ABSTRACT
The difficulty of making sense of the ambivalent feelings revealed by the ancient evidence is reflected in the range of different theories developed by scholars since modern scholarship began two centuries ago. The emotions with which ancient writers express their feelings about these contests are too complex to be reduced to the simple opposites of ‘approval’ and ‘opposition’. To understand how such contrasting emotions could co-exist, it is pertinent to look at various aspects of the contexts in which Romans experienced gladiatorial contests. Originally, as we have seen, they were associated with the death of a powerful public figure. Under Augustus, they became a regular institution at Rome, coinciding with the Quinquatrus in March and with the Saturnalia at the end of the year. From the time of Augustus on we also find that the performance of gladiatorial combats was usually preceded by two other kinds of display, which originally had nothing to do with munera: venationes, which took place in the mornings and involved the display and, normally, slaughter of animals; and the public execution of criminals of low status (noxii, cruciarii) at midday. The munus itself followed during the afternoon. Where games were arranged over a period of two or more days, it seems that the same threefold pattern was followed on each.
