The Roman Empire was among the strongest empires in all mankind. The empire has a rich history and portrays how strategic tactics and power can run an empire efficiently. It was characterized by an autocratic form of government which meant the top most leaders made all the essential decisions (Boner, 10).
The Empire had a large territorial area within the Mediterranean which extended into present-day Africa, Europe and Asia. Rome history begins at the time it was referred to as Rome Republic and ran by royal Rome. Their Imperial was in command and was represented by the senate, assembly, and consuls.
Rome started their conquest by fighting Carthage in three Punic words. The main advantage of Carthage was their well-organized Hannibal and navy which led them to victory over Rome and finally take over. But Rome Republic has its power in Scipio Africanus that ended Hannibal's victory, and they succeeded in holding Carthage back and become the power of the West aided by a great strategic army.
Sports reflected ancient Roman society as it revealed the philosophy, beliefs and nature of its people. The games were an important symbol of the history of the ancient Roman Empire as it was a powerful tool employed to express their power and identity as a society (König, 12).
The sport was interpreted and defined through various games, and it was part of their approach to philosophy and focus on their societies. The Romans were utilitarian and pragmatic people and largely focus on the merits of sports in training for the warfare rather than intellectual and philosophical concepts. The games were more often used to demonstrate and celebrate the power of Rome in times of warfare since it involved simulated battle and spilling of blood (König, 39).
Sports played an important role in ancient Roman Empire. The Romans transformed the rituals of Greek into a spectacular entertainment due to their ability to assimilate customs and ideas from societies and cultures they encountered. Roman sports were largely male chauvinistic with athleticism and great strength while being brutally violent (Gibbon, 6).
The first Roman Empire sports were played mostly in wealthy peoples villas due to the absence of large playing fields at home. The rich hosted spectacular sports in villas called palaestrae and gymnasia to display their wealthy status. In most ancient Roman sports, emphasis on violence and spectacle and thus could be added to the Roman games. Their attention to strengthening and developing the exercises by body exercises was popular, though for the military purpose only (Gibbon, 12).
The history of sports is clearly shown in gladiatorial munera in where the sports was used to entertain the people as well as suit other political purposes, such as utilizing leisure time of the people to avoid revolution. Sports was used as an expression of religion and was held to honor the Roman gods to gain victory or ensure a bountiful harvest or in honor of godlike emperor who was highly revered and respected.
Several games were majorly held for public entertainment, to divert the attention of a country constantly at war or to keep citizens busy and entertained to prevent a revolution. The government of the day feared that the ideal citizens could trigger revolution and thus, utilized their leisure times on sporting activities.
The ancient competitions were fewer and physical and Roman Empire men (and sometimes boys) were allowed to compete due to its brutality. There were no team sports as every sport was one man against one/ others since they were greatly concerned on individual merit. The brutality of the sports made the athletes participate naked especially when it is fighting to the death.
Sports play an essential role in religion as it was considered a religious ritual, entertainment for the gods and a form of worship. For instance, the Olympics competitions were held in Olympia to honor the king of the gods, Zeus, and Isthmian games were specifically held in Corinth to honor the sea god, Poseidon (Scullard, 300).
The physical effort put by athletes in preparing for the sports was considerable, and the achievement of a physique form was a way of imitating the gods and in the process worshipping them. The Sports determined that the ancient Roman Empire involved honor and worship if the gods rather than the propagation of message or values.
The emperor could receive ritual acclamations and standing ovation in games events. The emperor could display his majesty, accessibility to humble petitioners, human involvement, and generosity towards the crowd. This was a form of a meeting with the electorate and share the common podium together, and some could even demand the emperor's action on certain issues affecting them.
The sports were also used to express identity and power since the Roman Empire was united and uniform society. It was viewed as a nationalistic event as the citizens of Rome congregated to celebrate their glory. Various sports activities manage to harness the hatred for opposition to the state and therefore, enforcing their loyalty to the state and identity as Romans.
Sports event became a platform for the politicians to gain power as they organized and sponsor sporting activities to provide entertainment and please the people. Thus, sports help the politicians and the state to reinforce the Roman identity to the citizens and to keep power. Games bring about the pride in Roman Empire, and it was not just a physical activity or celebrating the spirit of sport but to entertain the people.
The games set precedence for commercialization of sports as the athletes in ancient Roman Empire received money, enjoyed a considerable amount of fame and rewards for their various successes in the sports arena. This led to the growth in the economy of ancient Roman Empire since the athletes contributed to the development of the country as well as donating some of the money for the state.
The wealthy held dinner parties as an opportunity for entertainment after the sports activities, and this improved the economy of the empire. It was also an area of gambling and marketing as higher authorities, such as the Emperor, attended as it was considered rude to avoid the events. Commercialization of Sport is one of the reasons for the decline of the games in ancient Roman Empire as an increasing number of athletes ignored the core concept of sports and participated majorly for money and not as a form of entertainment (Veyne, 7).
Sporting activities were held in a drill ground of Roman soldiers called Campus which later became the track and field playground. Several other grounds were later developed in military settlements and urban centers where the youth assembled to exercise, play, and perform inappropriate acts such as wrestling, racing, boxing and jumping as well as throwing swimming and riding.
