Plebeians and 'Bread and Circuses'

The plebeians were the poor group of people in society of Ancient Rome. They lived off of welfare benefits from the government which included bread and circuses. The government provided the plebeians with bread and other food and, while not taking them to an actual circus, they provided entertainment for them which is what the word 'circus' comes from in Latin. This entertainment was provided at stadiums some of which were called Circus Maximus and the famous Colosseum. In the Colosseum for example gladiator duels were held and the two men would battle to the death. Other forms of entertainment consisted of prisoners, slaves, or gladiators facing off a wild animal that had been caged, starved, and beaten for a few days. The ravenous animal would be released on an unarmed prisoner who owned debt or an armed gladiator-both of which usually lost. There was also a lot of gambling and betting going on at these events.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Romans vs. Carthaginians

Today we began by finishing up the Amendments to the Constitution. We discussed the eighth amendment which dealt with the right to privacy. we continued with notes on the Romans and Carthaginians. There were three wars fought between the Romans and Carthaginians from 246-146 BC known as the Punic Wars. The Roman legions consisted of five thousand soldiers. The Roman army had heavy elite infantries. There were groups of eighty soldiers in groups called centuries which were very similar to the Greek phalanx. The first Punic War was fought from 264 to 241 BC. The war consisted of naval battles for control of the strategically located island of Sicily. The Romans were victorious in this war. Then the Carthaginian empire strikes back. The second Punic War was fought from 218 to 201 BC. The twenty nine year old Carthaginian general known by the name of Hannibal almost does the impossible and defeats Rome with a well thought out strategy. There is a good reason of why this war was the longes
Read more

Chi Cago's Guide to Ancient Rome

Etruscans came from north-central part of the peninsula metalworkers, artists, architects two foundation myths: Virgil’s Aeneid (where Aeneas escapes from Troy - sound familiar?) the story of Remus and Romulus Greeks they had many colonies around the Mediterranean Sea Romans borrowed ideas from them, such as: religious beliefs alphabet much of their art military techniques and weaponry the Latins! descendants of Indo-Europeans settled on the banks of the Tiber situated so trading ships - but not war fleets - could navigate as far as Rome, but no further a commercial port, but not susceptible to attack and... built on seven hills (esp. Palatine) many streams flowed into the Tiber there was a marshy area called the Forum,  between Palatine and Capitoline Hills Tarquin the Proud’s grandfather built the Cloaca Maxima (largest ancient drain), which channeled water into the Tiber urban legend says Washington DC was built on a swamp - but only abo
Read more