What do you like to do for fun? Ancient Romans had many different forms of entertainment. Some of the things they enjoyed were the same kinds of things we enjoy today.
Other forms of their entertainment, though, were things that might seem very strange or cruel to us.
Everyone in ancient Rome liked going to the theater. The theater was exciting and it was free! Ancient Romans borrowed many of their plays from the Greeks. Their favorite kinds of plays were tragedies and comedies. A tragedy is a sad play. A comedy is a funny play.
Roman actors were admired. They were kind of like today’s television and movie stars. They were also almost always men. Actors wore costumes and brightly painted masks. These masks showed whether a character was male or female. They showed how a character was feeling, too. For example, actors wore a smiling mask if the character was supposed to be happy.
The biggest theater stars were the people who performed pantomime. A pantomime is a play that tells a story through body movement or facial expressions. It doesn’t use words. In ancient Rome, dancers mimed (acted out) the action while a narrator told the story Often, music was added to the performance.
tragedy: a sad play.
comedy: a funny play.
pantomime: a story told through body movement or facial expressions, without any words.
Q: What did one Roman actor say to the other?
A: Can you play?
The first theaters in Rome were made of wood that was torn down after the play was over. Later on, the Romans built many large and beautiful theaters made of stone. These theaters had no roofs; they were open to the sky. The stage was at one end of the theater. The audience sat in front of the stage. The rows of seats were in tiers, similar to the seats we find in stadiums or auditoriums today. Theaters were different sizes. Some could hold 9,000 people. Others could hold as many as 80,000 people!
Like the theater, chariot races were free. And, boy, did ancient Romans love to watch chariot races! A day at the races was even more popular than a day at the theater.
Chariots are small vehicles with wheels and a platform. Chariots were pulled by two, three, or four horses. Riders stood on the platform and controlled the horses as they raced around the track for seven laps. Chariot racing was very dangerous. This is because horses are large and quick animals. Also, chariot racing had few rules. These two things meant there were lots of crashes. Riders had to carry a special knife—called a falx—to cut themselves from a wreck. It didn’t always help. In fact, many chariot racers died.
Romans built large racetracks for chariot races. One of the biggest was built by the Roman emperor Trajan and was called the Circus Maximus, meaning “great circle.” It was oval-shaped, over 1,960 feet long, and about 650 feet wide. The Circus Maximus could hold over 250,000 spectators at a time. On a full racing day, spectators saw up to 24 races. Today, not much is left of the Circus Maximus. But visitors can still see the open area where the dirt track once was.
Riders raced for teams. There were four teams: Red, White, Blue, and Green. Each team had loyal fans. Sometimes fans got out of control and fought with each other. Racers did anything they could to win, even if it meant cheating. For example, some racers would ram their chariots into other racers’ horses! They wanted to win so badly because the prize money, called a purse, was very large. A purse could be up to 60,000 sestertii, the coins used by ancient Romans. In a whole year a Roman soldier earned only about 1,000 sestertii. So, this was a lot of money! But the money wasn’t the only reason riders loved to win. Chariot racers were very famous. They were like our sports stars.
The Colosseum was the greatest amphitheater in the entire Roman Empire. Made of stone and concrete, it used a beautiful system of arches, stairways, and hallways to lead to seating. Each section of seats was marked with numbers. It was very much like sports stadiums today! The Colosseum could hold over 50,000 people. But what all those people went to watch is something we’d find gruesome.
What went on inside the Colosseum was the bloody sport of gladiator fighting. Gladiators were men who were forced to fight to their deaths while audiences watched and cheered. Most of them were slaves or criminals. A few of them were people who needed money so badly that they volunteered to fight. Sometimes, gladiators were trained at a special school. But most of the time, they had little training. They were simply led into the arena and left to fight. If a slave or criminal fought well enough, he might be able to win his freedom. Most gladiators died after only a few fights.
Gladiators fought other gladiators. Some were heavily armed. For example, they might be given a sword or a three-pronged weapon called a trident.
The Colosseum is one of the world’s most famous buildings.
Other gladiators only had fishing nets or daggers. Others had no weapons at all. Many times, an unarmed gladiator would have to fight a heavily armed gladiator. Before each match, the two gladiators faced the emperor (who sat in a special seat) and said, “Those who are about to die salute you!” Then, the bloody battle would begin.