Female did not participate in sporting activities in the ancient Roman Empire. Ball playing was a famous and popular sport, and the ancient Romans practice several ball games, which include field hockey, catch handball, and some form of football. Board games played in the empire included Roman chess, Tabula, and dice.
There were other events to keep individuals engaged like theatrical and musical performances, gladiatorial combat, public executions and Chariot races. Moreover, Romans spend their leisure times in brothels and bars as they enjoy several sporting events at the places. Soccer is a natural sport, and although the ancient Romans may not have played football, there are references to small boys kicking balls in the streets.
Another favorite leisure sports activity for the ancient Roman was the Chariot races. It is perhaps the oldest leisure activity in which people would follow and cheer their favorite teams such as green, blues, whites and reds. The competitions were held in an arena called circus, and the top chariot racers were winners just like the athletes.
Politics, sports, and religion combined to lead to a more explosive mixture since the supporters of the teams could attack each other and thus, leads to crowd problems and violence. The spectators could exchange insults, followed by blows and eventually throwing of stones which lead to furious riots in the occasion.
Fighting was a popular sport in the ancient Roman Empire done by professional fighters who fought against wild animals, slaves and each other, sometimes to the death to entertain the spectators. These fights were held in many cities during the Roman Empire and the Roman Republic and the individuals from several cultures and societies attended and participated in the events.
Gladiatorial ceremonies were important as the attendants in the arena were dressed as gods. Slaves who tested if fallen gladiators were dead or pretending, by applying a red-hot iron, were often dressed as the god Mercury. The Romans performed human sacrifice, even at the peak of civilization, purportedly for the commemoration of their dead relatives.
Gladiatorial shows were leisure activities held regularly in the social and ritual center of the city. Public participation was attracted by the distribution of meat betting and the splendor of the show and they magnified the respect paid by the honor of the family and the dead. Funeral games had political implications due to their popularity with the citizen electors. The growth of gladiatorial shows was majorly fuelled by competition between ambitious aristocrats who wished to entertain, excite and increase the number of their supporters (Platner, 90).
They believed that when an important man dies, his spirit requires some blood to survive in the afterlife. The ceremonies were held after one or five years after the person's death. Public spectacles were done in amphitheaters and took the remaining half of the day after the executions of state criminals and fought with animals.
The emperor then would exert an almost monopoly on staging the entertainment that included hunting wild animals, chariot racing, gladiator fights, theatrical performances, and public executions. The fighters were picked from slaves, prisoners of war and sentenced criminals and sometimes occasional volunteers.
The attitude of the ancient Romans towards the fighters was ambivalent as some were considered lower than slaves while some successful fighters rose to celebrity status. There was popular belief that nine eaten fighter livers could cure epilepsy. The gladiators had a large following of women since they apparently view them as sex objects and this is the reason why they often fought bare-chested although they were socially unacceptable to have sexual contact with the fighters.
Despite the extreme hardships and dangers of the profession, some fighters were volunteers who fought for money, and it was viewed as the last chance for individuals who are faced with financial problems. After the event, the fighters were deported from ancient Roman Empire and other cities during periods of social disturbances due to the fear that they might organize and rebel against the state.
The ancient Roman arena was a place of entertaining the citizens of the community. The games were often bloody and brutal, and they were first put for memorials and funerals, but it was later put on in many occasions including victories and birthdays. The games were financed by a wealthy individual and used for that person to gain much popularity among the people.
Julius Caeser managed to become very popular by putting on theater and games. Sometimes the games could last the whole day, and the exotic animals could be used to fight each other, sometimes hunted by huntsmen and sometimes criminals were thrown into the arena so that they are killed by the wild animals (Rostovtzeff, 201).
Conclusion
Ancient Roman Empire sports helped create enthusiasm for individuals who view the sport as a way of using their leisure time. The ancient Romans shaped their idea about their way of life through as their sport was more aligned to massacring their bodies. The participants and the spectators in the sports viewed sports as a form of entertainment as well as earning some money and status for those who became successful in the competition.
The state, on the other hand, used sporting activities make its citizens be busy to avoid revolution in case they remain idle in their leisure time. Organizers and sponsors of the games activities were wealthy people who wanted to gain popularity from the people and in the process getting more followers (Anderson, 55).
Therefore, sport is an essential element in the ancient Roman Empire history since it made it easy for the government of the state to marshal several citizens as a form of unity among them. However, sporting activities have declined over the years due to its commercialization which has made sportsmen divert the core objective of games for entertainment and have participated to receive finances and gain status in the society (Hunt, & Hunt, 34).
Works Cited
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Gibbon, Edward. The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 3. Harper & brothers, 2000.
Hunt, Edward David, and Hunt. Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire AD 312-460. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002.
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Platner, Samuel Ball. A topographical dictionary of ancient Rome. Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Rostovtzeff, Michael. A History of the Ancient World: Rome. Biblo & Tannen Publishers, 2007.
Scullard, Howard Hayes. Roman politics, 220-150 BC. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2009.
Veyne, Paul. The Roman Empire. Harvard University Press, 1997.
