Acta 2 Documentary Reflection

For this Acta, I decided to watch a History channel documentary on the Colosseum and other amphitheaters in Rome. While these amphitheaters were referenced in class, we never took an in depth look at how these amphitheaters were made and what went into them. These are some of the most well thought out structures in Rome and hosted many public events including gladiator fights. One of the characteristics that really stood out to me regarding these amphitheaters, and more specifically the Colosseum, is their versatility. For example, the Colosseum used to be flooded with water in order to reenact naval fights. Not only is this incredibly difficult to do given the technological limitations of the Republic, but it is an almost unheard practice in today’s day in age. It was very surprising to me to learn about this as it seems to be a practice that is unique to the Roman empire and their traditions relating to public events.

It was also interesting to learn about the Lunas Magnus, a school-like structure that served as a training ground and holding area for gladiators awaiting fighting. While most gladiators were unfree slaves, this school was often compared to that of a prison with a focus on training. Gladiators carried out all their daily activities in the Lunas Magnus and often lived in subpar living quarters which were often small, poorly kept, and tightly packed together. When gladiators were called upon to fight in the Colosseum for the city to watch, they would use an underground tunnel that provided a passageway for gladiators to access the arena directly from the Lunas Magnus. Something interesting I found about these fights is that they often used to be advertised as Cena Missione which meant “without release”. This was often used as a nice way to say fight to death to be advertised across the city. However, these fights to the death did not come without serious consequence to the gladiator’s owner. Often, if a gladiator was killed participating in gladiatorial games, the owner was to be compensated one thousand times the gladiator’s value. This often prohibited these fights to the death. 

Finally, I found it very interesting that there have been many structures similar to the colosseum found across the ancient Roman territory. There are many amphitheaters that were used for similar purposes. Many of these structures found originally buried are in much better condition than the colosseum and their layouts and history can still be experienced today.