The men would fight until one person was killed or quit. When someone decided to quit, he would signal by raising his index finger. The emperor would then decide his fate. If the emperor thought the gladiator had fought well, he would give a hand signal that showed the gladiator would be allowed to live.
If the emperor felt the gladiator had fought poorly, he would give another signal. Then … it was the end of the road. The gladiator was killed and dragged off. Many Hollywood movies show emperors giving the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” sign. We don’t know for certain if these were the hand signals real ancient Roman emperors used.
| then: ancient Romans liked to watch gladiators battle each other to the death. | now: soccer, called football outside the United States, is Italy’s favorite sport. |
Some gladiators wore armor. Armor included shields, protective coverings for arms and legs, and helmets. Some helmets covered the gladiator’s whole head, with only two small holes for his eyes!
Gladiators also fought animals. Romans brought all kinds of exotic animals to Rome from around the world: bears (even polar bears!), rhinos, lions, tigers, and elephants. Animals were often starved or treated cruelly. This caused them to be more likely to attack or kill a gladiator. Often, gladiators didn’t see the animals coming because they would be released from hidden cages or brought to the arena through trap doors.
Even though we find gladiator fighting very cruel and strange, the ancient Romans loved it. This was just the way things were back then.
tiers: rows arranged one above another.
chariot: small vehicle with wheels and a platform, pulled by horses.
Circus Maximus: an ancient Roman chariot racetrack.
Colosseum: the biggest and most famous amphitheater in Rome.
amphitheater: an oval or circular building with rising tiers of seats around a central open space. Used in ancient Rome for spectacles and contests.
gladiators: slaves and criminals who were forced to fight for sport.
trident: a kind of pitchfork.
newspaper
plastic one-gallon milk jug, rinsed and dried
pointed scissors
plastic wrap
large roll of plaster cloth, sometimes called plaster gauze*
shallow bowl of water
decorating materials such as paint, yarn, glue, and markers
heavy string (optional)
* You can find this with the plaster of Paris in many craft, hobby, or art supply stores. Rigid Wrap is one brand name.
Roman theater masks had exaggerated features. This means a smiling mouth or frowning eyebrows were really big! You’ll be using pointed scissors to cut a plastic jug for this project. Ask a grown-up to help.
1 Cover your workspace with newspaper. Cut off the bottom of your milk jug so you have a “bowl” about 2 inches high. Turn the bowl over and place it on the newspaper. This will be the mask’s base. Cover the base with a sheet of plastic wrap.
2 Cut the plaster cloth into triangles. This shape will lie flat better than square pieces. Dip the pieces in the water and lay them on the base. You can make your mask into any character or emotion by shaping the pieces of cloth. Be sure to leave two eyeholes so you can see out of your mask.
3 Let the mask dry completely. Carefully lift it off the base and peel away the plastic wrap. Trim any extra cloth from around the edges of the mask.
4 Decorate your theater mask using paint or markers. You can add some hair using yarn and glue. When your mask is done, hold it up to your face and pretend you’re a Roman actor! If you want to tie the mask onto your head, use heavy string. Use the pointed scissors to poke holes in the sides of the mask. Thread the string through the holes and tie knots to secure it.
Pantomiming was very popular in ancient Rome. Charades is a game where players take turns pantomiming actions or activities, titles of movies or books, and phrases or sayings while other players try to guess them.
a group of friends
notecards
pencil
space to move around
1 Divide into two teams. Each team should write a variety of actions on the notecards—one action on each card. (For a more challenging game, write some book or movie titles and phrases, too.) Here are a few ideas to get you started: swimming, shooting a basketball, running, reading, planting a garden, eating, getting dressed, skateboarding, kicking a ball, answering the phone, sleeping.
2 Put the notecards face down in a pile. Have one person choose a card from the other team’s pile. That player pantomimes the action for his or her own teammates. The team tries to guess what is being acted out.
3 Then it’s the other team’s turn. One person picks a card from the first team’s pile and mimes the action. Keep playing until everyone has had a turn.
Variation: Try to tell a whole story by acting it out. Don’t use any words. See if your audience can figure out which story you’re performing. Here are some good stories to try: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, or the Three Little Pigs. Of course, you can also make up your very own story!