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Gladiatorial games, which had Greek and Etruscan origins in funerary celebrations and religious festivals, first took place in Rome in the year 264 BC. In Rome itself public holidays, featuring magnificent and costly shows, came to occupy more than half the year. Comedies, tragedies, pantomimes and bawdy folk plays were staged in the theatres; in the arena of the Colosseum, opened in AD 80, gladiators fought in pairs or with wild animals to satisfy the blood lust of the crowd; and hundreds of thousands of race-goers packed the stands of the Circus Maximus to enjoy the thrills of chariot racing. These shows satisfied people's need for excitement and hero-worship, just as for example football, boxing and Formula One racing does today. Fan clubs developed, bets were made, political issues were aired, the latest victories and defeats were endlessly discussed, and brawling occasionally broke out. Politics were deeply involved. The organisation of games came to be part and parcel of electioneering in towns and cities but was increasingly used as a means to consolidate the power of the reigning emperor. The top gladiators, charioteers and actors were folk heroes, and the power of their universal appeal was recognised and exploited by politicians and emperors such as Julius Caesar, Augustus and Nero, who used games to manipulate a sometimes volatile public, whether to pacify or reassure at times of crisis or to achieve political ends.

Fig.: A terracotta relief showing a chariot race in the circus. The charioteer, driving the popular 4-horse type of chariot (quadriga), has reached the turning posts at one end of the circus. 1st half of the 1st century AD.