CLASSICS 2K03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Funeral Games, Gladiator, Vestal Virgin
2 Feb 2016
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Document Summary
Common in greek myth, where they were held in honour of the recently deceased. The most famous are the funerary games for patroclus, as described in the iliad. Some believe that roman gladiatorial competitions owe their origins to greek funerary games. Often instructions for a gladiatorial show included in the will. Some later romans suggested early gladiator fights were a form of human sacrifice, but that seems unlikely. Were supposed to display the positive and brave characteristics of the deceased. Began as funerary events; the competitions got larger and better and more and more people attended. Senators began to see gladiators as less as a celebration of the dead and more of a way to entertain the people. The same men who staged fights for dead family members, now did it in an attempt to curry favour and votes with the people. Magistrates (especially aediles) had to put on memorable games if they wanted to be elected to further posts.
