Ad Bestias. Ad Gladium المدرج الروماني : حلبة للألعاب أم مكان للتعذيب

Abstract EN

The amphitheater has always been considered as a symbol of excellence and a mark an indicator of the life of leisure and entertainment in which the roman people lived.

thus, organizing horse races, gladiatorial matches, as well as fighting fierce animals on the track were the most important games that took place in the arena.

the organizers of these recreational games, in the capital (Rome) or in the provincial cities, were receiving facilitation and support from the roman authorities, considering that these entertainments are a manifestation of the roman civilization and one of the means of the civilizational Romanization of the peoples subject to the roman occupation.

the archaeological data such as tombstones, mosaic panels, oil lamps, coins, seals and pottery of all kinds as well as the texts of the writers, the historians, the orators, the poets and even some legislative documents present us an ugly and inhumane image of the roman amphitheater because of was going on in it during the roman era, whether in Italy or in the provinces of the roman empire.