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In
46 BC, Julius Caesar broke with tradition and, in order to woo the people
of Rome, exhibited a gladiatorial combat as pure entertainment. The people
loved it, and from that moment forth, the Games were an indispensable instrument
of Roman political power. In a city where every second day was a holiday
and every holiday had its Games, the Games were not a barbaric anomaly on
the edge of Roman culture but at the heart of it. Drawing on firsthand Roman
accounts and modern research, filmed on location with ancient events reconstructed
by modern computers, this program traces the Roman origins of—as of so much
else!—the use of violence as mass entertainment. |
