifice over
| 600 men for nothing more than a "spectacle"? It's really
| difficult to understand how a highly civilized society for the
| time could have almost no respect for human life.
| detourdog wrote:
| I can think of moments in my life where I feel a highly
| civilized society would not be acting this way and sacrificing
| so many people.
| rm_-rf_slash wrote:
| The fiction writer Brian Aldiss was quoted as saying
| "Civilization is the distance man has placed between himself
| and his excreta."
|
| We are Neolithic animals with miraculous technology and far too
| little time to evolve at the same pace.
|
| Homo homini lupus.
| graemep wrote:
| It is hardly the only way the Romans lacked respect for human
| life. They were very willing to kill for many reasons.
|
| They were a slave society and were particularly harsh on
| slaves, and particularly rebellious slaves. The cruelty of a
| society where crucifixion (scaleable, low labour cost,
| torturing to death) was a standard punishment is mind boggling.
|
| Then there was all the rape (of slaves, it was fine, even
| children) and other cruelties.
|
| Civilized does not necessarily mean nice.
| djur wrote:
| Historically, one of the defining characteristics of
| "civilized" peoples has been their capacity for spectacular
| mass bloodshed. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be any meaningful
| correlation between the ability to create great art, poetry,
| architecture, etc. and respect for human life.
| rawgabbit wrote:
| Rome was not civilized by modern standards. They celebrated
| wars of conquest. They enslaved those who could not pay their
| capricious taxes. They were in Nietzsche's phrasing acting out
| their will to power. A euphemism for doing whatever they can
| get away with.
| wolverine876 wrote:
| I think that's the scary question for a lot of people. Many
| ignore it, some like to embrace violence like they've
| discovered something new (instead of old), and to show how edgy
| and dangerous they are.
|
| We all have good and bad in us, we are biologically the same as
| those Romans, and as all the people who do good things. We can
| choose, and we can bring out the good (or bad) in each other.
| Look at the society we've built, where such things are
| unthinkable.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-01-12 23:00 UTC)