Roman Leisure and Entertainment
The Romans had a wide variety of leisure activities and sports that they liked to watch and compete in. The Roman empire actually introduced more leisure activities than any other nation or empire. It was very popular for Roman men to show that they were fit and “manly”.
Popular sports included foot racing, jumping, archery, wrestling, boxing, riding, fencing, throwing and swimming.
In the country, men enjoyed hunting and fishing.
Women did not partake in these activities.
Ball games were popular with Romans of all class. One of the most popular games at home was to throw a ball as high as you could and then try and catch it.
Roman Theatres
The Roman theatre was shaped with a half circle or orchestra space in front of the stage. Most often the audience sat here in comfortable chairs. Occasionally, however, the actors would perform in this space. To solve the problem of lighting and sound - the theatres were outdoors. The Romans built theatres anywhere, even on flat plains, by raising the whole structure off the ground. As a result, the whole structure was more integrated and entrances/exits could be built into the cavea, as is done in large theatres and sports arenas today. The scaena was as high as the rest of the structure, so the audience could not look out beyond the stage. It also created more of an enclosed atmosphere and may have helped keep out the noises of the city. A tarp could be rigged and moved over the top of the theatre to create shade.
The huge amount of people present still held problems for the sound as the audience would not always stay quiet. To solve this problem, costumes and mask were worn to show the type of person on stage. Different symbols were worked out. The actors wore masks - brown for men, white for women, smiling or sad depending on the type of play. The costumes showed the audience who the person was - a purple gown for a rich man, a striped toga for a boy, a short cloak for a soldier, a red toga for a poor man, a short tunic for a slave etc. Women were not allowed act, so their parts were normally played by a man or young boys wearing a white mask.
The actors spoke the lines, but a second actor mimed the gestures to fit the lines, along with background music. Some things are represented by a series of gestures, which are recognised by the audience to mean something, such as feeling a pulse to show a sick person, making the shape of a lyre with fingers to show music. The audience was usually more interested in their favourite actors than the play itself. The actors would try to win over the audience's praise with decorative masks, costumes, dancing and mime. If the play scripted an actor's dying, a condemned man would take the place of the actor at the last moment and actually be killed on stage. The Romans loved the bloodthirsty spectacles.
Gladiator Fights and the Colosseum
Gladiator fights were an important part of Roman entertainment. Gladiators came from a variety of backgrounds; they could be professional gladiators, condemned criminals, prisoners of war or slaves.
They fought each other or wild animals, mostly to the death. Their weapons included nets, swords, tridents, spears and firebrands. Gladiator fights were held within the amphitheatre in most cities. Within Rome, the most famous amphitheatre of all is still standing: the Colosseum.
Finished just after the eruption at Pompeii, this amphitheatre took 10 years to build. It is 160 feet high, 4 stories with windows, arches and columns. 50000 people could sit there, with numbered tickets. They left and entered through 76 different doors. People were seated according to gender and social status. Women and the poor stood or sat on wooden benches up on the 4th tier. Depending on the weather, a coloured awning was drawn across the stadium to protect people from either the sun or the rain. The Colosseum had a wooden floor that covered its subterranean levels. Here was a maze of doors and passage ways where gladiators, animals and weapons were kept. There were trap doors through which the animals were bought into the middle of the arena. For the first 10 years of its existence, the Colosseum could be flooded to allow for sea battle. The Romans realised that this was not good for the foundations of the building and so this practice was stopped.
Chariot Racing
Chariot racing was also another popular form of entertainment in Ancient Rome. Most major cities did not have actual building to hold these races in, there was just a sandy track. The most famous building for chariot races was in Rome. Known as the Circus Maximus, this was a long oval type building with seating and a sandy track in the middle.
Chariots were open vehicles with either 2 or 4 wheels. They were pulled by 2, 3 or 4 horses mostly, but some were pulled by up to 10 horses. Dogs, Ostriches or camels were also known to have pulled chariots in these games.
The role of the driver was to keep the chariot steady, especially around the corners and to make sure the horses were OK. This was a very brutal sport as a lot of people were injured. Most of the drivers were slaves or criminals, although there were professional drivers.