The Roman amphitheatre was the centre of entertainment in Rome, and all over the Roman Empire. Ruins of amphitheaters can be found all over the empire. The largest amphitheatre in the empire was the Colosseum. It could seat up to 50,000 people at
once. The amphitheatre was the place where people went to see fights. These fights were between slaves, prisoners of war or criminals, and sometimes wild animals.These fights were so popular that schools were set up to train ordinary men as special fighters known as Gladiators This idea once started out as entertainment at funerals.Two fighters would begin and the crowd would watch. Eventually the crowds got so big, they had to build a place to hold them. This was not only the reason for building the amphitheatre. When the democratic system was changed to an imperial one, the emperors needed a way to keep the people happy, although they had lost the right to vote. The fights fulfilled this role. From the ruins of the Colosseum, archaeologists have put together an idea of what happend at these fights. Underneath the floor of the main arena there was a maze of passages cntaining cells and cages where the animals and prisoners were kept. There was even a lift to bring up the arena. The fights themselves were bloodthirsty affairs. The gladiators were armed with daggers, swords, forks and nets.They fought with slaves and criminals who are often not armed, or armed only with the net. They fought to the death. If a man was wounded, he would throw down his shield, and raise
the index finger of his left hand. This was a plea for mercy, from the crowd. The crowd would then decide whether he should live or die by giving him thumbs up - live, thumbs down - die. If he had fought well, he may have been spared but he would probably have been killed.
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