Gladiatorial contests hold a central place in our perception of Roman behavior. They were also a big influence on how Romans themselves ordered their lives. Attending the games was one of the practices that went with being a Roman. The Etruscans who introduced this type of contest in the sixth century BC, are credited with its development but it is the Romans who made it famous.(Adapted from Tacitus) A surviving feature of the Roman …
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showed last 75 words of 3123 total
…however ended them for good. With the rise of emperor Constantine and Christianity came the fall of the gladiatorial spectacles. In AD 326, Constantine abolished gladiators' games altogether. He also stated that all criminals who would have in the past have been enrolled for the games must in the future be condemned to forced labor in the mines instead. By the end of the fourth century, gladiatorial shows had disappeared from the Eastern Empire.(Dining p.87)