History of Torture: The Games
The
games continued from dawn to dusk and lasted over a period of many
days. The imperial games would sometimes exhibit thousands of pairs
of
gladiators in a sequence that could last for several months. The gladiatorial
sports continued until the early 5th century AD. The Gladiatorial
games
could last from ten to twelve days each year and accommodate Saturnalia,
a festival celebrating the god Saturn. This was held at the time of
the winter
solstice with a huge celebration of great feasting and merrymaking.
Signs were made up to announce the great event and Heralds proclaimed
it in the
streets. In the morning, spectators could see battles fought between
wild beast. One might see bears, buffaloes, lion's elephants and rhinoceros,
all
fighting against each other. After wounding each other for awhile
the spectators would become bored so archers would shoot the exhausted
animals
with arrows from the stands. By using these animals in such a way
the Romans managed to wipe out thousands of animals and either captured
or drove
away entire species. Now, the hippopotamuses were no longer seen in
Egypt, lions disappeared from Assyria and elephants no longer lived
in northern
Africa. Today the Colosseum stands in ruins and is still visited by
thousands each year. No longer are the fearless gladiators performing
and the wild
animals are safe from the once famous games. But, even after all this
time some animals still remain at the Colosseum. It has become a habitation
for
a large community of stray cats.