Rome: Why The Gladiator Fights

The Roman Empire, one of the most important early civilizations, was largely a warrior state. The Romans desired to continuously expand their land. As a matter of fact, the Romans conquered the Mediterranean world and Italy, which in turn caused a lot of bloody deaths, poverty, and other societal issues. In addition to their desire to take over other nations, the Romans were very aggressive and sadistic in nature. They initially were provided satisfaction by war, however, after war subsided, they received this pleasure in the form of violence and conquest, including gory gladiator fights. It’s evident that people getting killed in the arena excited them because they celebrated people who won victories. However, it could be that Rome directed these matches in an attempt to keep the peace among its people. What if the purpose of the gladiator fights was to unite the Romans together to uphold societal rules? Instead of picturing the ancient …show more content…
People converted to Christianity because the religion provided a peaceful respite from the violence of daily life through Christ’s good message as well as a simple belief among its adherents that if they accepted the difficult worldly life that had been given to them, riches would be gained in the afterlife. Because of this good yet submissive central message, Christianity brought social order and unification among the Romans. This was a wonderful strategy from the governments point of view since one religion is easier to control than many mystery and possibly rebellious religions with their own social mandates. In addition, Christianity is a very simple religion that was relatively new and could more easily be molded to work in tandem with the government’s broader ambitions. Thus, the government could better effect absolute control over its