ABSTRACT
Romans liked to be entertained, and the physical evidence that remains attests both to the quantity and to the sophistication of the entertainment. Theatres and arenas litter the empire; it has been well said that amphitheatres like the Colosseum, the great arena built under the Flavians, serve as the ancient equivalent of cathedrals in cities of the empire. Entertainment ranged from drama on the stage and elite poetry readings, to chariot-racing, beast hunts, staged sea battles, and gladiatorial sport, not to mention public executions. The latter types of events increasingly come to dominate our written sources. As time passed, the desire of audiences and therefore producers for novelty and enhanced spectacle led to greater sophistication and heightened levels of bloodthirsty violence.
